News Moms Need

Can sitting in a bubble bath cause a urinary tract infection (UTI)? The answer isn’t clear, but it might contribute to one, especially in girls.

Your bladder stores urine in your body. When you urinate, the urine passes from the bladder through a tube called the urethra to exit your body. The urethra is shorter in girls than in boys, which can allow bacteria to enter the bladder more easily.

Any kind of strong soap or strong fragrance if not completely rinsed off can irritate the opening of the urethra. If irritated, it can become painful to pee and women, and especially young girls, might hold their urine longer than normal to avoid pain. Holding urine can allow bacteria to multiply and eventually reach the bladder, which can lead to infection.

Some health care professionals recommend keeping girls out of bubble baths until they are at least 3 years old. Others prefer that you avoid them completely. Regardless of age, if you, or your daughter, tend to get UTIs, don’t sit in a bubble bath. And watch out for baths that have bubbles from shampoo. Wait to shampoo her hair until the end of the bath and rinse her thoroughly, then out she gets!

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning women and their health providers that Valproate products, a group of medicines normally used to treat seizures, is unsafe for pregnant women to use to treat migraines. A recent study found that the products may harm brain development in babies, leading to lower IQs than healthy babies later in life. FDA also says women who aren’t pregnant and are using Valproate products should use birth control.

Valproate products are usually used to treat epilepsy, a brain disorder that causes you to have frequent seizures, and bipolar disorder, a serious mental illness that leads to unusual mood changes. FDA says that Valproate products may still be used to treat epilepsy and bipolar disorder in pregnancy, but only if no other treatment is suitable.

If you’re pregnant or thinking about getting pregnant, talk to your health provider about any medicines you take. Some medicines you take can hurt your baby. Once you’re provider knows what medicines you take, she can tell you which ones are safe and which ones you need to stop taking.

Learn more about the FDA announcement on Valproate.

You recently had a baby and life is very busy. You’re focus is on caring for this little one, but you may also be juggling other children, work, mountains of laundry, home chaos, relationships and, for many of us, exhaustion. While you might like a sibling for Junior in the future, now may not be the right time. Many parents look to contraception for help, but how do you know what to choose?

When choosing birth control, there are many things for you and your partner to think about, such as:
   - Your overall health
   - How often you have sex
   - If and when you want to have children
   - How well each method works in preventing pregnancy  
   - If the method prevents sexually transmitted infections (STIs) as well as pregnancy  
   - Any potential side effects
   - How easy the method is to use for you or your partner
   - Cost
   - If it’s a good choice for breastfeeding moms
   - How comfortable you and your partner feel about the method

Learning how to use some birth control methods can take time and practice. Don’t be afraid to talk to your doctor or midwife and ask questions. The most important thing is to find and use the birth control that works best for you. You can always try one method, and if you don’t like it, try another one.

As you think of Mother’s Day coming up, give the gift of health and knowledge to the moms-to-be. Invite them to this FREE webinar on May 6 at 1:00 PM ET to learn about exercise during pregnancy with March of Dimes medical advisor Dr. Siobhan Dolan. 

Some women think that pregnancy is a perfect time to sit back and put their feet up. Not so! For most women, it’s important to exercise during pregnancy and offers many health benefits. But how much exercise should you get and what’s safe? Join us on Monday – you’ll learn a lot.

We are grateful to Community Health Charities for making this webinar possible and available to everyone. Click on this link and register now!

If your baby is in the NICU, kangaroo care can seem like a life saver. Kangaroo care is a way to hold your baby so that there is as much skin contact between you and your baby as possible. It has wonderful benefits for both you and your baby.

For kangaroo care, your baby is placed upright on your bare chest.
• Ask the nurse for a warm blanket to cover you and your baby.
• Strong smells like perfume or cigarette smoke on you or your clothing can bother your baby, so be sure to wash before holding.
• Hold your baby for at least an hour in this position. Be sure to go to the bathroom and put your phone away before getting comfortable. Your baby needs your full attention.

Gentle, still touch is very important, especially for the most sick and fragile of babies. It might make you feel good to stroke your baby, but it doesn’t feel good to your baby in the NICU. Stroking can make a baby feel uneasy or uncomfortable. Touching without moving your hands is best.

Kangaroo care is good for your baby because it can:
• Keep your baby warm
• Stabilize your baby’s heart rate
• Help your baby gain weight
• Comfort your baby

It’s good for Mom and Dad too because:
• It can help you bond with your baby.
• It can stimulate a mother’s ability to make breast milk.
• It can reduce your stress and lift your spirits.
• It may help you become more confident parents.

Kangaroo care is safe and beneficial, even if your baby is connected to machines. Whatever your situation, kangaroo care is a precious way to be close to your baby. You will cherish this time. You can learn more about kangaroo care by looking at our Power Point presentation at this link.

Some infections can harm you and your baby during pregnancy. This is why vaccinations are so important. They help protect your body from infection, and you pass this protection to your baby during pregnancy. This helps keep your baby safe during the first few months of life until he gets his own vaccinations. 

Vaccinations also protect you from getting a serious disease that could affect future pregnancies. You probably got vaccinations as a child, but they don’t all protect you for your whole life. Over time, some childhood vaccinations stop working, so you may need what’s called a booster shot as an adult. Plus, there may be new vaccines that weren’t available when you were young, like the flu vaccine, recommended each year, or the Tdap vaccine that is recommended during each pregnancy. Talk to your health care provider to make sure all your vaccinations are up to date.

Not all vaccinations are safe to get during pregnancy. Here’s a link to a chart to help you know when you can get certain vaccinations if you need them. It includes the latest recommendations from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and from the CDC. Talk to your health care provider about vaccinations you need before, during or after pregnancy.

Foods we eat are broken down to glucose (blood sugar), which is the body’s main source of energy. Extra glucose is stored in the liver and is released into the blood stream as needed. Insulin is a hormone that helps our cells use energy from glucose.

Hypoglycemia (also called low blood glucose) is when blood glucose levels are too low. When blood glucose levels are low, your body can’t get the energy it needs.
 
Hyperglycemia (also called high blood glucose) is when your body doesn’t have enough insulin or can’t use insulin correctly. Both of these conditions are common in women with preexisting diabetes. 

Hypoglycemia is usually mild and easily treated by eating or drinking something with sugar in it. If it’s not treated, it can cause confusion and severe lightheadedness and you might pass out. Hypoglycemia can be caused by:
    • Not eating enough. This may mean you’ve been eating meals or snacks that are too small, or skipping or delaying meals or snacks.
    • Taking too much insulin
    • Getting too much physical activity

If you have hyperglycemia, you may need to change the amount of insulin you take, your meal plan or the amount of physical activity you get. Signs that you may have hyperglycemia include if you:
    • Need to go to urinate often
    • Are thirsty
    • Lose weight suddenly

Hyperglycemia can be caused by:
    • Problems with the amount of food you eat and diabetes medicine you take
    • Eating the wrong kinds of foods or more food than usual
    • Being less active than usual
    • Having an illness
    • Stress

If you have diabetes, it is important to know the early signs of hyperglycemia. If hyperglycemia is left untreated, it may develop into a more serious problem. You can read more about it at this link.

Your health care provider can monitor you for both of these conditions during pregnancy to make sure you and your baby stay healthy.

In Barbara’s speech therapy post last week, part of our delays & disabilities series, she mentioned how important little things like blowing bubbles can be. They’re actually used in speech therapy and can be loads of fun.

After reading that post and realizing that spring and warmer weather is about to descend upon us, I went in search of my bubble blowing equipment. I found the wands, including the ones we carefully made out of plastic-coated wire coat hangers, but the bubble mixture in the small bottles had dried up. Yikes! How could I have a houseful of kiddies around with no bubbles?  Putting my research skills to work, I found the following recipe. It makes what might appear to be a lot, but if your kids are as “enthusiastic” as mine, you might go through it faster than you think. 

Combine in a large bowl:
• ½ cup corn syrup
• 2 cups liquid dishwashing soap
• 5 cups warm water

Blend the ingredients with a wire whisk. (If you’re feeling energetic, carry the bowl outside and whisk up a cloud of bubbles, just for the heck of it!) Pour the bubble solution into small non-breakable bottles or cups with wands.  Then round up the kiddies and enjoy strengthening your facial muscles together.  :o)

Tuesday, March 26, is Diabetes Alert Day. It is designed to teach the public about the seriousness of diabetes, particularly when the disease is left undiagnosed or untreated.

Having gestational diabetes during pregnancy significantly increases a woman’s future chances of developing diabetes. About half will develop diabetes over the next 10 years. And the mom isn’t the only one at risk - her child of that pregnancy may be at an increased risk for developing obesity and type 2 diabetes later in life.

Find out if you’re at risk for type 2 diabetes by taking the Diabetes Risk Test and talking to your family about your family history of diabetes. If left undiagnosed or untreated, diabetes can lead to serious health problems including heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney disease, amputation, and even death.

For more information and free resources, visit the NDEP Web site at YourDiabetesInfo.org.

Many people I know take off their shoes and leave them by the door when they enter their home. They teach their children to do the same. It keeps from tracking in all sorts of unwanted dirt, germs and other nasty things, and helps keep the house clean. I get it. But we and many people we know don’t do that in our homes. We wipe our feet on the mat before we come in and keep our shoes on. Unfortunately, this causes a bit of a problem for us when the troops come to visit.

Well trained family members, even the tiniest tot, shed their shoes on the rug in the front hall. My husband and I, being empty-nester grandparents for years, are somewhat set in our ways. (Imagine that!) We’re not used to finding anything in the front hall and one of these days we’re likely to take a swan dive over a sandal and land in a heap. Not quite as spry as we once were (hmmmm), there is the remote possibility of cracking our thin candy shells or enduring hip trauma. Ouch! This might also be true for some grandparents you know.

So here’s an idea for all of us - create a shoe shed, boot box, moccasin mat or clog corral to leave by the door for all to use. (This is going to be my weekend project.) This will help eliminate potential accidents. And on behalf of all grandparents who might not see as well as we used to without our glasses, we thank you.