Baby Bits

special delivery: baptist offers free e-letter

Baptist Hospital aims to guide expectant and new parents through pregnancy and the first year of Baby’s life with a new parenting e-mail newsletter. Customizeable based upon your due date, the free weekly newsletter offers the latest research and information parents seek regarding pregnancy and fetal development beginning at seven weeks gestation, then switching over to focus on Baby’s first year following birth. Newsletters can continue up through your child’s third year. Enroll for the free newsletter through a simple online process at baptisthospital.com/parents or through Baptist’s sister hospital, Middle Tennessee Medical Center, at www.mtmc.org/parents.

utterly yours pregnancy pillow

Women ache for comfort when weeks become long during the bulky period leading up to Baby’s birth. Enter the Utterly Yours Pregancy Pillow. As tested by one of our very pregnant editors, this uber attractive and easy to manage pillow-that-unfolds-from-a-square was deemed, “Remarkable!” The pillow brought much needed relief.

Mom-designed, delightfully compact for easy travel and available in a number of stylish fabrics, this pregnancy pillow eliminates the need to count sheep! Available in small ($39.95), medium ($44.95) or large ($54.95) at www.utterlyyours.com. A breast pillow is also available.

diapers take the cake!

Diaper cakes make baby showers fun. At Lilbabycakes.com, you’ll find a wide variety of creative cakes to suit your fancy. Shown is the Blue Stork 3-Tier Diaper Cake including 40 Pampers, a Gund mini stork rattle, a blue washcloth, cotton swabs, Johnson & Johnson travel products, a charm embellishment and a blue stork ribbon for $62. A variety of price options are available.

eating for two? umm ... not really.

’Twould be nice if pregnancy meant you could eat twice as much, right? Truth is, you’re really only eating for one and a fraction of another. So restrain yourself! You really only need an additional 300 calories a day with Baby on the way.

Here are some tasty and healthy 300-calorie choices:

• 1 cup of non-fat fruit yogurt and a medium apple
• A baked potato with skin, topped with an ounce of low-fat cheese and 1/2 cup each of broccoli and cauliflower
• 1 piece of whole wheat toast spread with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter
• A strawberry smoothie with marshmallows
• A turkey sandwich: 2 slices of whole wheat bread, 2 ounces of lean turkey, lettuce and tomato
• 1 flour tortilla (seven-inch), 1/2 cup refried beans, 1/2 cup cooked broccoli, and 1/2 cup cooked red pepper
• 1 cup of beef-and-bean chili sprinkled with 1/2 ounce of cheddar cheese
• 1 cup of raisin bran cereal with 1/2 cup non-fat milk and a small banana

Source: www.fitpregnancy.com

spotlight: reduce your risk of a pre-term delivery

expectant moms should do their part to ensure that their little one’s birthday doesn’t come too soon, but statistics continue to prove worrisome when it comes to pre-term births: In 2008 and 2009, Tennessee received an “F” on the Premature Birth Report Card released by the March of Dimes and a ranking of 45th in the nation for premature births with a preterm birth rate of 14.7 percent — nearly double the national target of 7.6 percent. “Most of the causes of preterm birth remain unknown,” says Jennifer L. Howse, president of the March of Dimes. “We continue to work toward a future when every baby is born healthy.” To that end, in 2008, the March of Dimes established a Prematurity Campaign including research initiatives to better understand why pre-term births occur.

The number of babies born before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy has increased more than 36 percent in the United States in the last 25 years, according to the Institute of Medicine. Currently, about one in seven babies are born preterm in Tennessee says the local March of Dimes chapter, predisposing many of them to newborn health problems including difficult breathing, vision or hearing loss, and other lasting disabilities such as mental retardation, cerebral palsy and more.

While any woman can give birth prematurely, some are at greater risk than others. Women who have had a previous premature birth are at risk for another one, as are women who are pregnant with multiples or those with certain uterine or cervical abnormalities.

Researchers have identified some risk factors for preterm births, but providers still can’t predict which women will absolutely deliver prematurely. According to the March of Dimes however, certain lifestyle factors may put a woman at higher risk for pre-term labor including:

• late or no pre-natal care
• smoking
• drinking alchohol
• using illegal drugs

Learn more about premature births and the science behind the efforts to improve newborn outcomes online at www.marchofdimes.com/tennessee.