Health Tip: Easing Back Pain During Pregnancy

(HealthDay News) -- While you're pregnant, all that extra weight can lead to significant back pain.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists offers these suggestions to help prevent or relieve that pain in your back:

• Avoid completely flat or high-heeled shoes; something in between with a low heel and supportive arch is best.
• Don't lift heavy objects by yourself.
• If you have to be on your feet for a long time, prop up one foot on a stepstool or stair.
• Sleep on a firm mattress or place a board between the mattress and box spring.
• Bend at your knees rather than at the waist.
• Place a small pillow behind your lower back when sitting in a chair, or use a chair with a lot of back support.
• Sleep on your side, and place pillows between your legs.
• Gently massage your lower back, or apply a heating pad or ice pack.

Newly Pregnant Smokers Have a 15-Week Window to Quit

(HealthDay News) -- Pregnant women who quit smoking before the 15th week of pregnancy reduce their risk of premature birth and having small babies to that of nonsmoking women, a new study finds.

It's known that smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, premature birth, small babies, stillbirth and neonatal death, but no study until now has determined whether stopping smoking in early pregnancy reduces the risks of small babies and premature births, the study authors said.

"Pregnant women who smoke should be encouraged and assisted to become smoke-free early in pregnancy," said lead researcher Dr. Lesley McCowan, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Auckland in New Zealand.

Women who don't quit smoking by 15 weeks are three times more likely to give birth prematurely and twice as likely to have smaller babies, compared to women who stopped smoking, McCowan said.

The findings were published in the March 27 online issue of BMJ.

For the study, McCowan's team collected data on 2,504 pregnant women. Eighty percent did not smoke, 10 percent had quit smoking and 10 percent were current smokers.

There was no difference in the rate of spontaneous premature birth between women who did not smoke and those who had stopped by week 15 (4 percent vs. 4 percent). The same was true for having smaller babies (10 percent vs. 10 percent), the researchers found.

However, women who continued to smoke had higher rates of spontaneous preterm birth than woman who quit (10 percent vs. 4 percent) and higher rates of smaller babies (17 percent vs. 10 percent).

The study also found that women who stopped smoking weren't more stressed than women who continued to smoke, McCowan noted.

"Health professionals who care for pregnant women need to ask about smoking, advise about the importance of stopping, and, where possible, refer for extra support early in pregnancy to assist women to become smoke-free," she advised.

Dr. Richard Frieder, an associate clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine, said the study authors didn't explain whether this difference in low birth weight and gestational age at delivery actually translates into a measurable difference in newborn health.

"We assume this to be true, but there was only about a half pound difference in birth weight and six days difference in gestational age. These numbers are not very impressive that one would think a big difference in neonatal health would be achieved. Still, we should assume that a half pound and six days more of gestation is better and that we should strive to help women stop smoking," he said.

There are other big issues at play when it comes to babies, women and cigarette smoke, Frieder added.

"Babies that live in 'smoking homes' have a much higher risk of respiratory ailments, such as asthma and pneumonia and SIDS. In addition, women are more susceptible to the cancer-causing effects of cigarette smoke than men. The tobacco industry specifically targets women, despite this well-known fact," he said.

More information
For more on smoking and pregnancy, visit the American Lung Association.

Am I Eating My Way to Gestational Diabetes?

By Erica Kain

Throughout my last two pregnancies, it was a struggle to eat enough when so many foods repulsed me. This time my nausea has taken a vacation, and suddenly food tastes delicious. As a result, I’ve started to gain too much weight, too fast.Read More

Health Tip: Signs of Ovulation

(HealthDay News) -- If you're trying to get pregnant, it's important to know when you're ovulating.

Here are common signs that may indicate ovulation, courtesy of the American Pregnancy Association:

• A change in cervical fluid appearance. During or just before ovulation, cervical fluid usually takes on the appearance of egg whites. But cervical fluid appearance varies from woman to woman.


• A spike in your basal body temperature -- your temperature at rest measured when you first get up in the morning -- can indicate that you have just ovulated. In most women, basal temperature goes down slightly just before ovulation. This is followed by a sharp rise
• in temperature, a sign that ovulation has just occurred. Cervical changes -- a woman may find that her cervix feels softer than usual, and may be in a higher position.
• Other symptoms -- deemed secondary because they may not happen as consistently or in as many women -- may include spotting, tenderness of the breasts, cramping, bloating, greater awareness of the senses, and a stronger sex drive.

Depression During Pregnancy May Cause Premature Birth

(HealthDay News) -- Women who are depressed early in their pregnancy run a higher risk of preterm delivery, the leading cause of infant mortality, a new study suggests.

For the study, researchers interviewed 791 San Francisco-area women near their 10th week of pregnancy. Forty-one percent reported "significant" symptoms of depression, and 22 percent reported "severe" symptoms.

Those women with severe symptoms had almost twice the risk of an early birth, defined as before 37 weeks' gestation. Those with significant symptoms had a 60 percent risk of early birth, the study found.

Women who were likelier to report depressive symptoms tended to be younger than 25, unmarried, less educated, poorer, black, and have a history of preterm delivery.

Discovering a possible cause of preterm birth, about which little is known, makes the findings significant, said study lead author Dr. De-Kun Li, a perinatal epidemiologist and senior research scientist at Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research in Oakland, Calif.

Scientists have been researching for the causes of high rates of infant mortality in the United States, Li said, but, "we don't know what is going on. If we can find something as obvious as depression that can be treated during pregnancy, that is very, very significant."

The findings were published online Oct. 23 in the journal Human Reproduction.

Dr. Shari I. Lusskin, director of reproductive psychiatry at New York University Medical Center, said she doesn't think the study establishes a link between depression in early pregnancy and preterm delivery. She said the women in the study weren't clinically diagnosed with depression but had scored high on a screening test.

"We don't know if the depression at 10 weeks is a marker for something that happens later in pregnancy, which is the real culprit," she said.

Li hopes the study's findings will make "ante-natal depression" as widely recognized as postpartum depression has become. Until now, depression during pregnancy has been "under-estimated and under-treated," he said, "not just by women, but also by their doctors."

One reason for this lack of attention is that there hasn't been strong evidence of a connection between depression in pregnant women and harm to the fetus, Li said.

Women may not readily report depressed feelings when they are pregnant because of the societal expectation that having a baby should be a joyous occasion, said Dr. Jennifer Wu, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

"I think many patients are very stressed about pregnancy and worried about the pregnancy and not sure about its impact on their lives," Wu said.

Lusskin tries to spread the word about the dangers of depression during pregnancy.

"The more we know about postpartum depression, the more we realize that half the cases started in pregnancy," Lusskin said. Ante-natal depression also carries the risk of noncompliance with prenatal care, poor nutrition, inadequate sleep, self-medication with drugs and alcohol, and suicide, she explained.

And, Lusskin added, "Ante-natal depression interferes with bonding with the baby both during pregnancy and post-partum."

The take-home lesson from the Kaiser study, Lusskin said, "is that ante-natal depression and ante-natal depression symptoms have some effect on pregnancy, and they should be treated, even though we don't know how that mood is translated into the biochemistry of that pregnancy."

She added that she is "a proponent of maintaining a good mood throughout pregnancy and breast-feeding, and doing what you have to do to do that. If a patient requires medication, she should do that. Then, it's a matter of finding the drugs that are best studied and most effective for the patient."

More information
To learn more about pregnancy and depression, visit the American Pregnancy Association.