An Australian study suggests that female vets over-exposed to anaesthetics, X-rays and pesticides used could be at an increased risk of a miscarriage during pregnancy.

The concern is for those working in smaller practices where “scavenging” equipment used to suck away waste gases, such as nitrous oxide, may not be used.

Nitrous oxide inhalation can lead to an increased risk of miscarriage.

The risk to women exposed to these gases for at least one hour per week rose by around 250%, based on a research questionnaire carried out among 2,800 vets.

Those who carried out more than five X-rays per week had an 82% increased risk, and those who used pesticides had an 88% increased risk.

“We hope that our research will make vets aware of the need to fully protect themselves whilst they are working, especially if they planning to have a baby,” said lead researcher Dr Adeleh Shirangi.

(Via BBC News)

Kids organic cotton clothing company, Arabella Miller, have launched their funky Summer collection. The designs debuted at Premier Kids in January 2008 where fashion trend bible WGSN selected Arabella Miller as one of the top ten brands at the show. This Summer’s themes are:

Space: Just perfect for little boys looking for a friendly Alien Close Encounter

Minibeasts: the “politically correct” name for bugs! Butterflies, Ladybirds and Dragonflies

Pets: Rabbits, Dogs and Cats all feature on these tees with a twist!

Arabella Miller produces cotton clothing for babies and children certified organic by the Soil Association. They are also the first kids t-shirts to be organically printed in the UK by a Soil Association certified printer.

The designs are bold and character driven with Japanese inspired flat graphics, truly unique amongst the growing “green brands” there’s no beige in sight!

A new survey has revealed that 1 in 10 parents don’t sterilise their baby’s bottles and feeding equipment, putting them at risk of sickness and diarrhoea caused by bacteria in the bottles. The survey of 3,000 parents by sterilising experts Milton found that out of those who do sterilise, 36% only sterilise equipment once a day rather than before/after every feed as recommended by the NHS.

The survey also revealed that 25% of parents stop sterilising at 6 months, the time when a baby’s immune system is at its weakest, indicating that there is a lack of information given to parents about the importance of sterilising and good hygiene. 65% of parents revealed that they get their baby care advice from their GP or midwife however friends and family also have a strong influence for half of parents.

50% of the parents surveyed said their babies had suffered between 1 to 3 stomach upsets during their first 12 months, with a further 8% stating their babies suffered diarrhoea more frequently.

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Far from being an enjoyable prelude to a relaxing break, planning the family holiday is likely to leave mums feeling stressed and tempted not to go away at all, according to new research from Holiday-Rentals.co.uk. The survey of over 1,000 UK mums has revealed that 84% are left to plan the family holiday by themselves, with 60% finding it a stressful experience. The problem has reached such an extent that many have considered not going away at all due to the stress of trying to plan the perfect getaway.

The research has found that, behind moving house and preparing for Christmas, planning a family holiday is the most stressful event in most mums’ lives. To help ease the pressure, Holiday-Rentals.co.uk has developed the “Mums’ Holiday Guide”, offering advice on everything from choosing the right location, to packing and how to get the rest of the family involved in organising the holiday. The Mums’ Holiday Guide is free to download from www.Holiday-Rentals.co.uk/MumsHolidayGuide and has been created with advice and top tips from real mums, allowing everyone to benefit from the nation’s collective experience!

The survey found that the journey to and from the holiday destination is the most stressful part of a family holiday, with almost a third (29%) of mums stating that long flights, cramped car journeys and claustrophobic ferry trips cause anxiety. Making sure that everyone has packed the right things and organising passports and paperwork also top the list of holiday hassles.

Although it is overwhelmingly mums (84%) that organise the family holiday, many do get a helping hand from the rest of the family once they arrive. When on a self-catering holiday nearly half (47%) of mums share tasks with the rest of the family, compared to a mere fifth (22%) when at home. Typically Dad lends a hand by barbequing, helping to prepare meals and washing up, while everyone helps to keep the place tidy.

Accommodation also proved to be a major bone of contention, with many mums complaining about inadequate facilities or arriving to find they hadn’’t quite got what they booked!

One disgruntled mum commented, “My worst holiday ever was when we arrived and discovered, having booked two interconnecting rooms, we hadn’’t got them. My two-and-a-half year old daughter was put in a room on her own with double doors to fire escape which didn’’t lock and the heating didn’’t go above 17 degrees!’”

Another said, ““Don’’t assume anything! We thought going to a well-known family holiday camp would be fun. How wrong we were; the caravan stunk to high heaven, the camp was tacky and the entertainment was awful! We won’’t be doing that again!””

With its easy to use website listing over 45,000 properties worldwide, Holiday-Rentals.co.uk makes finding the perfect accommodation easy, and has created the Mums Holiday Guide to help make the planning process smoother for busy mums too. With advice on destinations and tips to take the pain out of planning, the guide contains everything mums need to make sure they enjoy their holiday too!

Greg Grant, UK MD for Holiday-Rentals.co.uk said, “Based on the results of our research, it’’s not surprising that mums can find holidays stressful! We can’’t force other members of the family to help mum more on holiday, but we have done everything we can to help take the pain out of planning with our Mums Holiday Guide.””

“Renting a holiday home provides families more space, privacy, comprehensive facilities, and the flexibility to take time out for themselves. Unlike hotel rooms, holiday homes give kids space to breathe and parents freedom to relax in another room, but everyone is still under the same roof.”

With a wide range of accommodation available, users of Holiday-Rentals.co.uk can choose the type and size of property they want for any destination they’’d like to visit. The website is easy to navigate and all properties have at least four colour photos and a detailed description of what guests can expect.

Stellina Baby has quietly built a following for its luscious 100% cashmere baby clothes. From May it is extending its range to include clothes for children up to the age of 3. New cashmere dresses, tank tops and hoodies will be available online at www.stellinababy.com from 1st May helping you bring a little Italian style to your child’s wardrobe this summer.

Named after traditional Italian sweets, the new items in the collection are:

Panna Cashmere Dress (£65) (pictured)

Round collared, short sleeve dress with an A-line skirt made from deliciously soft cashmere. ‘Panna’ means cream in Italian.

Mandorla Hooded Tank Tops (£55)

This cute sleeveless hoodie for boys or girls is available with Chocolate and Vanilla stripes and contrasting Kiwi edging. ‘Mandorla’ means almond in Italian.

Cremino Tank Tops (£50)

These simple Cremino tanktops for boys or girls are available in Biscuit, Vanilla and Celeste (blue) or Vanilla, Light Grey and Buttercup. Cremino is an Italian chocolate and means little cream in Italian.

The new garments add to Stellina Baby’s already comprehensive cashmere range which includes beautifully detailed baby gros, cardigans, jumpers, ballet wraps, hats, socks, blankets and gift sets in a variety of colours and designs. Prices start at £16.

Stellina Baby recommends that garments be hand washed. Careful washing can ensure that the item will last a lifetime.

All Stellina Baby deliveries come in a beautiful beribboned gift box at no extra cost, making the site an ideal destination for doting grandparents, parents or friends alike.

Stellina Baby is a family run business specialising in cashmere clothes for babies, toddlers and young children up to the age of three. Its range is stylish, practical and contemporary, and is updated each season. It specialises in clothing of 100% cashmere and an unusual cashmere variant with a cashmere outer and soft cotton inner, ideal for children and babies with sensitive skin or eczema. Stellina Baby was inspired by colourful memories of an Italian childhood combined with a love of style, fashion and great design. Visit www.stellinababy.com for further information.

A special free event for mums of all ages is being held in York on Friday 18th April 2008. The event is a one-stop shop allowing mums to investigate new options for positive living.

The event includes zones on pampering, learning, self-employment, volunteering and parenting support. A number of workshops on confidence-building and creative writing are also offered.

Any mums who turn up with children are able to go away with a free photograph of their little one.

Catherine Holmes explains, “When I finally overcame post-natal depression and workplace bullying, there was no one place to go to find out what to do next. This is how I came up with the idea of More than a Mum”

The venue is the 650 year old Merchant Adventurers Hall in central York. The doors open at 10am and close at 4pm.

A study published in “Alternative Therapies In Health and Medicine” (Feb, 2008) reports that blocked fallopian tubes can be opened without surgery, enabling infertile women to become pregnant naturally.

Authors of the study “Treating Fallopian Tube Occlusion with a Manual Pelvic Physical Therapy,” became curious after a pilot study published in “Fertility and Sterility” (9/06) showed the treatment returned fertility in women with blocked and swollen tubes.

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As a parent, you often take extra health precautions to protect your child from “winter” illnesses such as colds and the flu, but the National Meningitis Association (NMA) wants to be sure you know about one preventative health measure that is often overlooked — vaccination against meningococcal disease.

Meningococcal disease, commonly called meningitis, is a potentially deadly bacterial infection that can strike adolescents and young adults. The disease moves quickly and can lead to death or permanent disability, such as brain damage, organ failure or limb amputations, within hours of first symptoms. While meningococcal disease can occur at any point throughout the year, cases peak in the late-winter and early-spring months reinforcing the importance of seeking vaccination this time of year rather than waiting for back-to-school physicals.

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Newly published data by Dr. J. Barthelow Classen shows that vaccines are particularly likely to cause diabetes in children with a strong family history of insulin dependent diabetes. Previous papers provided proof that vaccines cause diabetes in vaccine recipients at a rate which exceeds their benefit in the general population. New data indicates vaccines are particularly toxic to those with a strong family history of diabetes. For example, the hemophilus vaccine which had been proven to cause diabetes in approximately 1 in every 2,000 immunized children in the general public has now been linked to causing diabetes in 1 in every 50 immunized children (2%) who have a sibling with insulin dependent diabetes. The new data is published in the Open Pediatric Medicine Journal. An accompanying article in the same journal links the hepatitis B vaccine to insulin dependent diabetes.

“The recent data shows that common childhood vaccines are especially dangerous to children with a strong family history of diabetes. Parents of a child with a strong family history of insulin dependent diabetes or other should know that the administration of a full series of vaccines may have a greater than 5% chance of causing their child to develop diabetes.”

Classen’s research has become widely accepted. To view the published papers and to find out the latest information on the effects of vaccines on autoimmune diseases including insulin dependent diabetes visit the Vaccine Safety Web site

There are many different reasons why parents name a new-born baby the way they do, but pizza shouldn’t be one of them… should it?

In celebration of a style of pizza, Domino’s Pizza will throw a pizza party for every family that names their child Brooklyn this Friday, 29th February 2008.In addition, the family of the first child named Brooklyn born in the continental U.S. on Leap Day will receive $1,000 in pizza gift certificates.

Apparently, any spelling of the name will qualify — let’s just hope parents don’t go the whole hog in celebration of the company’s pizza and name their child BRKLYN.

“Leap Year babies beat the odds by being born on February 29, a day that rolls around only once every four years,” said Jenny Fouracre, Domino’s Pizza spokesperson. “We think they are very special and deserve a memorable birthday with a good story about how they were named. What a lucky group - they will be 10 when most people born the day before or after them are 40.”

Well, it takes all sorts. I’ve nothing against the name Brookyln itself, but surely there are other reasons to name your child than in an effort to score some free pizza?

What do you think?

This study sits rather uneasily with me, though it’s worth bearing in mind that I only had access to a few brief paragraphs, rather than the entire paper.

However, for what it’s worth, researchers at King’s College, London, studied 1,116 sets of twins, finding much higher levels of antisocial behaviour in 7-year-olds whose mothers had suffered depression during the child’s first five years of life.

The greatest risk of “problem behaviours” were in children of mothers who also exhibited signs of antisocial personality disorder.

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