Circumcision Information for Health Professionals and Parents

The history of medicalized circumcision is a fascinating study in Victorian medicine and anti-sexuality.1 The phenomenon of circumcising boys and girls for pseudomedical reasons was almost exclusively confined to the Englishspeaking world. American pseudomedical circumcision began in 1870 when New York physician Lewis A. Sayre treated a boy for paralysis by amputating his foreskin.2 The operation appeared to succeed. Thereafter circumcision was relentlessly promoted as a necessity for hygiene as well as a treatment for all sorts of illnesses, including masturbation, epilepsy, elephantiasis, insanity, asthma, alcoholism, hernia, premature ejaculation, penile cancer, cervical cancer, and virtually every other identified ailment3

Does your baby really need a bath right after birth?
Study shows why to avoid artificial rupture of your membranes and the importance of not bathing your new baby right after birth.

Often called “Natures Cold Cream” vernix, the white creamy stuff most babies are born with, and amniotic fluid have similar immune enhancing properties as breast milk. We have known for a long time that the immunologic properties of breast milk are what truly set it apart from any other form of infant sustenance. The body of a newborn baby is very vulnerable and it does not have inborn defense mechanisms to protect itself from the environment outside of the womb. This study shows that the extremely popular procedure of “artificial rupturing of membranes” can take away the amniotic fluid's protective capability. This also holds true for bathing your baby in the first 24 hours after birth and not allowing the vernix to be absorbed into the baby’s skin.

A Women's Nation - Reclaim Your Right to Birth Right

originally posted in the Huffington Post, October 16, 2009

The times have truly changed. According to the newly released The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Changes Everything, women now make up half the work force for the first time in written history! This means that our voices and skills are impacting all areas of society more than ever before. The Shriver Report also found that for both men and women, health is their number one priority! Since women make the vast majority of healthcare decisions in their families--and have the buying power to do it--we women are in a very powerful position to influence the future of healthcare in America. Nowhere is this more critical than in the area of pregnancy and birth.

Nutrition in Pregnancy

Whole-Food Supplements: The Prenatal Vitamin Option by Gerri L. Ryan, CPM, LMMuch has been written concerning the nutritional needs of pregnant women and whether the average diet supplies the necessary vitamins, minerals and nutrients to grow a healthy baby. This subject is quite polarized—some studies stating that adequate nutritional intake does not require supplementation and some indicating that specific supplementation may be needed for various risk factors. While this article does not attempt to resolve this question, it does propose an alternative to traditional prenatal vitamins—whole-food supplementation.

OB Docs: What have we become?

Dr. Chukwuma Onyeije, who bills himself on Twitter as an information-age Maternal-Fetal Medicine Specialist, wrote a blog post about avoiding an unnecessary cesarean following a Twitter discussion that began with this commentary of CNN’s coverage of Joy Szabo’s recent birth:

In his post, 10 Ways to Avoid an Unnecessary Cesarean, Dr. Onyeije coins the term Physician VBAC Hysteria:

Patient’s trust physicians to make tough calls by virtue of our expertise, training and because they believe that we want what is best for them. My fear is that physicians risk losing the trust and goodwill we have with patients if we steer them away from safe vaginal deliveries toward unnecessary cesarean deliveries for questionable reasons. The current trend towards not offering VBAC may have begun due to concerns regarding safety or even medico-legal exposure; however at present, it has metastasized to inordinate levels that I have referred to as PVH (physician-VBAC-hysteria).

More Articles...

«
Start
Prev
1
2
3
4
Next
End
»

Page 2 of 4

Circumcision Information for Health Professionals and Parents

Nutrition in Pregnancy

OB Docs: What have we become?

Search

Current

Login

Popular

Newsflash