“Moms-to-be warned over use of fetal heart rate monitors - EurekAlert” plus 4 more

Moms-to-be warned over use of fetal heart rate monitors - EurekAlert
Animal Mothers and Their Adopted Young (VIDEO) - Huffingtonpost.com
Mrs. Edwards Talks DNA Test for Hunter's Baby - extra tv
Mother Exposed For Breastfeeding - WCSH
Restaurant asks breastfeeding mom to either cover up or leave - KARE

Moms-to-be warned over use of fetal heart rate monitors - EurekAlert

Posted: 20 Aug 2009 06:27 AM PDT

Public release date: 20-Aug-2009
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Contact: Emma Dickinson
edickinson@bmj.com
BMJ-British Medical Journal

Filler: Caution with home fetal Doppler devices

Mums-to-be are being advised not to use personal monitors (Doppler devices) to listen to their baby's heartbeat at home over fears that they may lead to delays in seeking help for reduced fetal movements.

In this week's BMJ, Dr Thomas Aust and colleagues from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Arrowe Park Hospital, Wirral describe the case of a 27 year old woman who presented to their labour ward 32 weeks into her first pregnancy with reduced fetal movements.

She had first noted a reduction in her baby's activity two days earlier but had used her own Doppler device to listen to the heartbeat and reassured herself that everything was normal.

Further monitoring by the antenatal care team was not reassuring and the baby was delivered by caesarean section later that evening. The baby remained on the special care baby unit for eight weeks and is making steady progress.

A hand-held Doppler device assesses the presence of fetal heart pulsations only at that moment, and it is used by midwives and obstetricians to check for viability or for intermittent monitoring during labour, explain the authors. In untrained hands it is more likely that blood flow through the placenta or the mother's main blood vessels will be heard.

Following this case, they searched the internet and found that a fetal Doppler device could be hired for 10 a month or bought for 25-50 (www.ebay.co.uk). Although the companies offering sales state that the device is not intended to replace recommended antenatal care, they also make claims such as "you will be able to locate and hear the heartbeat with excellent clarity" (www.hi-baby.co.uk).

It is difficult to say whether self monitoring altered the outcome in this case, say the authors. But they now have posters in their antenatal areas recommending that patients do not use these devices.

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Animal Mothers and Their Adopted Young (VIDEO) - Huffingtonpost.com

Posted: 20 Aug 2009 10:02 AM PDT

We here at HuffPost Green love to celebrate interspecies animal adoptions. Watch these remarkable videos of mothers taking care of baby animals from another species. Vote on your favorite blended family!

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Mrs. Edwards Talks DNA Test for Hunter's Baby - extra tv

Posted: 20 Aug 2009 07:25 AM PDT

August 20, 2009

Mrs. Edwards Talks DNA Test for Hunter's Baby

Posted by ExtraTV Staff on August 20, 2009 7:12 AM

Elizabeth Edwards appeared on "Larry King Live" to talk about health care reform, and cleared up rumors about her husband's alleged child with his former mistress... and the state of her marriage.

When asked about the DNA testing of Rielle Hunter's baby, Mrs. Edwards answered, "My expectation is that, at some point, something happens. And I hope for the sake of this child that it happens, you know, in a quiet way," she said.

Hunter and former Sen. John Edwards had an affair during the 2008 presidential campaign. Hunter gave birth to daughter Frances in February 2008. The identity of the child's father has not been confirmed.

Edwards also cleared up rumors about leaving her husband and moving out of her North Carolina home. She said, "Things are going fine. We're getting the children ready for a new school year. Everything seems to be going pretty smoothly at my house."

Edwards was diagnosed in 2007 with incurable Stage 4 breast cancer, but she remains hopeful. She told King, "The numbers don't look that optimistic, but I feel good. And I've had recent tests that show me to be in pretty good health, all things considered." She added, "I'm still out here fighting."

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Mother Exposed For Breastfeeding - WCSH

Posted: 20 Aug 2009 01:51 PM PDT

Michigan City, Indiana (NBC)--An Indiana mother is upset after breast-feeding her baby in an Olive Garden restaurant turned into an ordeal. "It's against your instinct as a mother to sit there and eat and deny your baby food," says Maggie Naas.

Naas was feeding her 11-month old baby, Katie, at the Olive Garden in Michigan City when a manager approached her. The manager asked Maggie to either cover up or feed the baby in the restroom. Katie said she didn't have anything to cover herself with and did not like the second option, so she left. "People just need to realize that it's not something sexual or something gross. It's just a mother taking care of her baby," Maggie says. "It's natural. It's not the same as just pulling your top down and flashing everybody. That's what Olive Garden seems to think that I did."

"We never asked her to leave," says Olive Garden General Manager Matthew Madden. "We had numerous guests complain about her modesty. There were children in the dining room. If the mother were more modest, this would have never been an issue." Madden goes on to say women are allowed to breastfed in the restaurant. In fact, he says a woman did just that Tuesday evening, but says the difference is that Maggie wasn't breast-feeding modestly enough.

"Culturally in the United States we do not accept breast-feeding as the norm, which we really need to because it is the norm in feeding babies," says Cindy Razo, a lactation consultant. "I think it probably made her feel ashamed that she was breast-feeding and she should not have been. Absolutely not," added breast-feeding counselor Tami Pray. "It's very frustrating. I feel like we've come so much further in society than women being asked to leave a restaurant for simply feeding their baby."

Indiana state law allows women to breast-feed any place a woman can legally be.

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Restaurant asks breastfeeding mom to either cover up or leave - KARE

Posted: 20 Aug 2009 09:55 AM PDT

An Indiana mother is upset after breast-feeding her baby in an Olive Garden restaurant turned into an ordeal.

"It's against your instinct as a mother to sit there and eat and deny your baby food," says Maggie Naas.

Naas was feeding her 11-month old baby, Katie, at the Olive Garden in Michigan City when a manager approached her.

The manager asked Maggie to either cover up or feed the baby in the restroom.

Katie said she didn't have anything to cover herself with and did not like the second option, so she left.

"People just need to realize that it's not something sexual or something gross. It's just a mother taking care of her baby," Maggie says. "It's natural. It's not the same as just pulling your top down and flashing everybody. That's what Olive Garden seems to think that I did."

Madden goes on to say women are allowed to breastfed in the restaurant.

In fact, he says a woman did just that Tuesday evening, but says the difference is that Maggie wasn't breast-feeding modestly enough.

"Culturally in the United States we do not accept breast-feeding as the norm, which we really need to because it is the norm in feeding babies," says Cindy Razo, a lactation consultant.

"I think it probably made her feel ashamed that she was breast-feeding and she should not have been. Absolutely not," added breast-feeding counselor Tami Pray. "It's very frustrating. I feel like we've come so much further in society than women being asked to leave a restaurant for simply feeding their baby."

Indiana state law allows women to breast-feed any place a woman can legally be.