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Posted by kim on November 17, 2011
Worldwide, 13 million babies are born preterm each year and one million of those die each year as a result of their early birth. Today (November 17th, 2011) is the first-ever World Prematurity Day, part of the March of Dime’s Prematurity Awareness Month, to honor these premature infants and raise awareness about the importance of striving to give every baby a healthy start in life.
So today, I not only praise the March of Dimes for helping my preemie twins, Macy and Mallory, survive almost eighteen years ago, but I also praise my preemie twins themselves for the fine young ladies they have turned out to be. Read our story.
Macy recently attended the FCCLA Cluster Meeting in Minneapolis and was so excited to tell me that one of the presentations at the convention was the March of Dimes talking about World Prematurity Day. I am hoping she decides to do a Star Project on being a preemie and share her miraculous story.
Posted by Guest on November 14, 2011
Premature babies—they’re fragile and need as much nutrition as possible, even more so than “regular babies” to gain the strength and energy they need to survive. While breast milk and formula milk are designed to give that proper nutrition, a premature baby’s underdeveloped gut makes it difficult to absorb proper nutrients from either milk substances. But according to Australian researchers, a different kind of milk may just be able to give premature babies the boost they need–wallaby milk.
That’s right, according to a team of researchers from Deakin University’s Institute for Technology in Melbourne, tamar wallabies (cousins to the Kangaroo) produce a milk contain special proteins that can actually help strengthen and repair a human premature baby’s gut, which ultimately means he or she will be able to obtain more nourishment.
Continue reading “Guest Post: Can a Wallaby Save Your Premature Baby’s Life?” »
Posted by Chris on November 8, 2011
It is almost fact that women do not sleep great throughout their pregnancy, but new research links premature birth to poor sleep quality in both early and late stages of pregnancy. Early pregnancy, in weeks 14 through 16, showed a 25% increase in premature births as reported by Michele L. Okun of the University of Pittsburgh. She also reported that in later stages of pregnancy the odds increased by 18%. The study included 166 pregnant women using self reporting questionnaires which included the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Interestingly enough sleep quality in the second trimester did not relate to premature birth.
Continue reading “Poor Sleep Linked to Premature Birth” »
