Pregnant? The Horizon programme on BBC2 tonight could be of special interest to you

BBC2's Horizon programme tonight at 9pm is about the crucial importance of those nine months in the womb. Those months may well be the most important time of life, may critically determine the destiny, especially the health, of the unborn baby.

"Horizon explores the secrets of what makes a long, healthy and happy life. It turns out that a time you can't remember - the nine months you spend in the womb - could have more lasting effects on you today than your lifestyle or genes. It is one of the most powerful and provocative new ideas in human science, and it was pioneered by a British scientist, Professor David Barker. His theory has inspired a field of study that is revealing how our time in the womb could affect your health, personality, and even the lives of your children."

British study finds that breastfed babies have higher IQs than bottlefed

The Telegraph reports study finding that breastfed babies are more intelligent than bottlefed: "there were two schools of thought on how breastfeeding had an effect: that long-chain fatty acids in breast milk helped the brain develop; and that the act of breastfeeding improved the mother-child bond."

I would ascribe much of the benefit babies get from being breastfed to the fact that breast milk is low in sodium, lower in sodium than formula milk. And breast milk is, of course, the food that has evolved over millions of years as that best suited to human babies, especially newborns. Children, and babies in particular, are harmed by too high intake of sodium/salt. See Children and Salt Intake.

Warning about safety of Baby Sleep Positioners

See Daily Mail article.

Taking prescription drugs during pregnancy can do terrible harm to the baby growing inside you

Dr. Mary Newport sees the symptoms more and more in the babies she treats: oddly stiff limbs, severe tremors, vomiting, diarrhea, insomnia, crying that never stops. The common denominator: Their mothers were taking prescription drugs, mostly painkillers like OxyContin and Vicodin, and anti-anxiety drugs like Xanax during pregnancy.

Avoid drugs and alcohol during pregnancy. Protect your baby from needless suffering.
Read article in the St. Petersburg Times (Florida/USA)

Premature Baby Boy Dies of Dehydration from being put on a Saline Drip.

The Telegraph reports that a baby boy died earlier this month in the Queen's Medical Centre hospital in Nottingham after being put on a saline drip which apparently left him dehydrated.

This absolutely APPALS me. - A saline drip is a means of putting salt (sodium chloride) and water into the bloodstream by way of a vein. Doctors appear to believe that this hydrates the body. - It doesn't. -

A saline drip dehydrates the body. This dehydration could also be described as Salt Poisoning.

Salt is extremely harmful to small children and especially to babies, and this poor baby was premature and so even more vulnerable to harm from salt. I hope that those responsible for putting this baby on a saline drip will be named and will be severely punished so as to draw attention to the serious harm that salt causes to babies.

I believe there are horrifying parallels between this tragedy and the death of 3 year old Christian Blewitt in December 2002. - See the Saturday, March 03, 2007 entry on http://aboutsalt.blogspot.com/2007_03_01_archive.html See also the Wednesday, October 15, 2008 entry on http://aboutsalt.blogspot.com/2008_10_01_archive.html

In both of these sad deaths a saline solution was administered to a small child in hospital. In both cases the child died because of too much salt in the body. Health professionals seem unaware of the lethal possibilities of intravenous administration of saline solution to babies and small children.

I have a website about how salt is harmful to groups of people who are vulnerable to it. One of the vulnerable groups is children. - Here is an extract from my webpage http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html about children and salt:

"When children become fat it is essentially because they are eating salty food. Children are especially vulnerable to salt because of their small size and small blood volume, and because their blood vessels are weaker than those of adults. Salt, and the water it attracts to it, can more easily distend weak blood vessels than fully mature ones. The resulting increase in blood volume and other fluid retention results in weight gain, as well as higher blood pressure and many other undesirable consequences. The smaller the child, the less salt they should have - and a baby, of course, should have no salt at all. - Babies can die if they are fed salty food."

Here is a highly disturbing extract from the Telegraph report:

"Peter Walsh, the chief executive of Action against Medical Accidents, said

"This is a worrying incident. Research shows us that around 10 per cent of hospital admission result in adverse incidents. These are very alarming statistics.

"But more alarming is that the real figure is even higher since many errors go unnoticed by hospital staff. ""

Nursing mothers who breastfeed for longer are helping to prevent their baby from becoming obese.

Breastfeeding for longer helps to protect your baby from obesity

The main reason for this is that human breast milk is low in salt/sodium. Sodium is more harmful to children than to adults because of their small size, and it is particularly harmful to babies.

See Children and Obesity

See advice for pregnant mothers

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

And see Sodium in foods

Pregnant women who find it difficult to stop smoking will be targeted in a new government campaign.

Campaign to help pregnant women stop smoking
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"The advertising campaign, from NHS Smokefree, will highlight how every smoked cigarette restricts essential oxygen to the baby.

A baby's heart has to beat harder every time a pregnant woman smokes, it will show.

Around one in five pregnant women in England smoke during their pregnancy – equal to about 100,000 women at any one time.

A poll of 224 pregnant women for the campaign revealed 28 per cent would seek help to stop smoking but were worried about being judged."

The NHS Pregnancy Smoking Helpline number is 0800 1699 169.

Zoologist Desmond Morris admits that his latest study has left him in awe of the power and potential of the human infant.

Oh baby you're amazing
This is the link to read the article by Desmond Morris in the Telegraph. I found it very interesting indeed.

Paracetamol has been linked to three-fold increased risk of asthma in children

Giving young children Calpol or other paracetamol medicines increases the risk of them developing asthma, research has shown. Children aged six and seven who had paracetamol at least once a month were at three times the risk of having asthma than those who were never given it. Babies who were given the drug under the age of one were more likely to have asthma at six or seven but the greatest risk was amongst those who were receiving high doses, defined as once a month for 12 months.
Read article in the Daily Telegraph (UK)

Modern babies need to crawl more...

Modern babies need to crawl more, say experts

Extract from Sunday Telegraph article:

"Baby seats, booster chairs and wooden floors rob infants of the chance to crawl, leading to learning problems, child development experts have warned.

Babies are spending less time on their stomachs, which is hampering their ability to crawl. The early movement is vital to balance, hand/eye co-ordination and motor skills, which all play a part in children's ability to read and write, says Sally Goddard Blythe, director of the Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology, in Chester.

She argues, in a book due out next year, that babies' first playground should be the floor. "Children are spending more time in car seats, sitting in moulded baby chairs, using baby strollers," Mrs Goddard Blythe told The Sunday Telegraph. "The sleeping on the back campaign, while absolutely necessary, means there is less of a tendency to put babies on their stomachs when they are awake."

Babies kept out of the sun may be at risk of developing rickets.

Keeping babies sun-free increasing rickets risk - Telegraph

Extract:

"Protecting babies against skin cancer by keeping them out of the sun is putting them at risk of the crippling bone disease rickets, doctors have warned.

Breastfed infants need a top-up of vitamin D because they are no longer exposed to sufficient sunlight to generate the daily requirement themselves."


Also safeguard your children's health by feeding them meals low in salt. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html

New warning on risks of smoking near babies

Researchers issue new warning on risks of smoking near babies - Guardian

Misguided scientists create hazardous 'anti-obesity' infant formula

Scientists create 'anti-obesity' infant formula - The Independent

I am absolutely incensed about this! - Not content with ruining the health of the rest of the populace, obesity 'experts' are proposing to compromise babies' health before they have even got started on their lives...)o:

There is a dangerous presumption that somehow obesity will continue to increase despite what anyone does. - That is nonsense, of course. - The cause of increasing obesity is the dangerously flawed advice given by the 'experts'. - The assumption that keeps on being made is that obesity is caused by overeating, but it is not. - It is caused by fluid retention. - Fluid retention (and therefore obesity) is caused in children by eating salt or salty food. See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html - When adults who previously were slim suddenly put on a lot of weight (i.e. fluid retention) it is usually caused by taking prescribed medication, because so many prescribed drugs have the side-effects of sodium and water retention. See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html

There has never been any evidence to support the overeating theory of obesity causation, nor to support the calorie reduction/increase exercise theory of obesity reduction. They are both untested and untrue.

IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT NOT TO CUT DOWN ON CALORIES IF YOU WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT. - IT DOES NOT WORK. - SINCE OBESITY IS NOT CAUSED BY OVEREATING, IT IS NOT REVERSED BY UNDEREATING.

Slimming/dieting is unnecessary, ineffective and is ALWAYS harmful - often dangerously so.

The safe, easy, reliable, rapid way to lose excess weight is to stop eating salt/sodium and salty food and to eat plenty of fruit and fresh vegetables.

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk and my Mensa article Obesity and the Salt Connection Read about the politics, the medical negligence and the baleful pharmaceutical industry that have caused the obesity epidemic - page http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html (You need to read the whole page.)
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Junk food TV ad ban will cover under-16s: Ofcom

Junk food TV ad ban will cover under-16s

Extract:

"New rules designed to reduce children's exposure to "junk food" adverts on television were announced yesterday — and immediately came under fire from the food industry and health campaigners.

The regulator Ofcom said the ban will stop commercials for foods high in salt, sugar and fat being broadcast during children's programmes and shows "of particular appeal to viewers under 16".

This is part of a Government drive to reduce childhood obesity after evidence that television adverts have a modest effect on youngsters' diets.

The food industry called the rules ridiculous and disproportionate. Under the formula used to define junk food, adverts for cheddar cheese, Marmite, ketchup, raisins and porridge would be banned."

See also Junk food ad rules too watered down, say health groups

If adverts for "raisins and porridge" would be banned that would be strange indeed because both of these foods are low in salt and so are very good for children and would certainly not cause obesity in children! - Cheddar cheese, Marmite, ketchup are all high in salt/sodium and so are unsuitable foods for children, especially if the children are already overweight.

When children become fat it is essentially because they are eating salty food. Children are especially vulnerable to salt because of their small size and small blood volume, and because their blood vessels are weaker than those of adults. Salt, and the water it attracts to it, can more easily distend weak blood vessels than fully mature ones. The resulting increase in blood volume and other fluid retention results in weight gain, as well as higher blood pressure and many other undesirable consequences. The smaller the child, the less salt they should have - and a baby, of course, should have no salt at all. - Babies can die if they are fed salty food.

Because children have much smaller bodies than adults it would be best if they had no more than half as much salt as adults. Most children, however, have much more than this because they eat so many snacks and instant foods. Just one cheeseburger, for instance, contains almost double the recommended daily salt maximum for children. There are high amounts of salt in packet soups, instant noodles, ketchup and sauces, sausages, burgers and savoury snacks. Fat children will lose weight fast if they eat less salt. And even faster still if they eat plenty of fresh fruit and unsalted vegetables, because these are rich in potassium, which helps to displace sodium from the body.

See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html

Babies suffering because of their mothers' obesity

Another worrying report in today's Sunday Telegraph - see Babies suffering because of their mothers' obesity - is headed:

Babies suffering because of their mothers' obesity
By Michael Day

(Filed: 13/08/2006)

and begins:

"Thousands of newborn babies are dying or suffering birth defects because their obese mothers have developed diabetes.

New figures show that babies born to diabetic mothers are four times more likely to die shortly after birth than children born to women who do not have the condition. Babies delivered by diabetics are also between three and four times more likely to have serious heart, brain or spinal cord defects."

If only women were told the truth about how obesity comes about and the best and safest way to reduce it! - All pregnant mothers, whether diabetic or not, should be strongly advised to reduce their salt intake to a minimum for the duration of the pregnancy. This would prevent or reduce obesity (and reduce ill-effects in the newborn babies).

See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/pregnant_mothers.html for further information and explanation. (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or ads - just helpful info.)