Tagged With "early births"
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Re: I Thought My Kids Were Too Old for Me to Have Postpartum Depression. But I Couldn't Deny the Awful Reality (Time Magazine)
We love Kimmy Gibbler (and Andrea!). The headline in this Time Article is a great hook and a bit misleading in clinical terms. Andrea wasn't experiencing depression but anxiety, and also the postpartum period is clinically defined as one year post birth. We would call what Andrea went through severe maternal anxiety and want mothers (and providers for that matter) to know there is a range of maternal mental health disorders. We have heard from Andrea's publicist and Andrea may be joining the...
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Re: I Thought My Kids Were Too Old for Me to Have Postpartum Depression. But I Couldn't Deny the Awful Reality (Time Magazine)
Thank you for the clarifications, Joy! Please feel free to share, clarify, or in any other way make more information available. Thank you for all you do to support moms and families! Karen
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Parenting Students Get Extra Help During Remote Learning (learn4life.org)
Every year, 25,000 teens give birth in California – and 70 percent of teen moms don’t graduate high school. About 1,300 of Learn4Life students are pregnant or parenting, so we are doing everything we can to keep these young mothers engaged in school and learning parenting skills – even during remote learning. Before COVID-19 forced remote learning, parenting teens could bring their babies to school while they studied and took tests. A separate child-friendly area ensured they didn’t disrupt...
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The Federal Military Moms’ Mental Health Assessment Act Is Introduced
By Crystal McAuley, May 28, 2020, 2020 MOM. 2020 Mom is proud to support the ‘‘ Military Moms’ Mental Health Assessment Act ’’ (“The Act”) which was introduced last week by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Tim Kaine (D-VA). The Act will require the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a study of prenatal and postpartum mental health conditions among members of the Armed Forces and their dependents. The Bill Recognizes: The bill cites 2018 birth stats within the Armed...
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You're Invited: “A Call To Action, A Call To Heal: Understanding the Impact of Complex Trauma in Communities" June 17 and 18.
Register Now for This Free Trauma Awareness and Trauma Responsive Care Symposium The Collaboration As neighboring Healthy Start partners providing maternal and child health services for Metro Atlanta, the Atlanta Healthy Start Initiative (AHSI) of the Center for Black Women’s Wellness, Inc. and the Healthier Generations Project (HGP) of the Clayton County Health District collaborate on several initiatives to improve perinatal outcomes in the region. The “A Call to Action, A Call to Heal:...
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Pregnant in a pandemic [washingtonpost.com]
By May-Ying Lam, The Washington Post, June 30, 2020 For women who are pregnant amid a pandemic, a recession and racial turmoil, the future is an anxiety-stirring unknown. They began their pregnancies in the “other world” that promised baby showers, gender-reveal parties, visits with grandparents and browsing stores for onesies. Now, they contemplate how they would handle a novel coronavirus diagnosis, prepare to give birth while wearing a mask and fight through old traumas that the virus has...
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Psychological impact of COVID-19 quarantine measures in northeastern Italy on mothers in the immediate postpartum period (Int J Gynsecol Obstet)
Zanardo V, Manghina V, Giliberti L, Vettore M, Severino L, Straface G. Psychological impact of COVID-19 quarantine measures in northeastern Italy on mothers in the immediate postpartum period. Int J Gynaecol Obstet . 2020;150(2):184-188. doi:10.1002/ijgo.13249 Abstract Objective: To explore whether quarantine measures and hospital containment policies among women giving birth in a COVID-19 "hotspot" area in northeastern Italy enhanced psycho-emotional distress in the immediate postpartum...
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Why the dean of early childhood experts wants to get beyond the brain [centerforhealthjournalism.org]
By Ryan White, Center for Health Journalism, July 23, 2020 Harvard’s Jack Shonkoff, a luminary in the field of early childhood, has spent years showing that events in the earliest years of life have profound implications for how budding brains develop, and in turn, shape a child’s later potential at school and work. Now, Shonkoff says it’s time to connect the brain to the rest of the body. “The message now is to say that there is a revolution going on in molecular biology and genomics and in...
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Re: Why the dean of early childhood experts wants to get beyond the brain [centerforhealthjournalism.org]
As I pointed out in my recent blog (ACEs and Gynecological Problems - A Conversation Starter) the disruption of hormones they talk about in the ACEs literature also affect women's reproductive organs and those recurring traumatic experiences trigger like none other. Since this happens to young women, who become the mothers of other young women, I feel it is critical that it deserves a place in the spotlight!
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Maternal Depression in Early Childhood and Developmental Vulnerability at School Entry [pediatircs.aappublications.org]
By Elizabeth Wall-Wieler, Leslie L. Roos, and Ian H. Gotlib, Pediatrics, August 2020 OBJECTIVES: To assess the relation between exposure to maternal depression before age 5 and 5 domains of developmental vulnerability at school entry, overall, and by age at exposure. METHODS: This cohort study included all children born in Manitoba, Canada, who completed the Early Development Instrument between 2005 and 2016 (N = 52 103). Maternal depression was defined by using physician visits,...
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SF announces pilot program to provide basic income to pregnant Black and Pacific Islander women [sfgate.com]
By Tessa McLean , SFGATE Updated 3:30 pm PDT, Wednesday, September 16, 2020 Mayor London Breed announced today the launch of a new pilot program that will provide a basic income to Black and Pacific Islander women during pregnancy and after giving birth. The 150 women chosen will receive a monthly income supplement of $1,000 for the duration of their pregnancy and for the first six months of their baby’s life, with the goal of eventually providing a supplement for up to two years...
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A new program in Mississippi is helping Black mothers breastfeed. Here's why it's crucial. (upworthy.com)
The Delta Baby Cafe in Sunflower County, Mississippi is providing breastfeeding assistance where it's needed most. Mississippi has the third lowest rate of breastfeeding in America. Only 70% of infants are ever-breastfed in the state, compared to 84% nationally. There are multiple reasons why Black women are less likely to breastfeed their children. First, according to the CDC , maternity wards that serve large Black populations are less likely to help Black women initiate breastfeeding...
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COVID-19: Trauma-Informed Perinatal Care and Maternal Health [psychologytoday.com]
By Ann Diamond Weinstein, Psychology Today, September 28, 2020 The experience of life during the pandemic and the impact of COVID-19 guidelines for perinatal care have changed the maternal-fetal experience of pregnancy and birth, as well as the maternal-infant experience during the postnatal period. The neuroception (1) of danger and the potential threat to one’s own life and that of loved ones has been sustained since the magnitude and lethalness of the pandemic was fully appreciated.
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Report on WIC Role in Reducing Maternal Mortality (California WIC Association)
CWA Flash Newsletter - October 13, 2020 (Blue text=hyperlinks) Report on WIC Role in Reducing Maternal Mortality The National WIC Association released a report titled " The Role of WIC in Reducing Maternal Mortality ." NWA’s Maternal Mortality Task Force created the report to consider ways in which maternal mortality is addressed and discussed with program participants throughout the WIC appointment, as well as explore opportunities for additional focus on the topic. The report highlights...
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Effects of prenatal mindfulness-based childbirth education on child-bearers' trajectories of distress: a randomized control trial (BMC Pregnancy Childbirth)
BMC Pregnancy Childbirth . 2020; 20: 623. Published online 2020 Oct 15. doi: 10.1186/s12884-020-03318-8 . Abstract Background: The perinatal period is a time of immense change, which can be a period of stress and vulnerability for mental health difficulties. Mindfulness-based interventions have shown promise for reducing distress, but further research is needed to identify long-term effects and moderators of mindfulness training in the perinatal period. Methods: The current study used data...
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New nonprofit breast milk bank launches in San Diego (sandiegouniontribune.com)
San Diego — Every year, about 260 of the tiniest premature babies in California hospitals develop an often-fatal bowel disease known as necrotizing enterocolitis, or NEC. Nobody knows what causes NEC, but a common factor in many cases is the use of formula to feed these very low-birth-weight babies because the mother’s breast milk is not available. Replacing that formula with pasteurized breast milk in every California hospital newborn intensive care unit could be a positive step in reducing...
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Learning in the New Year with Dr. Jared Parrish
Strengthening Alaska: How the Pre-Birth Environment Can Prevent ACEs - with Jared Parrish, PhD. Jan 7, 2021 11:00 AM. Alaska. The Alaska Resilience Initiative is ringing in the New Year right by spreading the findings of Dr. Jared Parrish. For the past ten years, Dr. Parrish has worked as a Senior Epidemiologist with the Alaska Department of Social Services. Now Dr. Parrish brings us the latest research on pregnancy and ACEs. Join us on January 7th at 11am as Dr. Parrish presents findings...
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Implementation of Hospital Practices Supportive of Breastfeeding in the Context of COVID-19 — United States, July 15–August 20, 2020
Summary What is already known about this topic? Evidence-based hospital practices supporting breastfeeding have sometimes conflicted with COVID-19 infection prevention and control measures. What is added by this report? During summer 2020, hospitals implemented a variety of practices intended to balance evidence-based maternity care with infection prevention and control. Because of the pandemic, 17.9% of hospitals reported that in-person lactation support had decreased, and 72.9% reported...
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8 Categories of Adversity That Shape Health: Adverse Babyhood Experiences (ABEs), ACEs, and More
When I assisted women and families during pregnancy, labor and birth as a family doctor, I often felt concern that the interventions commonly used, while potentially life saving, influenced outcomes in ways that could be negative. I've since learned about a vast body of evidence that helps identify risk and offers tools to help recognize potential risk and effects so we can improve prevention and treatment. "ABEs" are one of 7 categories of adversity I add to ACEs that I wish I'd known about.
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Funding Opportunity: California Preterm Birth Initiative
The California Preterm Birth Initiative is pleased to share our spring 2021 request for applications for innovative research proposals on preterm birth! About the Opportunity Twice a year, in the spring and fall, we request research proposals via the UCSF Resource Allocation Program (RAP). The spring RAP applications are due by March 1st. What We're Looking For We are looking for proposals focused on: Reducing preterm birth rates Addressing racial disparities in preterm birth and/or...
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United Way grant helps Good Samaritan treat postpartum depression [mywabashvalley.com]
By Web Desk, My Wabash Valley, February 9, 2021 Good Samaritan physicians and staff have been following perinatal depression trends throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. With the help of $9,970 from the United Way Lilly Endowment grant, the hospital will be able to establish a postpartum group therapy led by psychiatry residents for women with clinically significant levels of depression, anxiety or PTSD. The group therapy sessions will be a hybrid of in-person and virtual sessions. “Prior to...
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My ACEs Affected My Birth
High blood pressure. In your third trimester of pregnancy, you do not want to hear these three words, especially if you are planning to have a home birth. My blood pressure nearly caused me to have an induction for my first birth and transfer to a hospital birth for my second birth. I wish I had known of the ACEs test so I wouldn't have felt so lost and guilty. For my first birth I was clueless. I did not understand why this was happening to me because I ate a healthy diet, went to boxing...
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Join Special Guest Father Paul Abernathy for a Zoom Discussion on March 16th, at 7p.m. EST to discuss the Whole People Documentary Series and Trauma-Informed Community Development
On behalf of ACEs Connection , the CTIPP (The Campaign for Trauma -Informed Policy & Practice), and the Relentless School Nurse , we want to invite you to the streaming of parts 4 and 5 of the Whole People documentary series on the weekend o f M arch 12th through March 14th, 2021. We will stream both parts on ACEs Connection in the Transforming Trauma with ACEs Sciences Film Festival community. The documentary viewing will be followed by a discussion with special guest, Father Paul...
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Join Special Guest Father Paul Abernathy for a Zoom Discussion on March 16th, at 7p.m. EST to discuss the Whole People Documentary Series and Trauma-Informed Community Development
On behalf of ACEs Connection , the CTIPP (The Campaign for Trauma -Informed Policy & Practice), and the Relentless School Nurse , we want to invite you to the streaming of parts 4 and 5 of the Whole People documentary series on the weekend o f M arch 12th through March 14th, 2021. We will stream both parts on ACEs Connection in the Transforming Trauma with ACEs Sciences Film Festival community. The documentary viewing will be followed by a discussion with special guest, Father Paul...
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Depression, anxiety 'extremely high' among new mothers since start of social distancing [healio.com]
By Joe Gramigna, Healio News, February 19, 2021 Prevalence rates of clinically relevant depression and anxiety have been “extremely high” among postnatal women during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to study results published in Journal of Psychiatric Research. “There had been no data published examining mental health in new mothers during COVID-19 at the time of study,” Victoria Fallon, FHEA, CPsychol , of the department of psychology at the University of Liverpool in the UK, told Healio...
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Addressing Black maternal mortality in the South [facingsouth.org]
By Elisha Brown, Facing South, February 26, 2021 After Gloria De Los Santos gave birth to her second daughter 12 years ago, she hemorrhaged. She called for a nurse who suggested they go to the bathroom. "When I got up, blood gushed out," said De Los Santos, who is Black. "My husband ran out to find a doctor because some of the nurses behind the desk weren't taking it seriously." "What really got to me was that if my husband and that one nurse weren't there, I probably would have died," she...
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A San Francisco Experiment Will Give Some Pregnant Women $1,000 a Month. Could Other Cities Be Next? [time.com]
By Abigail Abrams and Abby Vesoulis, Time, March 18, 2021 When Maile Chand reminisces about her 2016 pregnancy, the first thing that comes to mind isn’t how she prepared her daughter’s nursery or vetted baby names. Instead, she remembers constantly struggling to find enough money for food and rent in San Francisco. Chand was just 20 years old at the time, living in the nation’s most expensive city, and working a low-paying retail job while attending community college. Navigating San...
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Jamaa Birth Village & Generate Health Awarded $1 Million to Help Make St. Louis a Safer Childbirth City [stlouis-mo.gov]
From St. Louis Department of Health, March 10, 2021 Thanks to a $1 million grant from Merck for Mothers and the Yellow Chair Foundation, St. Louis has become one of nine Safer Childbirth Cities. The award was granted to Generate Health and Jamaa Birth Village to support the STL 360 Doulas Initiative, a new collaborative to expand access to doula care. The new initiative is a partnership between Jamaa Birth Village, Generate Health, STL Doulas of Color Collective and Jesse Davis, MD, MBA,...
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Why Mothers Are Skeptical About All the Promises of Pandemic Aid [nytimes.com]
By Lisa Lerer and Jennifer Medina, The New York Times, March 30, 2021 Last March, as most of America worried about getting sick, Kate Farley had a different, urgent concern: having a baby amid a pandemic. The months after the birth of her third child were a blur of sleepless nights, followed by days spent managing remote school for her kindergartner, struggling to entertain her preschooler and setting up a classroom in her Middletown, N.J., home. By the time Ms. Farley returned to work in...
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How we handle stress at 45 linked to prenatal exposure [news.harvard.edu]
From Massachusetts General Hospital News and Public Affairs, April 5, 2021 Men and women whose mothers experienced stressful events during pregnancy regulate stress differently in the brain 45 years later, results of a long-term study demonstrate. In a unique sample of 40 men and 40 women followed from the womb into their mid-forties, the brain imaging study showed that exposure during fetal development to inflammation-promoting natural substances called cytokines, produced by mothers under...
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Understanding the Baby's Experience of Adversity and Resilience: A Panel Talk
In 1999, an adult in my private practice remembered their difficult birth in their body while receiving bodywork from me. It was an eye opening moment. I had just had my first baby and was a newly graduated Biodynamic craniosacral therapist. We are trained to ask about the birth process in our adult clients because of the compressive forces on the body particularly the cranium. My client told me that she felt her lifelong depression was associated with her near death at birth, and what...
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More Black Women Using Doulas to Avoid Maternal Mortality in Hospitals [blackenterprise.com]
By Jeroslyn Johnson, Black Enterprise, April 21 2021 With Black women more likely to die while giving birth in a hospital than women of other races, studies show more Black women have resorted to using doulas to aid in delivering their babies. In an effort to raise awareness on Black maternal mortality rates, President Biden proclaimed the week of April 11 through 17 as “Black Maternal Health Week,” 11 Alive reported. “In the United States of America, a person’s race should never determine...
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Mary Molnar
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Tara M Beaton
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Amy-Rose White
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Jenna Brown
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To solve the Black maternal mortality crisis, start with upending racist practices
It’s been all over the news for months: Black women in the United States are dying from complications during their pregnancies or in childbirth at alarming rates, and those deaths are preventable. Less well explored is how systemic racism and historical trauma have been at the core of what’s driven up these rates over several decades. A March 20 conference entitled The Impact of ACEs on Black Maternal Health took an in-depth look into why Black maternal mortality and complications during...
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Maternal Health in Black and White [chcf.org]
By Heather Tirado Gilligan, California Health Care Foundation, April 26, 2021 Despite an induced labor necessitated by the potential danger of preeclampsia, Morine Cebert Gators had a beautiful birth experience. Cebert Gators, who is Black, searched diligently for a Black ob/gyn provider when she moved from North Carolina to Knoxville, Tennessee. She was mid-pregnancy, had recently finished her PhD in nursing, and was having no luck finding a doctor who looked like her. Googling and joining...
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Rosanne Gephart
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Maternal Health’s Ongoing Mandate for Women of Color: The Call for Wholistic Health Equity
Last month’s CDC declaration that Racism is a public health crisis was long overdue. Yet, vital health and mental health disparities for women of color rage on amid this latest societal call to arms. Too many women of color, their families, and friends lay victim to gaping wounds, residual scars, and profound trauma from egregious maternal health experiences. Current facts speak volumes. The U.S. has the highest rate of maternal mortality among developed nations, rising steadily the past 40...
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Adverse Babyhood Experiences (ABEs): 10 New Categories of Adversity Before a Child's 3rd Birthday (Download Journal Article)
Adverse babyhood experiences (ABEs) are a new construct derived from large bodies of evidence that identify a different group of risk factors from adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). ABEs occur before a child’s 3rd birthday and influence infant as well as maternal morbidity and mortality. ABEs are also risk factors for chronic illnesses and other chronic conditions in the child , symptoms such as postpartum depression and PTSD in parents and offer opportunities for prevention and repair.
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Lisa N. Brown
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There’s Something Wrong with My Baby: Beyond Reassurance (Claudia M. Gold, MD)
Mei, mother of four-month-old Amy, called to make an appointment in my behavioral pediatrics practice. Her thick accent made it difficult for me to understand her concern over the phone. She arrived at my office with her husband, Yuan, who spoke little English. I learned that they had recently immigrated from China. Although I had a blanket on the floor covered with toys, Mei stood tentatively, her movements awkward and hesitant, until I suggested she put Amy down. Immediately Amy gave me a...
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Sensory and Emotional Experience: Linked from Birth (Claudia M. Gold, MD)
Katie and Jason came to me at their wits’ end over four-year-old Mabel’s frequent meltdowns. “She’s been like this from birth,” Katie explained at our first visit. She described needing to nurse Mabel as an infant in a dark, quiet room because she was so easily distracted by sights and sounds. When I asked them to tell me about a recent specific moment of disruption, they described a visit to a county fair. Mabel was clearly so hungry that she was falling apart, yet despite the abundance of...
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Expanding Access to Doula Care: Best Practices for State Legislation [mhtf.org]
By Sarah Hodin Krinsky and Christina Gebel, Maternal Health Task Force, May 31, 2021 Much has happened since we wrote the first blog in this series, Expanding Access to Doula Care: State of the Union in January 2020—not only regarding policy, but also the maternal newborn health landscape more generally. After the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S. in March 2020, we started seeing and hearing about hospitals across the country banning doulas from supporting clients during birth. In some cases,...
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Maternal Mortality and Intimate Partner Violence: Virtual Hill Briefing [futureswithoutviolence.org]
From Futures Without Violence, July 2021 This event is hosted by the National Health Collaborative on Violence and Abuse, American College of Obstetricians, March of Dimes, and Futures Without Violence in conjunction with Representative Gwen Moore. As Congress addresses the threats to Black maternal health, it is important to also discuss the impact of intimate partner violence (IPV) on maternal mortality. The briefing will highlight the leading causes of pregnancy-associated deaths...
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ICE to avoid detaining pregnant, nursing and postpartum women [washingtonpost.com]
By Maria Sacchetti, The Washington Post, July 9, 2021 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will no longer detain most pregnant, nursing and postpartum women for deportation, reversing a Trump-era rule that permitted officials to jail thousands of immigrants in those circumstances, according to a new policy released Friday. ICE’s new policy is even more expansive than it was during the Obama era, when President Biden was vice president. The Obama administration generally exempted pregnant...
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I Gave Birth, but My Husband Developed Postpartum Depression [nytimes.com]
By Kim Hooper, The New York Times, July 19, 2021 When I was pregnant with my daughter, my husband and I took a parent prep class in which they talked at length about the signs of maternal postpartum depression. My husband took detailed notes. After all, I had a history of depression and occasionally fell down dark, deep rabbit holes from which only medication and therapy could pull me out. My husband, on the other hand, is the epitome of stable. When his parents died in our first few years...