News Moms Need

It isn’t easy being pregnant during the dog days of summer! My sister-in-law and I are both pregnant during this heat wave. But while I’ve still got a ways to go with my pregnancy, she’s coming down the home stretch and is due in a couple of weeks. But as uncomfortable as she may be, she knows just how important these last weeks of pregnancy are for her baby.

A study published in the journal Pediatrics highlights this very issue. A healthy pregnancy lasts about 40 weeks. But  researchers found that children born even just a couple of weeks early (weeks 37 and 38) ended up having lower reading and math scores 8 years later than children who were born closer to 40 weeks.

Even though your provider may say you’re full term at week 37, those last few weeks leading up to week 40 are still very important. For example, your baby’s brain, lungs and liver are still developing. In fact, a baby’s brain at 35 weeks weighs just 2/3 of what his brain weighs at 39 to 40 weeks.

If your pregnancy is healthy, hang in there during those last weeks because it’s really best for your baby that you wait for labor to begin on its own. But if you’re thinking about scheduling your baby’s birth (like getting induced or requesting a c-section), wait until you’re at least 39 weeks. The last weeks of pregnancy really count!

Every week of pregnancy is crucial to a newborn’s health. Earlier this month the March of Dimes unveiled a new public education campaign to raise awareness about the important development that occurs during those last few weeks.

The campaign, called “Healthy Babies Are Worth the Wait,” encourages women to allow labor to begin on its own if their pregnancy is healthy. It aims to dispel the myth that it’s safe to schedule a delivery before 39 weeks of pregnancy without a medical need.

Babies born after 37 weeks of pregnancy are full-term. However, new research has shown that a baby’s brain nearly doubles in weight in the last few weeks of pregnancy. Also, important lung and other organ development occur at this time. And, although the overall risk of death is small, it is double for infants born at 37 weeks of pregnancy, when compared to babies born at 40 weeks, for all races and ethnicities.

“Some women mistakenly think that the only thing a baby does during the last weeks of pregnancy is gain weight, making labor and delivery more difficult,” said Judith Nolte, a member of the March of Dimes national Board of Trustees and former editor-in-chief of American Baby Magazine Group, who worked with the March of Dimes to develop the new awareness campaign. “When the moms in our focus groups learned about the important brain and organ development that occurs, they were more than willing to put up with their own discomfort so their baby could get a healthy start in life.”

Only 25 percent of women know a full-term pregnancy should last at least 39 weeks, according to research published in the December 2009 issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

“Women may feel worried, anxious, or simply uncomfortable near the end of their pregnancy. But unless there are medical complications, the healthiest and safest place for that developing infant is in the womb,” said Eve M. Lackritz, MD, chief of the Maternal and Infant Health Branch, Division of Reproductive Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who outlined the health consequences of an early birth. “Term labor and delivery are not just normal and natural – they’re the healthiest alternative for both the mother and the infant.”

Information about the new Healthy Babies Are Worth the Wait educational campaign can be found at marchofdimes.com/39weeks.

If your pregnancy is healthy, it’s best if your baby is born at 40 weeks.  Here’s why:
• A baby’s brain at 35 weeks weighs only 2/3 of what it will weigh at 40 weeks.
• In the last 6 weeks of pregnancy, your baby’s brain adds connections needed for balance, coordination, learning and social functioning.  During this time, the size of your baby’s brain almost doubles.
• Babies born early have more learning and behavior problems in childhood than babies born at 40 weeks.
• Babies born early are more likely to have feeding problems because they can’t coordinate sucking, swallowing and breathing as well as full-term babies.
• Babies born early are likely to have breathing problems, like apnea.  Apnea is when a baby stops breathing.
• Babies born early are more likely to die of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).  SIDS is when a baby dies suddenly and unexpectedly, often during sleep.

So if all’s well with your pregnancy, but you’re anxious to get it over with (got that “I’m so done with this” feeling), have a little more patience and hang in there.  A few weeks can make a huge difference.