IMPACT OF STRESS DURING PREGNANCY ON CHILD OUTCOME

The effect of the environment of the foetal in the womb and how it affects long term outcomes of the infant is termed foetal programming. Foetal programming in simple terms refers to the way in which the environment in the womb can affect the development of the foetus and thereby can have a permanent effect on the child.
Stress is one of the major factors that affects the environment of the foetus and research has shown that that the weight of the baby is greatly affected by stress the mother goes through during pregnancy whether emotional stress, aniexty, or depression, Research has also shown that smaller babies are more likely to die of cardiovascular disease in their 70s than their bigger counterparts.
Emotional stress, aniexty and depression  of about 15% affects the development of the foetal brain and has an increased risk on the later life of the infant.
Exposure that have been shown to be associated with altered child outcomes varys from very severe stress such as the death of an older child, to quite mild stresses such as daily hassles. They include symptoms of maternal anxiety, pregnancy anxiety and daily hassles, bereavement and stress due to relationship problems with partner.
A no of studies has identified an impact of stress during pregnancy on neurodevelopmental functioning on the neonatal behavioural assessment scale; and psychopathological outcomes of infants and toddlers e.g difficult temperament, sleep problems and lower cognitive performance, and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).
Every potential mother should avoid as much stress as they can during prgnancy to avoid long term negative outcomes on their Infants.
Many are not away of this effects that is why I have decided to share this piece which I am learning from a course am taking online on Babies mind, it's really an awesome opportunity for me. I hope this will be helpful.

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CHILD CARE

Yes the care of our infants is our sole responsibility, every child deserves real care by the parents or guardian or whoever it is at that time is taking care of the infant. i do not know for others but whenever something goes wrong with a baby either an injury sustained from a domestic accident or an injury sustained from whatsoever means that would have been avoided if we were more careful with taking care of the infant, i most often find myself blaming the caregivers who give care to these infants
Today i was in a vehicle with a young woman who had her baby tied to her back, she requested i help her put on the baby's cap of which i gladly did because i observed the weather was a bit too cold for the baby, on our way the mother who was obviously tired slept off, the baby also slept but while the baby turned on her back i discovered the other side of the baby's head was not covered so i decided to cover the head properly with the cap, the mother did not even know that i did this because she was asleep, then i asked myself what if i actually wanted to harm this child, i would do it and get away with it because the mother is not alert. i thought to myself that the young child deserves more than this and as usual tapped the mother to advice her to reduce moving the baby around especially in public vehicles.
Below are the little care we can add to the ones we are already giving to our infants to keep them safe, remember we owe them that role.

• Reduce the movement of your baby outside of his or her comfort zone, if you must move them around then be ready to keep up with your responsibilities by giving your all to ensure that they are safe
• Always put an eye on your baby at home, for no reason should your child be left alone, it is very risky to leave your child alone
• pay close attention to their needs at every time, remember they cannot speak for themselves, it is your duty to understand their body languages and to be able to decipher what the baby needs at each point in time
•  lastly always bear in mind that your child safety is primarily dependent on you.

VISIT TO PRIMARY HEALTH CENTRES CREATING AWARNESS ON RHESUS INCOMPATIBILITY, FREE BLOOD GROUP INVESTIGATION AND DONATION OF ANTI D.

The month of July was fabulous for me, because it featured so many fabulous things, the first three Tuesdays in the month of July i visited four primary health centers in Oninbongbo local government area of lagos state in Nigeria.
I had talk sessions, where i educated the audience about rhesus incompatibility, did free blood group investigation and free donations of anti-D shots.
I achieved this project, with sponsorship from alpha pharmacy in Lagos, Nigeria and my mentor and God mother, Hon Justice Joy Isiaha Unwana.
The aim of this project was to reduce the mortality rate of infants in these local government area. I am glad to say that this project was a success and have saved rhesus negative mother the trauma of losing their next pregnancies after sensitization.
I will like to state that, after this project i got so encouraged, and pray for more opportunities to execute other projects to come.      

Happy viewing!!!!!!!

MOTHERHOOD

I sometimes wounder if mothers have the same mind with other humans,although not all women are mothers and not all biological mothers play their roles as real mothers. Being a mother I believe entails more than we can imagine.
For mankind the best gift that it has, is "Motherhood". I say this because over the years i have sat and pondered about how the world, our societies would have been without this most precious gift 🎁, how our heroes, heroine, great men and women, people of great value that we admire and aspire to be like would never had existed without a mother figure in their lifes, one who raised them when they were nothing, all dirty and scruffy and never contemplated dumping them because of one sickness or the other which i believe every child encouters especially back in the days where there was no proper access to medical care. A friend once told me how her mother's friend apologized to her for ever advising her mother to throw her away as a three month old child, just because she was sick and the sickness had an unknown cause, so they all perceived she was a cursed child, that she should be thrown away, but her mother insisted on keeping her even if it meant everyone rejecting her. After this narration i could only imagine what truma mothers go through trying to raise us.
I will like to state here that motherhood is indispensable.
I can't quit talking about this precious gift 🎁 to us. Yet again while i sat in that vehicle waiting for passengers to fill it up, I watched people go about their businesses, then i sited this mother who sat by the coner of the road with her son selling recharge vouchers, then she did a seemingly normal action but for me it was an awesome act, I noticed she took her mouth to the dripping nose of her son and sucked the nose dry and later spat out the mucus from her son's nose out of her. There again i could not help but conclude that motherhood is a combination of silver, gold, ruby, and diamond ♦, it's simply priceless.
My mother once lamented to me saying ; "maybe mothers have God's own kind of heart,that is why they keep forgiving and forgiving over and over again ", she said this after I offended her.
This piece is to all real mothers out there, keep preserving and preparing us to fufil God's given purpose for our lifes, keep being the vessel and vehicle that God uses to transport us to our destiny.
God bless Motherhood!!!!

My Nipple hurts because of breastfeeding

Yesterday a young lady walked into my office, with a 12 weeks old baby complaining of how her Nipple hurt.  It will interest you to know that because of this she stopped breastfeeding the child, Which is of course fair, because she has been in pains and her Nipples were inflamed. I got more curious as usual to understand why she is in so much pain when her new-born barely has a tooth, so I asked, "what makes your Nipple hurt"? And she says "my baby drags the Nipple while sucking", "my Nipple started swelling and bathing has been a problem because whenever water touches the Nipple it hurts even more", she added. This was when it occurred to me that the position at which the baby was kept during Breastfeeding was a major factor that contributed to the pain she was undergoing.
To all breastfeeding mothers, and yet to be mothers, to avoid the above from occurring you should consider the following outline :

--Attend your antenatal clinics as shucduled by your doctor. Where you can be exposed to teachings on breastfeeding.

--If you are not sure of the right position for your newborn, please always endeavour to seek proper guidance from your nurse or doctor.

--During Breastfeeding be sure to look out for the way your baby is positioned, ensure that the distance of your Nipple to his mouth isn't much, so that the baby doesn't get to drag your Nipple while sucking the Nipple at the same time.

--Report immediately to your doctor or nurse when you start feeling the pains.

I will like to end by saying ; our newborns needs us to stay committed to our health, because this way their health too is guaranteed.

God bless womanhood!!!!!!

Here we go Again!!!!!......

"All corpers are to report at Oshidi Isolo local government area on Thursday 19-03-2013 to meet with the state coordinator for lagos state National youth service Corp, The local government inspector announced on Tuesday, and here am I again with The entire corpers in lagos state, the room is filled with Corp members with little or no sits for them to sit and some people standing and some clustering close to the window just to receive air, while some are fanning themselves with something, the whole place is stuffy and smoking hot. I struggled to grap a sit, and while I sat a young mother walked in with her own sit and because of lack of space she sat directly opposite me with are three months old daughter, and then it struck me again, what kind of stress this young baby might be going through if I as an adult could feel so stressed and uncomfortable in this God forsaken place, I quickly decided to advice the mother to avoid putting her baby through this Kind of stress again.
This goes to all women, our babies deserve to be at the right environment at all times, we should do all we can to avoid exposing our babies to harm, who knows that gathering might not be that safe. God bless all good mothers!!!!

Happy mothers day

It's another mothers day....a very big Shout out to all the real mothers out there..there is no us without you...

The success of your child tomorrow is dependent on the care and concern you give your child from infancy.....it's our responsibility as women to see to the health and well beign of the children God has given us.. ##What a privilege to be a woman##!!!

Reasons lactating mothers don't practice Exclusive breast feeding

Following the conversation I had with some lactating mothers today, I was thrilled to know that most women share the same reasons to why they are not able to achieve exclusive breast feeding, apart from the fact that some said they were not able to religiously attain antenatal, this made me more curious to know their reasons for not doing the "expected "....one of the women said and I quote "My friend faints everyday because of exclusive, don't want to die and leave my baby in name of exclusive, I am a medical Practioner and I preach exclusive breast feeding but to be sincere I can't cope with it and I bet you that if you put to birth today you will be unable to practice exclusive "...after I listened to this lines I was almost influenced, but I refuse to be influenced. It's quite understandable that women are not able to practice good maternal and Child health care,especially in my country Nigeria where health is generally taken lightly , and also for the reason of  the stress it entail to actually practice.. With all this said and done, I will not cease to advance and educate women on the need to practice good maternal and Child health care, women should be committed to attend antenatal clinics, pay extra attention to the well beign of our unborn and born children because it is our responsibility as women,and what you are responsible for, you watch out for.. On this note I will like to end by saying that "everybody doing the wrong thing doesn't ever make the wrong thing right"....we should be committed to excuting right doing... GOD BLESS WOMEN AND MOTHERS ALL AROUND THE WORLD.....