Happy New Year! Here is a total mishmash (not even sorted! only sort of related!) of interesting links for your enjoyment. It feels good to start clearing out my starred list in Google Reader, at least!
Many perspectives on why to have a doula for your homebirth (and a few on why you might not have one).
Doulas serving the expat community (as well as locals) in South Korea
The Well-Rounded Mama posts a list of obesity and birth/breastfeeding research on her Christmas wish list. Any public health peeps out there want to get on it?
The amazing Cathy Genna has a page on tongue tie including pictures and posterior tongue ties.
One mother's struggle with getting her daughter's tongue tie (and lip tie) properly diagnosed and treated - she ended up traveling to Dr. Kotlow to get treatment. "My prayer is that it will not always be this difficult for tongue-tied babies and their mothers. It should not require so much time and so many resources to simply feed your baby."
Interesting and varied responses to the updated UK guidelines on c-section availability.
Knit your own baby-wearing coat extender!
A post on cultural issues and breastfeeding, specifically on diet. My preferred way to deal with this (right now) so as not to contradict any breastfeeding cultural traditions: when people ask me if there are foods they should eat/not eat, I say "Every culture seems to have their own foods that they say are good or bad!" and then I name some examples. Hispanic mothers are often surprised to hear that Americans think broccoli is bad, for instance. I say "If there are foods that your culture thinks are good or bad, then go ahead and do what is recommended. Unless you hate the food! Then you don't have to eat it."
Showing posts with label obesity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label obesity. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Michelle Obama on the importance of breastfeeding
From Michelle Obama's speech at the NAACP National Convention, July 12:
And finally, it’s one thing we can think about, is working to make sure that our kids get a healthy start from the beginning, by promoting breastfeeding in our communities. (Applause.) One thing we do know is that babies that are breastfed are less likely to be obese as children, but 40 percent of African American babies are never breastfed at all, not even during the first weeks of their lives.
And we know this isn’t possible or practical for some moms, but we’ve got a WIC program that’s providing new support to low-income moms who want to try so that they get the support they need.
And under the new health care legislation, businesses will now have to accommodate mothers who want to continue breastfeeding once they get back to work. (Applause.) Now, the men, you may not understand how important that is. (Laughter.) But trust me, it’s important to have a place to go.
I also heard recently that Michelle Obama's office has been talking to national breastfeeding organizations about incorporating breastfeeding support/advocacy into their "Let's Move" campaign. So exciting that she is finally talking about this!
Via Blacktating.
And finally, it’s one thing we can think about, is working to make sure that our kids get a healthy start from the beginning, by promoting breastfeeding in our communities. (Applause.) One thing we do know is that babies that are breastfed are less likely to be obese as children, but 40 percent of African American babies are never breastfed at all, not even during the first weeks of their lives.
And we know this isn’t possible or practical for some moms, but we’ve got a WIC program that’s providing new support to low-income moms who want to try so that they get the support they need.
And under the new health care legislation, businesses will now have to accommodate mothers who want to continue breastfeeding once they get back to work. (Applause.) Now, the men, you may not understand how important that is. (Laughter.) But trust me, it’s important to have a place to go.
I also heard recently that Michelle Obama's office has been talking to national breastfeeding organizations about incorporating breastfeeding support/advocacy into their "Let's Move" campaign. So exciting that she is finally talking about this!
Via Blacktating.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Should we keep talking about obesity in public health?
Dr. Dinosaur has a good post on Why Obesity is NOT a Disease. Unfortunately, I think this is news to a lot of people, including many health care professionals. In public health, obesity=disease is accepted as a given and this often makes me uncomfortable. I feel fortunate that I have been exposed to the writing, speaking, and work of fat activists and research from scientists who are questioning the “obesity epidemic” - but only in a limited way. I don’t really feel confident enough to fight a lot of the generalizations that are made about overweight/obesity in class lectures and discussions. In public health, at least, while the outcome focus may be on reducing obesity, the methods are generally not focused narrowly on weight loss. Public health tends to go for more walking paths, better food options, and other interventions to help people lead overall healthier lifestyles.
On the other hand, continuing the data collection focus on overweight/obesity concerns me. I’m running some data for my internship right now on preconception and prenatal risk factors for women who have experienced a fetal loss or infant death. I noticed that while prepregnancy weight BMI data gave us all 4 categories (underweight, normal weight, overweight, obese) last year’s report only reported percent of women who were overweight and obese. Yet 10% of our sample had been underweight, which seemed like a pretty big number. I decided to do a little literature search on risks of prepregnancy underweight and found that they were not insignificant – and included increased risks of preterm birth and low birth weight, which were two of the main causes of infant death in the group we’re looking at. It’s moments like this when our lopsided obsession with BMI really becomes clear, and I feel like I should speak up more in class. As it is, I added a sentence to this year’s report discussing underweight. Of course, I couldn’t have a nice little box comparing it to the Healthy People 2010 goals (the way I did for obesity) because wouldn’t you know it – there is no HP 2010 goal regarding underweight.
For great posts on what this focus on weight means to pregnant women, and resources to educate yourself more on pregnancy and women of size (along with great posts on other topics like cesarean prevention) check out The Well-Rounded Mama (the list of “Top Posts” to the right of her current posts is a good place to start).
(P.S. Nursing bra post coming soon!)
On the other hand, continuing the data collection focus on overweight/obesity concerns me. I’m running some data for my internship right now on preconception and prenatal risk factors for women who have experienced a fetal loss or infant death. I noticed that while prepregnancy weight BMI data gave us all 4 categories (underweight, normal weight, overweight, obese) last year’s report only reported percent of women who were overweight and obese. Yet 10% of our sample had been underweight, which seemed like a pretty big number. I decided to do a little literature search on risks of prepregnancy underweight and found that they were not insignificant – and included increased risks of preterm birth and low birth weight, which were two of the main causes of infant death in the group we’re looking at. It’s moments like this when our lopsided obsession with BMI really becomes clear, and I feel like I should speak up more in class. As it is, I added a sentence to this year’s report discussing underweight. Of course, I couldn’t have a nice little box comparing it to the Healthy People 2010 goals (the way I did for obesity) because wouldn’t you know it – there is no HP 2010 goal regarding underweight.
For great posts on what this focus on weight means to pregnant women, and resources to educate yourself more on pregnancy and women of size (along with great posts on other topics like cesarean prevention) check out The Well-Rounded Mama (the list of “Top Posts” to the right of her current posts is a good place to start).
(P.S. Nursing bra post coming soon!)
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