Pregnancy & Childbirth News Briefs

A couple of items of interest in the news lately:

Pre-Pregnancy Multivitamins Prevent Prematurity - A new study shows that women who are taking a multivitamin before they conceive are less likely to have premature babies. Women who took vitamins starting in early pregnancy did not have the same lowered risk of prematurity. (Though of course, getting sufficient nutrients has other important benefits.)

Women's reproductive factors and the risk of rheumatoid arthritis: Study suggests prolonged preventive effect of breastfeeding and links irregular menstrual cycles to increased risk of disease - Women who breastfed babies - regardless of how many children they had - for 13-23 months reduced their risk of rheumatoid arthritis by 20% compared to those who didn't. And women who had breastfed for at least 24 months increased their risk reduction to 50%. "Our data suggest breast-feeding confers long lasting protection against developing RA," Dr. Karlson states, "because the mean time since the last pregnancy among women with RA was 25 years."

Older brother learns truth about storks: "Dr. Devon," 5, as his mom calls him, helps her give birth at home while waiting for the paramedics. - O.k., this one is cute, and needs no further explanation. But a little rant from the Mommy Blawger: last I checked, doctors in California weren't doing homebirths. So perhaps the article should have said that little Devon received "unexpected training" as a midwife, not an obstetrician.