Many women don’t understand how they gain so much weight when the baby only weighs 7lbs (average). Aside from the fact that you are probably gaining some extra weigh with the new foods you may have introduced to your diet, there are other factors that add to your pregnancy weight gain.

Women who begin pregnancy at a normal weight and who are expecting one baby usually are advised to gain 25 to 35 pounds over nine months. Women of normal weight who are expecting twins are usually advised to gain 35 to 45 pounds. Women pregnant with triplets should probably aim for a gain of 50 to 60 pounds.

Studies show that gaining enough weight in the first 20 to 24 weeks of pregnancy is especially important for women carrying multiples. In a twin pregnancy, a gain of at least 24 pounds by the 24th week of pregnancy helps reduce the risk of having preterm and low-birthweight babies. A good early weight gain may be especially important in multiple gestations because these pregnancies tend to be shorter than singleton pregnancies. Studies also suggest that a good early weight gain aids in development of the placenta, possibly improving its ability to pass along nutrients to the babies.

SOURCE:MARCHOFDIMES, NESTLEBABY

Liev Schreiber has confirmed he and girlfriend Naomi Watts are expecting their first child together.

There have been many rumours lately about Naomi’s noticeably fuller figure. She appeared at the Oscars on Sunday night wearing a butter coloured Escada dress that showcased her bump and then a PR Rep for Escada, mistakenly sent out a press note confirming what everyone already knew.

Liev appeared on The Conan O’Brien show on Monday where he confirmed the happy news saying, “I’m going to be a dad.

Very exciting! “It’s a strange thing about women. You can take a complete wall-flower, a quiet girl and get them pregnant and then they want to go out all the time! “So I gave her grief about going to the Oscars and she said, ‘No, no, it’s a very auspicious thing’ that our ‘embryo’ I guess, was going to be going to the Oscars.” When asked whether the couple had thought about any names he replied, “I’m trying to stay out of it all. I’m trying not to make any decisions. “I find everything I try to do in service of her or the coming baby is wrong. I really don’t even go to my house much anymore.”

When O’Brien asked if they would consider passing the unique name Liev on to their offspring he added, “No, it’s a terrible name. It’s probably the most mis-pronounced name in all of show business. It’s bad enough that I have gone through that for 15 years. There won’t be any Liev juniors. It’s not like George, you can call five kids George. You can’t really call anyone Liev, you shouldn’t call one child that, I don’ t think!”

SOURCE:PRINSIDE

A study that has been released suggests that infants who spend long periods in front of the television may be at greater risk of developing medical problems later in life, including premature puberty, sleep disturbances, and metabolic disorders.

The findings came from a combination of a few studies.

The author of the survey, psychologist Aric Sigman, said many studies were beginning to emerge that suggest spending long periods in front of a screen, whether a television or a computer, may have damaging physiological effects.

One study, by a team at Florence University, found that watching television and playing computer games lowered the amount of the sleep hormone, melatonin, children produced, an effect that could bring on earlier puberty.

Other studies listed in the survey, published in today’s issue of Biologist, the journal of the Institute of Biology, claim possible links between television viewing and attention deficit disorder, obesity, short-sightedness and Alzheimer’s disease. “There’s enough evidence to suspect something is going on, so we should err on the side of caution,” said Mr Sigman.

According to figures from the broadcasters’ audience research board, the average 75-year-old Briton will have spent more than 12 years watching TV. Children aged between 11 and 15 now spend 55% of their waking lives in front of the screen, amounting to 53 hours a week. More than half of three-year-olds now have a television set in their bedroom.

I believe these studies. Kids don’t spend even a fraction of the time outside that we did as kids. Part of it may be safety, but the rest is laziness.

Who is buying their kids a personal television a 3 1/2 years old??

SOURCE:GUARDIAN

Police say a pregnant woman is lucky she wasn’t seriously hurt after the SUV she was driving was hit by a freight train in Toronto around 9am Tuesday. The woman was shaken up but wasn’t taken to hospital. Investigators say the freight train was apparently moving slowly at the time and that saved her from serious injury - or worse.

“It looks like the signals were working,” agrees Sgt. Mike Proulx. “The woman is 36 weeks pregnant. She was barely injured but the truck was push eastbound about 25 metres by the weight of the train.”

You know someone was looking over these two this morning!

SOURCE:CITYNEWS

I first saw this story a couple days ago and thought that maybe health officials were being too hasty suggesting that they may remove the child from his home.

Today the British weight (14 stone) was converted for me and I realized this family needs some counselling on weight management.

Connor McCreaddie is an 8 year boy who weighs 218lbs, which is 3 times the weight of most children his age.

An unnamed health official was quoted as telling the Sunday Times that taking custody of Connor would be a last resort, but said the family had repeatedly failed to attend appointments with nurses, nutritionists and social workers.

“Child abuse is not just about hitting your children or sexually abusing them, it is also about neglect,” the official was quoted as saying.

Dr. Colin Waine, the director of the National Obesity Forum in Nottingham, England, called Connor’s lifestyle “extremely dangerous,” adding he is at risk of developing diabetes in his early teens, and cardiovascular and nervous system problems in his twenties.

“He’s really at risk of dying by the time he’s 30,” Waine said.

Pediatrician Dr Michael Markiewicz agreed.

“I’m not saying they can’t care for him, but what they are doing is through the way they are treating him and feeding him, they are slowly killing him,” he said.

The mother allowed a film crew to video their daily activities. She says that her son steals food and hides it from her.

Connor, who lives with his mother and sister, has difficulty dressing and washing himself, misses school regularly because of poor health and is targeted by bullies.

“People pick on us because of my weight. They call us fat. It makes us feel sick of the nutters always shouting at us,” Connor told ITV.

Although, I know that this mother loves her little boy tremendously, she probably doesn’t realize that not being more assertive is going to kill her son early. Maybe he needs to be removed from the home and brought to a treatment center where he can learn good eating habits.

This mother doesn’t seem to have the tools to help her son. He obviously knows how to sneak around behind her back and get what he wants. I feel sorry for him because he doesn’t know any better.

SOURCE:YAHOO

Two Sumatran tiger cubs and two baby orang-utans, each pair abandoned by their mother soon after birth, have become inseparable playmates in the nursery room of an animal hospital in Indonesia.

Nia and Irma happily snuggle up to the cubs in a way that five-month-old orang-utan sisters would never normally contemplate.

Likewise, Dema and his month-old sister Manis are quite content to snooze in the gentle embrace of their tiny guardians’ arms.

If these four can get along, than everyone should be able to get along!

SOURCE:DAILYMAIL