Another plus for breastfeeding – it may actually reduce the risk for multiple sclerosis (MS) relapse, according to a study that will be presented at the 61st Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Seattle this coming April-May.

The study followed up 32 women with MS and 29 without MS during their pregnancies and up to 1 year after delivery. During the follow-up period, 36% of women with MS who breastfed for at least 2 months had a relapse. This seems high but if you consider that 87% of non-breastfeeding women with MS had a relapse, then the message becomes clear.

52% of those with MS did not breastfeed or only did for a very short time and the main reason why they chose to do so was because they wanted to start taking their MS medications again. Most MS drugs cannot be taken while breasfeeding because they can get into the mother’s milk and affect breastfed babies. Unfortunately, the study showed that restarting medications within two months of delivery actually increased, rather than decreased the incidence of relapse.

The findings suggest that stopping breastfeeding early in favor of MS treatments may not be that beneficial to the mom after all. However, the mechanisms behind the breastfeeding – MS relapse link are not clearly understood and the study population was too small to be conclusive. Bigger studies are needed to confirm these findings.

Around 12% of babies born in the United States are born prematurely, or before 37 weeks of gestation.

Being born early can have some serious consequences for these babies who can face many medical and mental problems. New research suggests that there may be a link between maternal depression and premature births. The reasons for such a link are not really clear at this time however.

Depression during pregnancy tends to be a taboo topic I think because it seems as if everyone expects for you to be happy when you are pregnant. Because of this, many women are reluctant to admit that they are struggling when they are pregnant. In addition, I know of women who have been on depression medicine before they were pregnant and suddenly stop their meds when they find out they are pregnant because they worry about the effects of medication on their unborn child.

I don’t think that this research means that you need to panic if you struggle with depression and you are pregnant. What I think this says is that moms need to take care of themselves during pregnancy. If you are depressed, ask for help, and don’t struggle in silence. If you have been on medication prior to conceiving, talk with your doctor before stopping your medications. There are medications that can be taken during pregnancy with little risk to your child.

When women are pregnant, they must put up with all sorts of discomforts that are just part of the pregnancy package. Pregnancy induced discomforts will fade when the baby is born, but depression isn’t one of those things. Don’t endure your depression; get help for your sake and the sake of your child.

A prescription drug is meant to be taken only by the individual it was prescribed for. In other words, it’s a person-specific thing. Yet, this study reports that the incidence of sharing or borrowing prescription medications is quite high. The practice has become a major medical and public health problem.

What is even more disturbing is the fact that the highest incidence occurred among women of child-bearing potential. The results of the study, based on a survey of more than 25,000 people of different ages and gender, are as follows:

• 28.8% of women report having shared prescription medications. Only 26.5% of men surveyed do the same.
• More than a third (36.5%) of reproductive-aged women (7,500 women aged 18 to 44 years old) follows this practice. Only 19.5% of other aged women do the same.

The most common medications involved are anti-allergy drugs and analgesics (anti-pain). The risks of taking medications that were not prescribed by your doctor specifically for you are as follows:

• Drug interactions with other drugs and/or foodstuffs and drinks
• Drug allergies
• Development of antibiotic resistance
• Risk of addiction

In addition, certain drugs may have undesirable effects on people of child-bearing potential.

Certain drugs, we know, can have adverse effects on the development of embryos and fetuses when taken by pregnant women. What is less well-known is that there are drugs which can cause harm to babies of women who are still trying to get pregnant. Some drugs have very long half-life and can therefore persist in the body for long periods of time. Other drugs may also have effects on fertility, sexuality, and the reproductive system.

So, next time you are tempted to borrow, share, or lend prescription drugs, please think twice…

This one really breaks my heart – newborn babies in intensive care units are in pain and medical care is not doing enough to ease it.

The study published in the July 2 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association analyzed 42,413 painful procedures performed on 430 newborns. And the results are equally painful to a parent’s heart , as follows:

• only 2% of the newborns received medications to lessen pain
• only 18.2% were given non-pharmacological pain therapy.
• about four out of five babies received no interventions to relieve pain

The procedures and interventions conducted are many and ranges from a simple heel stick to draw blood to the complicated task of inserting a chest tube. The majority of babies who go to intensive care are preemies. Most of the procedures are necessary for monitoring as well as keeping the infant healthy. However, little babies aged 1 to 4 weeks old are very sensitive to pain. Repeated or prolonged exposure of babies to lots of pain can affect the way their brains process pain and may also have an effect on their long-term development and behaviour.

However, doctors are hesitant about using pain relieving-medications on these babies because of the risks. There are no medications especially designed for premature babies. The effects as well as side effects of commercially available pain relievers on very young infants are unpredictable.

The researchers recommend that pharmacological and non-pharmacological pain relief should be combined to get the desired effect. Giving babies sucrose or glucose solution, for example, has been shown to ease injection pains. The kangaroo care position has also shown to be helpful. Topical anesthetics may be used for mild procedures.

I remember the two weeks my premature twin boys spent at the neonatal clinic. There was one instance when the paediatrician had to search every square cm of his forehead and prick several times before she could hit a vein. I could understand that finding minute blood vessels on a tiny baby is an extremely difficult but necessary task. But this is no comfort for a mom, any mom, any parent.

We are all wary of taking drugs during pregnancy and nursing. But there are many among us who – for medical reasons – have to take medications, pregnant or not. I have to take thyroid replacement hormone everyday for the rest of my life. Others take pills for a wide range of pre-existing conditions such as asthma, allergies, epilepsy, or diabetes. It is estimated that in the US, pregnant women take on the average, 3 to 5 prescription drugs during pregnancy.

This is the reason why the US FDA has recent proposed to update the rules of labeling prescription drugs to give better and more detailed information of the effects of drugs to the unborn child or the nursing baby.

“Under the proposal, drug labeling would explain, based on available information, the potential benefits and risks for the mother and the fetus, and how these risks may change during the course of pregnancy.”

The new labels would contain a special sections on pregnancy and lactation. The “fetal summary risk” section should give all available information, be it on animals or humans, regarding this topic. The label should also reveal whether the drug has a pregnancy exposure registry, a registry which collects data on the effects of drugs prescribed to pregnant women.

In the lactation section, information about the amount of drug that is passed into the milk and possible effects to the nursing baby should also be given.

It is hoped that with the new labels, expecting and nursing mothers are better informed and protected.

Source:

FDA News 28 May 2008

The FDA issued a warning today advising parents to not give over the counter cough and cold medicines to infants and toddlers because of the risk of “serious and life threatening side effects that can occur”.

In October of last year, drug companies stopped selling certain versions of baby medicines. Later that same month, FDA advisors voted that the drugs didn’t work in infants and suggested that such drugs not even be used for pre-schoolers–meaning children up to age 6. Expect a formal ruling on the use of such medications in preschoolers and elementary school children to be publicized some time in spring.

Why issue a warning now? The FDA is concerned that parents have not gotten the message and that they may currently have such medicines at home, or that they may use other medicines designed for older children to medicate their infants. Also, decades ago, when these medications were first developed, scientists thought that what worked in an adult automatically would work in an infant.

Right now, specialists are advising parents who have infants with colds and coughs to rely on old fashioned remedies which include–plenty of love, rest, and liquids.