Let’s Talk Babies

Infant mortality is a difficult subject to talk about.  No one wants to think about the bad things that can happen.  It is often easier to sugar coat the statistics and pretend like it is something that only happens to other people.  However, in order to combat problems like preterm births and stillbirths we have to talk about them.  We have give those tiny babies and their families a voice so that hopefully one day it won’t happen at all.

Globally, 13 million babies are born premature and approximately 3.2 million stillbirths occur.  Preterm birth accounts for approximately 1 million infant deaths yearly and is the leading cause of infant death worldwide.   Though preterm births and stillbirths are more common in low and middle income countries they are growing problems in higher income countries, like the United States.  In the US approximately 1 in 8 babies is born prematurely and the health care costs associated with preterm births accounts for more than $26 billion annually making it the 7th leading healthcare expense in this country.

The Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirths (GAPPS) recently funded a study conducted by maternal and child healthcare experts from around the world that looked at the causes of both premature and stillbirths and the possible interventions that could be used to help combat preterm and stillbirths globally.  The study found that not enough is known, globally, about what causes most preterm and stillbirths and calls for action, particularly in the area of research.  The more people know the greater the chances of preventing both stillbirths and preterm births will be.

However, researchers lack access to quality tissue samples in order to conduct the research necessary to determine the most common causes of preterm and stillbirths and ultimately what measures can be taken to help prevent them.  As a result, GAPPS is partnering with hospitals, research labs, universities both here in the United States and around the world to establish a tissue repository.  The hope is collect a large cross sample of specimens from pregnant women and newborns from around the world so researchers have access to the date they need.

Infant death is a tragic and heartbreaking issue that we need to talk about, think about and address.   The more we know the better off our children will be.  I hope one day we know enough to prevent these tragedies from occurring so every pregnant woman will know the joy of holding her healthy infant in her arms and every baby gets the best start at life.

The collective hearts of our community are broken today at the sad news that Layla Grace lost her battle with cancer this morning.  She was only 2 years old.  Her passing breaks my heart beyond words.

Please say a prayer and send healing thoughts to the Marsh family today as they begin the process of saying [Read the rest]

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Hello Baby Direct, a really cool online baby store based in the United Kingdom, to see if I would get interested in reviewing one of their top selling products, Sophie the Giraffe.  I had heard about Sophie before but never come across one in my baby store [Read the rest]

11 years.  It has been 11 years.
On this day, 11 years ago, I lost my father to his lifelong battle with depression.  March 4th, 1999
my father took his own life leaving behind a trail of broken hearts, guilt, and an endless amount
of “what ifs”.
The day my father passed away had been a day like any [Read the rest]

Toddlers love to mimic their parents.  They love to help out around the house.  They love to follow mom or dad around and copy what they are doing.  This natural behavior can come in handy when it comes to teaching your children life skills and helping them become little helpers around the house.  By encouraging [Read the rest]