Baby units stretched to breaking point

Units for sick and premature babies have been stretched more than ever in the past year, a charity claims. Baby care charity Bliss says its survey of 195 neonatal units across the country revealed that a lack of resources and staff means units are now at breaking point. Only a handful of units met the minimum nursing levels, resulting in some being forced to refuse new admissions for considerable periods of time. The survey showed that units have to turn away people for an average of two weeks in a six month period. Ten per cent said they closed their doors for eight weeks or more every six months. This in turn leads to parents having to travel longer distances to find an available unit and can result in twins and triplets needing special care being separated; 35 per cent of these babies were found to parted in this way. One in eight of the most specialist units operated at an average occupancy of 100 per cent or more for a whole year, but half of these units have half or less of the minimum staffing levels. Bliss says that despite an increase of new nurses, 2,600 more are needed to meet recommended standards. Until this is reached the charity warns staff morale will remain low and parents who are already anxious about their children will face extra stress. Bliss chief executive Andy Cole said: "Bliss is concerned that the government still gives less priority to intensive care for babies than for adults and children, even though all the evidence points to a neonatal service that is on the brink of collapse. 'The Department of Health's recent commitment to provide extra midwives is a step in the right direction for maternity services. We now need to see the same commitment to ensuring there are adequate numbers of trained neonatal nurses for those babies born sick or premature.'

School has 20 sets of twins on the roll

Taking the register is a little more tricky, but one school is celebrating having 20 sets of twins on the roll.
The Grange School in Hartford, near Northwich, Cheshire, achieved that distinction when four new pairs enrolled this month.

The Grange School, Cheshire, says it has so much experience teaching twins that it specialises in looking after them
That means that roughly one in 28 of those attending the 1,140-pupil school in Cheshire is a twin.
The Grange says it has so much experience teaching twins that it specialises in looking after them.
Ariel Leese-Jones, whose four-year-old girls, Athena and Bianca, have just started at the school, said her daughters felt more comfortable with other twins in the playground.
"They are in the same class and this seems to have worked really well," she said. "There's been no starting-school trauma as it's been a case of waking up with your best friend then going to school with her.
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"Having said that, they are different personalities and they have also made different friends."
Stephen Bennett, the headmaster, said his staff always treated pupils as individuals and were not afraid to separate brothers and sisters if they felt they would benefit.
"Some twins, especially when starting school, seem to flourish better with the close support of their brother or sister. Others are keen to stop being one of a pair as soon as possible. Just because twins start off together, doesn't mean they remain that way.
"The golden rule, of course, is to treat them as the individuals they are. Forget they are twins, even if they look alike." But Mr Bennett admitted that teachers were sometimes baffled.
"Form teachers very rarely get the twins mixed up, but it certainly can happen.
"We have one pair of twins who are so alike that even their brother sometimes gets them mixed up."
Fees start at £6,060 a year at the school but there is a 10 per cent discount for siblings.
Nationally, there has been a steady increase in multiple births, attributed to fertility treatments such as IVF. At present, one in 34 babies born is a twin, compared with one in 52 in 1980.

Eating Junk food whilst pregant & breastfeeding - obese kids

Mothers who eat junk food during pregnancy and breastfeeding may be putting their children at risk of overeating and developing obesity, according to a study funded by the Wellcome Trust and carried out at the Royal Veterinary College, London.
The research suggests that pregnant and breastfeeding women should not indulge in fatty, sugary and salty foods under the misguided assumption that they are "eating for two".The study, published in the British Journal of Nutrition, found that rats fed a diet of processed junk food such as doughnuts, muffins, biscuits, crisps and sweets during pregnancy and lactation gave birth to offspring which overate and had a preference for junk foods rich in fat, sugar and salt when compared to the offspring of rats given regular feed. The research team behind the study believe the findings have implications for humans.Obesity is a major cause of disease, associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer. According to a report by the World Health Organization(2), around 1.6 billion humans were classified as overweight worldwide in 2005 and 400 million were obese. Obesity affects populations increasingly earlier in life with over 20 million children under the age of five being classed as overweight."Our study has shown that eating large quantities of junk food when pregnant and breastfeeding could impair the normal control of appetite and promote an exacerbated taste for junk food in offspring," says lead author Dr Stéphanie Bayol. "This could send offspring on the road to obesity and make the task of teaching healthy eating habits in children even more challenging.”Controlling appetite is complex, involving hormones which signal to the brain to regulate energy balance, hunger and satiety (feeling of fullness). However, feeding is not only a matter of regulating energy balance; it is also a pleasurable experience that involves “reward centres” in the brain, such that the combination of pleasure with feeding may occasionally override the normal regulation of satiety. Previous research has shown that junk foods rich in fat and sugar inhibit the satiety signals while promoting hunger and stimulating the reward centres."Exposure to a maternal junk food diet during their foetal and suckling life might help explain why some individuals might find it harder than others to control their junk food intake even when given access to healthier foods later in life," explains Dr Bayol.Professor Neil Stickland, a co-author on the study, who heads the research group at the Royal Veterinary College, believes that mothers need to be made aware of the risks associated with a poor diet."The government is trying to encourage healthier eating habits in schools, but our research shows that healthy eating habits need to start during the foetal and suckling life of an individual," says Professor Stickland. "Giving children better school dinners is very good, but more needs to be done to raise awareness in pregnant and breastfeeding women as well. Future mothers should be aware that pregnancy and lactation are not the time to over-indulge on fatty-sugary treats on the misguided assumption that they are 'eating for two'."

Father of twins blasts A Level 'lottery' after 'cleverest' daughter fails to win university place

The father of twins who both achieved five A grade A-levels today described the university allocation system as a "lottery" after one of his daughters failed to win a university place.
Tania and Mahua Bhaduri both plan to study medicine. But while Mahua has won a place at Imperial College London, Tania will be taking a gap year before reapplying next year because she was not offered a university place.
Tania and Mahua Bhaduri both plan to study medicine
Her father, Dr Bim Bhaduri, said this was despite the fact she was the smarter of the two. He described her as "brighter and sharper" than her non-identical twin and said she took several of her 12 GCSEs a year early.
Tania was rejected by universities including Oxford, Bristol, and Sheffield, he said.
Dr Bhaduri, a consultant paediatrician at Maidstone Hospital said: "The system is really a lottery, they can't differentiate between bright and brighter and this is a problem. The two girls both did very well but only one of them got a place to go to university.
"I'm very proud of them but I'm disappointed by the system, disappointed in the sense that one of my girls got into Imperial - probably the second best university in the country - but the other one didn't get a place anywhere."
Tania and Mahua, 18, attended Tonbridge Grammar School for Girls in Kent. The twins, of West Malling, Kent, both studied biology, chemistry, French and maths. Tania studied psychology and Mahua studied geography.
Tania said she was "happy" for her twin. Mahua said: "I'm glad we got the same results. She deserves it as well, probably more than me. I think she works harder."
Both girls said the secret of their success was hard work and support from the school, which has an excellent reputation.

UK women OK with multiple embryo transfer risks

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) would rather have twins -- and accept the risks that can come with a multiple pregnancy -- than not become pregnant at all, a study by UK researchers found.
One quarter of IVF pregnancies in Europe result in twins, Graham S. Scotland of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and colleagues note in their report. Given the increased risks of twin pregnancies to both mother and children, they add, many European nations have shifted to a policy of single embryo transfer.
But in the UK, where local funding may only provide for a single round of IVF treatment, people have been less willing to accept this practice. Policymakers have debated about whether the decision to have more than one embryo implanted should be a patient choice, or a medical decision.
To investigate the perception of risks associated with twin pregnancies, Scotland and his team surveyed 74 women awaiting IVF, asking them about their relative preferences for having a child with physical impairments, cognitive impairments, visual impairments, early death, premature delivery, or no pregnancy at all.
Overall, women said they would rather have a child with physical impairment, cognitive impairment, or visual impairment than not become pregnant at all, but women preferred not becoming pregnant to having a child who died. Women also said they would prefer delivering a child prematurely to not becoming pregnant at all.
"Our findings seem to suggest that being made aware of these risks, explaining what they are and what they would entail, might not be necessarily enough to put people off having double embryo transfer," Scotland told Reuters Health.
While the absolute increased risk of problems with twin pregnancies compared to single births is relatively small, he added, at a population level the increased health care costs involved with multiple births are substantial.
Scotland pointed out that preliminary evidence from Europe shows that single embryo transfers are just as likely to result in pregnancy as transfers of two or more embryos. But to make single embryo transfer acceptable in the UK at this point, he and his colleagues say, it may be necessary to offer more rounds of IVF "so as to assure women that they have as good a chance of a live birth in the long run as they would with double embryo transfer."
But this recommendation may be hard to put into practice, Scotland noted. While the UK's National Health Service recommends funding three cycles of IVF for women younger than 40, he explained, tight budgets at local health authorities mean many women may only be offered a single try. "The guidance doesn't measure up to what's happening on the ground."

Julia, Sarah and Katie miracle triplets who defied the odds

THESE are the three little miracles whose survival has confounded medical opinion.

Born three months premature, tiny Julia weighed just 1lb 12 ounces when she arrived at Dublin's Rotunda hospital in May while her sisters Sarah and Katie weighed in at just under 3lbs.
Parents Jim and Jayne Patterson from Clonmore, Templemore, Co Tipperary were warned that none of the three might survive.
But, as our picture shows they did, albeit after a long time in the intensive care unit.
The trio are pictured with Jayne and Jim and elder brother Callum.
The proud parents say their biggest worry now is correctly identifying the new अर्रिवाल्स

From The Irish Independent
Saturday, 11th August, 2007