Mitochondrial disease affects about one in 200 children each year. This condition, which can greatly reduce quality of life and life expectancy of those affected, has no cure. But thanks to a recent ruling by the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the UK’s fertility watchdog, mitochondrial disease may eventually become a thing of the past.
According to information from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (bpas), breastfeeding rates have risen in the UK. They say that initial breastfeeding rates have increased from 76 percent in 2005 to 81 percent in 2010; breastfeeding rates at six weeks postpartum have increased from 48 percent in 2005 to 55 percent in 2010; and breastfeeding rates at four months postpartum have risen from 28 percent in 2005 to 34 percent in 2010.
Health care professionals, experts and even organizations have been promoting the idea “breast is best” since the mid-1990’s. The promotion is based upon countless studies that have suggested that breastfed babies have an increased immunity against certain infections and autoimmune disorders.
When to cut a baby’s umbilical cord has long been a topic of debate; while most doctors and midwives still follow the recommended protocol of 30 seconds after birth, there are others that have claimed for years that there are benefits to waiting.
We often take for granted that the people we need the most will be there exactly when they’re needed. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case in the UK where midwives are concerned.
Litherland High School students as young as 14 are learning about motherhood in a whole new way; those that are taking a GCSE class in child development are learning about the benefits of breastfeeding. The tools being used – puppets and knitted breasts – may be a bit unorthodox, but it seems that the efforts really are making an impact on the mothers of tomorrow.
A childless couple in the UK have won the right to the child they paid a surrogate US mother to carry. The case came under scrutiny after it was found that the couple paid in excess to what the law allows for in the UK.
British mothers have been given the thumbs up to breastfeed their infants while at work. A new government proposal is encouraging workplaces to create breastfeeding friendly areas for working moms.
In some nurseries in the UK parents are paying for top class care, while their children are getting sub-par foods. Now some parents are demanding healthy meals for their growing children rather than the typical, processed fare.
Only 7 hours after giving birth to her third child, Dr Helen Wright was back at work at her job as headteacher of one of Britain’s highest-achieving private schools. Parents are both in awe and frustrated by this new mother’s dedication.
