It’s not nice (or good for the baby) to fool Mother Nature

I’ll admit: I’ve been out of the baby-making business a good while now.

Which means I’ve not kept up with all the new products and trends that fill department store aisles and the pages of Parenting magazine.

Just the flip-flopping alone on the correct way to lay a baby in a crib has my head spinning.

And here’s a trend that’s really caught me off guard: At some point, expectant parents — and their ob-gyns — became so arrogant they decided they knew more than Mother Nature.

For the past few years, an increasing number of moms and dads, too impatient or too inconvenienced, are scheduling the births of their babies before the actual due dates. At Naperville’s Edward Hospital, according to a spokesman, the number of elective deliveries before 39 weeks has gone up dramatically over the last 10 years.

My initial response to this news is pained: Who’d want to go under the knife unless you absolutely had to?

I count myself among the fortunate: I was able deliver all six kids without surgeries. In fact, I never really understood what a Caesarean was all about until I watched on video the birth of my first grandchild via an emergency C-section. Seasoned mom that I am, my mouth was agape as I witnessed all my daughter-in-law went through in order to bring this babe into the world.

Vaginal births are no walk in the park, either, but the fact some women would actually choose to go through a major operation both confounds and disturbs me.

And hearing some of the reasons only adds to my perplexed state of mind. They include:

Because hubby has an important out-of-town business trip.

Because they want the tax break (before Jan. 1).

Because the due date falls when their favorite obstetrician will be vacationing in sunny Acapulco.

And my all-time favorite: Because the little woman is tired of being pregnant.

The good news is Edward Hospital is joining forces with the March of Dimes in a pilot program that will ban elective deliveries before 39 weeks of pregnancy. Research, as it turns out, reveals it’s simply not in a baby’s best interest to arrive too early.

Like we needed a bunch of data to tell us that?

There can be, of course, solid reasons for these scheduled early deliveries; most notably, when the health of mom or child is in peril. Still compelling but more questionable: Dad being shipped off to Afghanistan (as opposed to a business conference in San Francisco).

Call me unpatriotic, but even If I’m going off to fight a war, I’d prefer to miss the birth of my child entirely than cheat my kid out of a chance for the very best start in life the little tyke could possibly have.

There are plenty of reasons those glass cribs of our hospitals’ neonatal units are filled. Babies have a habit of arriving when they darn well want to. In most cases, there’s no reason — except selfish ones — that mom or dad should help put them there.

Kudos to Edward Hospital and the March of Dimes for taking this stand. Hopefully, unnecessary early deliveries will go the way of drop-side cribs.

Source : http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/news/3159345-418/baby-deliveries-business-early-edward.html

New crib guidelines part of ABC's for resting babies

JOPLIN, Mo. — Making sure your baby is getting a good night’s sleep is as easy as ABC to Kathy Cowley.

“Babies should always sleep alone, on their backs, and in a crib,” said Cowley, manager of the birthing center at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin.

While A and B fall primarily to parents, a federal agency has recently taken steps to regulate C. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission last month approved new federal standards for baby cribs that will prohibit the manufacture and sale of drop-side cribs.

The standards will increase testing of cribs’ durability, mattress support strength and hardware such as slat strength. According to consumers groups, they will also improve warnings and labels on cribs to make parents aware of when a crib has been wrongly assembled and when to stop using a crib.

Citing concerns over safety, the commission has recalled more than 11 million cribs since 2007. The commission has also associated at least 32 infant suffocation and strangulation deaths since 2000 to cribs with detaching drop-side rails, with additional deaths resulting from faulty or defective hardware.

The move has been applauded by consumer and safety groups.

“The lack of durability of recently produced cribs is appalling and has put many babies at risk,” said Don Mays, senior director of product safety and technical policy for Consumers Union and its Consumer Reports publication, in a release. “These new regulations will ensure safe sleep environments by raising the bar for the safety and quality of cribs.”

Beginning in June, all cribs manufactured, sold or leased in the United States must comply with the new federal standards. Within two years, child care businesses and hotels must also be in compliance.

Individuals continuing to use old drop-side cribs privately in their homes may continue to do so, but they won’t be able to sell them under the new regulations.

As drop-side cribs fade, there are still guidelines parents should keep in mind when crib-shopping. Look for cribs with slats that are close together. If the opening between slats is wider than 2 3/8 inches, roughly the width of a soda can, then they’re too far apart, Cowley said.

She also said parents should check whether the crib’s paint is lead-based, as can sometimes be the case if it is manufactured outside the United States.

“Otherwise, I think it’s up to you what you’re looking for,” she said.

Dean Lasseter, a pediatrician with Freeman Health System, said parents should take care when choosing a crib for their child.

“Thirty deaths (associated with drop-side cribs), it’s a small number compared to the number of babies who die in car accidents, the number of babies who die from SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), but it’s there, and it’s preventable,” he said. “I would select that crib really carefully and not take a chance I don’t need to.”

Once you have a crib, the only items that belong in it are a good mattress with fitted sheets, a blanket and your baby, Cowley said. To lower the baby’s risk of suffocation, avoid decorating the crib with heavy blankets, crib bumpers or pads, pillows and stuffed animals, she said.

“They’re very cute, they’re very nice, but they’re not safe,” she said.

Lasseter said parents shouldn’t be tempted by sleeping with their child, who belongs in a crib or a bassinet. Babies otherwise risk falling off the bed, getting stuck between the mattress and the wall, breathing in the same pocket of air, or being crushed by their parents, he said.

“Never put the baby in bed with the parents,” he said. “The risk for SIDS skyrockets. It’s the most dangerous thing parents can do to their baby.”

Other tips for parents to help their newborn sleep, and possibly reduce the risk of SIDS, include:

~ Place the baby on his or her back, Cowley said. Parents who worry about the child choking should have little cause for concern because babies will instinctively turn their face to the side if they spit up, she said.

~ Develop a bedtime schedule, if possible. “If the parents have a routine, and they can get the baby into the routine, that’s going to help enormously,” Lasseter said.

~ Keep a fan in the room. Circulating the air could help reduce the risk of SIDS and can provide “white noise” to help your baby sleep, Lasseter said.

~ Swaddle the baby, which gives him or her a sense of comfort and closeness, he said.

~ Keep the room temperature at a comfortable level and don’t overdress the baby at nighttime.

Source : http://www.joplinglobe.com/healthandfamily/x1961026537/New-crib-guidelines-part-of-ABC-s-for-resting-babies

Doctor and assistant jailed for selling newborn

A MALAYSIAN court sentenced a doctor and his assistant to a year in jail for selling a newborn boy in what a government lawyer said today was a rare successful prosecution over baby trafficking.

A court in southern Johor state found Dr Robert Luk and his assistant Suleiman Salim guilty yesterday of selling the baby to a couple for 10,000 ringgit ($A3151) in 2005, said prosecutor Dzul Iswari Mohamad Jaafar.

Luk, working at a private obstetrics clinic, was accused of altering the birth certificate of the boy, born to a poor woman who wanted to give him up for adoption. Suleiman acted as a middleman, taking the baby from the woman, Dzul Iswari said.

The offence - unlawful transfer of control of a child - carries a maximum penalty of five years in jail and a fine. The judge postponed the execution of the sentence to allow the two men to appeal.

Dzul Iswari told The Associated Press that the couple who bought the baby was not charged, nor was the mother.

The couple was not aware of the sale and believed they were adopting the baby legally, thinking that the money they paid was the fee to cover the boy's mother's medical bills, he said.

The mother was unaware that her son was sold for money and believed he was being given up for adoption through proper channels, Dzul Iswari said. The couple and mother appeared as prosecution witnesses.

Several people have been arrested in recent years over the sale of babies.

But it was not immediately clear if any of the accused were ever convicted. Dzul Iswari said there had been no successful prosecutions until yesterday's verdict, as all other cases were pending.

"This has become the first such case," he said.

Abdul Majid Hamzah, head of the prosecution division in the Attorney General's chambers, said he recalls some successful prosecutions but could not give details.

The act under which the doctor and his assistant were charged came into effect in 2001.

Last year, Malaysian police rescued six babies and arrested 15 people allegedly involved in a child trafficking ring, which paid women to get pregnant for childless couples. It was not immediately clear whether any of the suspects were prosecuted.

The Kuala Lumpur-based group allegedly paid Malaysian, Indonesian, Filipino and Vietnamese immigrant women 5000 ringgit (AUD$1,575) for each baby delivered.

The babies were sold on for 20,000 ringgit each (AUD$A6401). The gang is believed to have been operating for more than five years.

Dad charged with hurting baby

Infant boy hospitalized in critical condition

LAWRENCE — A father previously jailed for breaking his daughter's skull is now charged with shaking his 3-month-old son and critically injurying the infant.

Alexis Medina, 23, of 4 Inman St., apt. 19, was arrested Tuesday night and charged with assault and battery on a child causing serious bodily injury.

His son had difficulty breathing and was later diagnosed by emergency room doctors as having "broken ribs, a broken vertebrae and other symptoms associated with shaken baby syndrome," Prosecutor Jennifer Kunsch said in court yesterday.

In 2008, Medina was sentenced to 18 months in jail for causing his daughter's skull fracture, according to court and police records.

Medina told police that in an effort to quiet the baby Tuesday morning, "he placed his son face down in his crib and pushed on his back until he became quiet and fell asleep." "Medina told us he had done that in the past and it has usually worked and his son would fall asleep," wrote Detective Paul MacMillan in a police report.

He told police he regularly played "rough" with his son and "may hug him too hard at times," according to the report.

Yesterday morning, as he stood in the prisoner's dock in the courtroom at Lawrence District Court, Medina's defense attorney, Steven Van Dyke of the Committee for Public Council Services, attempted to shield him from public view and a news photographer's camera.

Van Dyke had asked Judge Kevin Gaffney to allow Medina to stand behind a courtroom door and just listen to the arraignment proceedings yesterday morning. Gaffney rebuffed his request, however.

Gaffney ordered Medina held without bail until Jan. 7 for a probable cause hearing.

Police and paramedics went to Medina's Inman Street apartment at 10:15 a.m. Tuesday after receiving a report of an "infant not breathing."

Paramedics immediately started CPR while detectives were called to the scene to investigate, police said.

The baby was taken to Lawrence General Hospital and later to Tufts Medical Center in Boston. At 5:30 Tuesday night, Tufts personnel notified Lawrence police that the "infant was in critical condition," MacMillan wrote in his report.

MacMillan, along with Detective Brian Voisine and state troopers assigned to District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett's office, went to Tufts to interview Medina.

He said that around midnight the night before "his son would not sleep so he had squeezed him and shook him, trying to get him to fall asleep." Medina told police "he was tired and just wanted his son to sleep," MacMillan wrote in his report.

In the morning, when his son cried again, Medina said he did what he'd done before; put the infant face down in the crib and pushed on his back until he stopped crying.

Medina also told police he has problems with his wife, employment and money troubles.

After speaking with doctors, police arrested Medina and brought him back to the Lawrence police department Tuesday night for booking.

Attempts to reach the baby's mother were unsuccessful yesterday.

Source : http://www.eagletribune.com/local/x1758586645/Dad-charged-with-hurting-baby

Boomers getting old in a crowd

It's almost 2011 -- the first year that baby boomers will officially become senior boomers.

One baby boomer will reach 65, the traditional retirement age, every eight seconds for the next 18 years, according to the U.S. Census. As a result, the population age 65 and older will increase 79 percent between 2010 and 2030.

We boomers have spent our entire lives in crowds. We were born in hospitals with maternity wings so full that many of us spent our first days in a crib in the hallway. There were routinely 50, or even 60, kids in our elementary school classes -- but we learned to read anyway.

To accommodate us when we got to high school, communities had to build thousands of new buildings. And when I graduated from Ohio State University in 1972, there were more than 60,000 kids on the main campus in Columbus.

When we boomer women opted to stay in the workforce after our children were born, we revolutionized how the world did business. And now we're thinking about leaving that workforce, although a recent survey by Charles Schwab found that 88 percent of boomers -- men and women -- expect to work at least part time, even though they are eligible for full retirement benefits. About 28 percent say they "need more money."

Why is that? Schwab's survey says that 44 percent of Americans on brink of retirement expect to retire with debt. And 30 percent expect to rely on Social Security as their primary source of income in retirement. With the average Social Security payment less than $1,200 per month, living on it is surely a retirement planning challenge.

My husband, who is a leading-edge baby boomer, spent part of his day today figuring out how Medicare will mesh with his company health plan. This was all new territory for the human resources people where he works, so they figured it out together, knowing that my husband is only the first of many to ask these same questions.

Growing old in a crowd should be interesting.

Source : http://www.bankrate.com/financing/retirement/boomers-getting-old-in-a-crowd/

Infant's death, investigation leads to warrant for arrest

— An eight-month investigation into the death of an infant led the Grady County District Attorney's office to issue a warrant Tuesday for the arrest of a 27-year-old Blanchard woman.

Court documents show that charges filed against Kasey Duverney include one felony count of child neglect and one felony count of second degree manslaughter.

Information filed by Michael Francis, an investigator with the District Six District Attorney's Office, states that Duverney failed to provide the proper care and supervision of the child by placing him in a bed which was not safe for an infant. She was responsible for him while her boyfriend, the baby's father, had gone to work.

Francis said that while in the bed, Trevor squirmed into a position where he ultimately suffocated and died.

Records show that the baby's parents were going through a divorce during March and April and the father had left the home and moved to the home of his girlfriend, Duverney.

On April 9, the mother allowed her estranged husband to have a scheduled overnight visit with Trevor. He had repeatedly reassured the mother that he had an appropriate children's crib for the baby to sleep in while in his custody.

At about 5:40 p.m. Duverney called the Grady County 911 dispatcher and advised that "the baby is dead." Records show that she told the dispatcher she found Trevor hanging from the bed stuck between the bed railing and the mattress. When emergency workers arrived on scene they were unable to save him.

The medical examiner ruled the cause of death as mechanical asphyxiation caused by being caught between a bed railing and the mattress. Documents state that according to witness statements, the bed was not a safe children's crib. It was a modified single bed frame with a board running along the side.

Francis said that as Trevor's temporary caregiver, Duverney committed child neglect when she failed to provide for the proper care and supervision of the baby and placed him in an unsafe adult bed where his injury led to his death.

Upon conviction of child neglect, the crime is punishable by imprisonment up to life in the Department of Corrections or by up to one-year in the county jail or by a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $5,000, or both such fine and imprisonment.

Upon conviction of second-degree manslaughter, the crime is punishable by imprisonment for two to four years in the penitentiary or imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year or a fine of up to $1,000 or both.

Source : http://chickashanews.com/local/x982166423/Infants-death-investigation-leads-to-warrant-for-arrest

Baby Jesus stolen from crib

Brighton might be Britain’s most Godless city, but an East Sussex village is sans Jesus.

Soulless thieves have stolen a baby Jesus figurine from a church in Sidley near Bexhill.

The un-Godley thieves also attempted to make off with Joseph and a sheep but were forced to drop their loot when challenged by Father Trevor Buxton.

Joseph and the sheep have since been returned to Mary and the rest of the Nativity. But the statuette of the infant Lord, pinched from his crib outside All Saints Church, All Saints Lane, is still missing.

Sussex Police were called to reports of three teenage boys removing a figurine of Joseph, a sheep and baby Jesus shortly after 6pm on Wednesday.

The youths ran off towards Ninfield Road.

Sergeant Tricia Reeve-Fowkes said: “This Nativity crib has been at All Saints Church for many years.

“This is the first time that the figures have been stolen and the members of the church are very upset that this has happened.”

The missing figurine is described as 15 inches long, made of hardboard, flat in the shape of an infant and is painted bright red, yellow and blue.

There is no detailed description of the three teenage boys other than one boy was wearing a grey tracksuit.

If anyone has any knowledge of the whereabouts of the missing figurine please contact Sussex Police on 0845 60 70 999 quoting serial 1185 of 29/12 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Source : http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/8763631.Baby_Jesus_stolen_from_crib/