DEADLY Diseases are Making a Comeback Because More Parents are Refusing to Vaccinate their Children.

The following is from The Sunday Telegraph, 22 May, 2011. This is a worldwide problem, lack of immunisation, and I believe it is because many people simply have no concept of the deadliness of these disease.  I will insert some photographs here, with no apology for how awful they are.
 
DEADLY diseases are making a comeback because more parents are refusing to vaccinate their children.

Health authorities warn children are at risk of becoming seriously ill and dying from whooping cough, measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria and tetanus because they are not having their jabs.
Parents who refuse to immunise believe the vaccines are harmful, but doctors say they are ill-informed and putting the entire community at risk."It is unfair to the child as the child is too young to make an informed decision, and these are very nasty diseases that can kill," infectious diseases expert Dr Jeremy McAnulty said.

 
"The scientific evidence is overwhelming: immunisation has effectively got rid of many diseases and minimised others, and is one of our greatest public-health achievements," NSW Health's director of Health Protection addedAround one per cent of parents don't immunise their children, but in some pockets of Sydney's north shore and eastern suburbs, the rate of conscientious objectors is eight per cent, and as high as 21 per cent in the Byron Shire.

 
"If we don't maintain high rates of immunisation, we risk many of these deadly diseases reappearing," he said.

Chicken Pox Blisters

 
Multiple cases of whooping cough, measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria and tetanus have been recorded on the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System this year.

Mumps - he is lucky, one on one side

 
Tragically, an unimmunised 22-year-old from Brisbane died of diphtheria last month after contracting the disease from a traveller.

Diptheria - it can form a membrane which closes the whole throat

 
There have been more than 40 cases of measles reported in NSW so far this year, and almost 5000 of whooping cough - the most of any state.

Baby with Whooping Cough

 
Seven babies have died from whooping cough in the past two years, including one on the north coast around Easter.

Measles

 
Premier Barry O'Farrell, who on Friday had a whooping cough booster shot, said the state government needed to review strategies to combat conscientious objectors, but ultimately it was up to parents. "We shouldn't be contracting to the state what parents need to take responsibility for," Mr O'Farrell said.

Rubella

 
"We need to ensure we have the information out there to make sure the myths and misinformation on the internet are combated. It needs to be a constant effort because it does worry me there is a lack of immunisation. "It's been a good seven years since my youngest was four and, like many of us, you make the assumption when you don't have young kids, you're not at risk."

Baby with Tetanus

 
Google "vaccines" and one of the first sites to pop up is the Australian Vaccination Network (AVN) that upholds the now-discredited and withdrawn Andrew Wakefield study into an alleged link between autism and the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine.

Tetanus

Dr McAnulty said authorities had no control over what was published online, but the science in favour of vaccination was overwhelming. The National Immunisation and Research Surveillance Centre's Professor Robert Booy said: "Immunisation has brought a host of life-threatening infectious diseases under control to the point where experienced GPs can no longer recognise diseases, such as measles, because they rarely see them."

Meningitis Rash

Baby with Meningitis

 
One in 1000 children who contract measles will die, and one in 1000 will develop severe brain swelling. Professor Booy said the vaccine's side-effects were minimal by comparison. "Some will develop a slight fever or a rash, and one in 100,000 will experience some brain swelling, but it's 100 times less risk than the risks of the disease itself."

Baby with pneumococcal

 
Many vaccines do contain live viruses and preservatives, such as mercury and formaldehyde, which are known neurotoxins, which some parents are concerned about. But Professor Booy said the risks from the mercury and formaldehyde levels were negligible.Sydney naturopath Fiona Kane, who volunteers with the AVN, said most naturopaths opposed vaccination.

Little girl with pneumococcal

 
"I like the idea of vaccines - I just have a lot of doubts about them and what's in them, mercury and aluminium. My problem is we're not allowed to question them." Sandra Rogers, Australian Traditional Medicine Society president, said the society did not take a position on the subject of vaccinations because it was so contentious.

Baby with gangrene due to HIB

 
Vaccines for Hib ( Haemophilus influenzae, type b )  and pneumococcal, causes of potentially fatal meningitis, were brought in 10 years ago.

This is caused  by HIB

 
"Those diseases used to affect 400-500 children a year, and each kill around 20 children - it just doesn't happen anymore," Professor Booy said.

Gross swelling caused by HIB

I Have A Treat In Store For You!

The next few posts on my blog will, I truly hope, be a huge treat.  I have downloaded some amazing videos from a wonderful website, EHD "The Endowment for Human Development".  It is one of the best and most informative websites I have come across, and contains astounding photographs and videos of what goes in inside the uterus as our baby is growing and developing.

It makes me feel a little like a dinosaur to see the scanned images - and at the same time I am awed and fascinated, as I hope you will be also.  Just think - when I was pregnant with my daughter 35 years ago, there was no such thing as an ultrasound scan being done as a regular procedure during pregnancy.   The doctor listened for my baby's heart with his stethoscope!  To me, hearing my baby's heartbeat was as close to a miracle as I had ever been!  Now there are scans in three and four dimensions!

I hope the videos aren't too jerky.  Put your sound on as well, for information on what you are seeing!

I am sure you will enjoy the short videos I have put on here for you.  Grateful thanks go to EHD for their extreme generosity in sharing these videos freely.

The Big Yawn, Exercising the Tongue - 30 and 34 Weeks Pregnant

Holding the Cord, Eyes Open and Close - 22 and 26 Weeks Pregnant

Moving theTongue, Hormonal Stress Response - 14 and 18 Weeks Pregnant

Double Fisted! & Nose and Lips - 12 and 13 Weeks Pregnant

Moving the Jaw, The Fetal Period - 10 and 11 Weeks Pregnant

Brains and Beauty and Prenatal Eye - 8 and 9 Weeks Pregnant

The Beating Heart - 6 and 7 Weeks Pregnant

Some Interesting Things About Baby's Brain!

I am drawn to exploring on the net, and am a little like a butterfly when it comes to flitting about from place to place and gathering all sorts of intriguing facts (or not, as the case may be!).  As you know, I recently came across LiveScience.com, and although I would argue with a lot of their 'facts', they have actually published some fascinating information.  The following was gleaned from their site.  Not saying I agree with it all, as usual!  Enjoy!

Comparative biologists have suggested that if it weren't for the size limitations of a woman's pelvis, babies would stay developing in the womb for considerably longer.  To fit through mom's, er, escape hatch, the newborn brain is one-quarter the size of an adult's.
(A newborn baby's brain weighs less than 0.5kg)
Some evolutionary biologists theorize that newborns are socially inept – and have an annoying cry – so that parents won't get too emotionally attached while the baby has an increased likelihood of dying. Of course, crying also gets a baby the attention he needs to survive.
(So we won't get too emotionally attached?  What planet do their biologists come from?)

The newborn prefrontal cortex – the brain's so-called "executive" area – doesn't have much control, so efforts to discipline or worries about spoiling are pointless at this stage. Instead, newborns are learning about hunger, loneliness, discomfort and fatigue – and what it feels like to have these pains relieved. Caregivers can help this process along by promptly responding to baby's needs, experts suggest.
Not that a baby can be kept from crying. In fact, all babies, no matter how responsive their parents are, have a period of peak crying around the gestational age of 46 weeks. (Most babies are born between 38 and 42 weeks.)
That is, a premature baby, born at 34 weeks, will reach her peak crying point at around 12 weeks old, while a full-term baby, born at 40 weeks, will cry the most at around 6 weeks old.

After birth, the human brain grows rapidly, more than doubling to reach 60 percent of its adult size by the time the tot is sampling his first birthday cake. By kindergarten, the brain has reached its full size but it may not finish developing until the kid is in his mid-20s. Even then,  "the brain never stops changing, for better or worse." 
 (By the time a person is 6 years old, the brain reaches its full weight of about 1.4 kg. Most of the brain cells are present at birth, and so the increase in weight comes mainly from growth of the cells.) 

Baby brains have many, many more neuronal connections than the brains of adults. They also have less inhibitory neurotransmitters. As a result, researchers have suggested, the baby's perception of reality is  less focused than adults. They are vaguely aware of pretty much everything – a sensible strategy considering they don't yet know what's important.

"The only thing we know of, that makes babies smarter, is talking to them,"  emphasizing that dialogue is best, where a parent responds within the pauses of an infants' vocalizations.
Some parents take  advice too far and strive to meet Junior's every yip with a yap. But when babies get a reaction 100 percent of the time, they get bored and look away. 

(I don't agree with that statement - "the only thing...makes babies smarter is talking to them". I believe also in the positive educational value of reading to your children from the word 'go'.)

 
When acting instinctually, parents respond to 50 to 60 percent of a baby's vocalizations. In the lab, it has been found that language development can be accelerated  when babies are responded to 80 percent of the time. Beyond that, however, learning declines.
(Also, it is very easy to overstimulate and tire your baby, who also needs quiet time to rest and absorb what he is learning.)

A Very Beautiful Woman

We have had a quite wonderful day, having a visit from my two girls to brighten us up.  We didn't do a lot, and as usual there was so much to say that we  ran out of time.

We love you Katrina

It was just, ah how do you describe how it feels to spend time with your daughter and grand daughter? I have no idea how to put it into words, and maybe there aren't really words to express these feelings!
The huge problems with being unwell and not valid (funny ha ha) is how restricted you are, and how damned difficult it is to choke on your pride and admit you need help.  After years of being the parent and being there for my kid, being strong and being the one who came to the rescue, the situation has all suddenly blown inside out.  It often leaves me feeling ashamed and angry that I am so pathetic - anyone would think I am 90 not 63. 

 
Then I turn it around 360^o  and am so proud to have such a wonderful daughter.  I honestly don't know what we would do without her, and the past year has been so difficult for her, with both of us abruptly becoming old farts in need of looking at.  I mean, looking after!  Nothing is too much trouble for her, she even feels she doesn't do enough, which isn't true at all.  Something went right because we have produced an amazing, beautiful, compassionate, gentle, caring and loving woman. 


We always have been so proud of her, but the strength she has shown over the past years seems to increase daily.  She has not only been running her business, running her house and taking care of a not quite 4 year old, but also caring for ailing parents and a mother-in-law who had her leg in plaster, and was in a wheelchair.

We love her so much, and can never thank her completely for what she does for us, nor can we adequately explain how wonderful she is.  Something that touched me to the heart was when her mum-in-law said  "she is such a sweet, lovely girl",  and I replied "yes, she is everyone's special grand daughter".   Mum-in-law looked at me with a smile and said "I was talking about Katrina"......  

Delayed Cord Clamping Helps Reduce Iron Deficiency

I have posted the following, from MYHealthNewsDaily, but wish to point out that this is a little strange as a recent finding, as this was known as far back as (and probably further than) 2006? I understand that most mothers here ask for the cord to stop pulsing before being clamped.

To reduce a baby's risk of anaemia, doctors should wait a few minutes after birth before clamping the umbilical cord, a new study suggests.


Waiting at least three minutes to clamp the cords of healthy newborns improved their iron levels at 4 months of age, and reduced the baby's risk of developing iron deficiency. Before clamping, blood within the cord and in the placenta flows into the baby; clamping cuts off this flow. Previous research had suggested that delayed cord clamping could prevent iron deficiency. However, it was unclear whether earlier clamping might bring increased the risk of jaundice and other health complications.

To investigate the risks and benefits of cord clamping, researchers at the Hospital of Halland in Sweden studied 400 full-term infants.


Some had their umbilical cords clamped after at least three minutes, while others had them clamped less than 10 seconds after delivery.

At 4 months old, babies whose clamping was delayed had iron levels that were 45 percent higher on average than those who had their umbilical cords clamped immediately. There were also fewer cases of anaemia in the group that experienced delayed clamping.


For every 20 babies whose clamping was delayed, one case of iron deficiency would be prevented, according to the study. Delayed cord clamping was not associated with any adverse health effects.
Iron deficiency and anaemia are major health problems in young children around the world, and are associated with poor neurodevelopment. Young children are at particular risk because they have high iron requirements as they rapidly grow.

Delayed clamping may allow infants to receive a substantial blood transfusion from the placenta. "A term newborn held 10 cm [4 inches] below the level of the uterus during the first three minutes of life increases its blood volume by an average of 32 percent," the researchers said.

Delayed cord clamping "should be considered as standard care for full-term deliveries after uncomplicated pregnancies," the researchers said.

The study was published online yesterday (Nov. 15) in the British Medical Journal.

Pass it on: Doctors should wait at least three minutes before clamping a baby's umbilical cord after birth.

11 Myths About Pregnancy - Well, Supposedly....

This is long, but I would love you to stick with it, and really want to know what you think about all this!   Thanks!




Pregnancy lasts nine months.
"It's actually more like nine-and-a-half months," said Dr. Joanne Stone, an obstetrician at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and co-author of "Pregnancy for Dummies" (For Dummies, 2009). To make matters more confusing, doctors typically measure pregnancy's length as 40 weeks, counting from a woman's last period. Women usually become fertile 10 to 16 days after their period starts, so from this method of counting, the first two weeks of every pregnancy take place before a woman has conceived.
 
My response to this is to ask why in hell they count like that in the first place?

 
"Pregnancy brain" makes it impossible to concentrate.
This may be true in the first few months, when a 30-fold increase in progesterone makes most women really, really, sleepy. And some researchers say pregnancy hormones may make it hard for a pregnant woman to remember where she placed her keys.But pregnancy brain may not be all bad. In a small pilot study of 10 women, Stone and colleagues found that women tend to have increased attention spans in their third trimester. If the results are confirmed in a larger group of women — something the researchers are currently working on — it may be an indicator of "neuronal nesting."
 
"This may be nature's way of increasing the attention a mother is going to need to give a newborn," Stone said.

Eh? The attention we are going to need to give to a newborn?  The little tackers turn us into zombies, not madam smarts......Study of TEN WOMEN?
  
"Morning" sickness only happens in the morning.
If only this were true! Thought to be caused by shifting hormones, morning sickness can strike (and often does) at any point in the day. And it's not confined to the first trimester, as many believe, Stone said. "It can last up to 16 weeks."

 
Drinking any alcohol during pregnancy will hurt your baby. 
While binge drinking during pregnancy can cause severe problems, recent studies of thousands of women in the United Kingdom and Australia have confirmed earlier research suggesting that light to moderate drinking – usually defined as one drink a week to one small drink most days – may not be harmful.
 
Drinking during pregnancy is more culturally acceptable in Europe and Australia, where pregnant woman imbibe more openly than in the United States. But many physicians in the United States, such as Dr. Michael Broder, author of "Panic-Free Pregnancy" (Perigee Trade, 2004), also quietly allow their patients to have the occasional alcoholic drink – particularly after the first trimester.
 

I wonder who they surveyed, because honestly I do not know one pregnant woman here who drinks even moderately? 

 

Pregnancy makes your feet grow.
While most women experience some swelling in their calves, ankles and feet during pregnancy, many can fit back into their favorite heels at some point postpartum. But this one isn't a complete myth: Some women permanently go up a half-size over the course of a pregnancy – and possibly even another half-size with each subsequent pregnancy.
"Hopefully, they're not having ten kids," Stone laughed.
 

Oh ha ha, I am really really starting to dislike this woman.  Who is she anyway, and what makes her such an expert?  hmmm

 

 
Your body shape will never be the same again.
"With exercise and diet, it certainly is possible to get back in the shape you were in before getting pregnant," Stone said, adding that this is easiest for people who were quite fit before conceiving. People tend to forget that the body changes with age, with or without a pregnancy, Stone told MyHealthNewsDaily. So before blaming your saddlebags on your offspring, try counting the candles on your next birthday cake.
 

BULLSHIT.  Not every woman can get back to the same shape lady, for a start your bloody pelvis might not go back to where it was. 

 

Cindy Crawford getting in shape

 
The mom-to-be is the only one going through hormonal changes.
She's not alone: Dad's dealing with hormone shifts, too. A study published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior in 2000 found that over the course of his mate's pregnancy, an expectant father's testosterone levels go down and his prolactin levels go up. Researchers think this adjustment may help prime  men to play daddy
 

Another load of claptrap and rubbish I reckon. This study is now 10 years out of bloody date anyway.  How many men do you know that are shit fathers, or don't want to play the game?  So what happened to their hormones?  eh? eh? And what is this "play daddy"?

 
Breastfeeding makes your breasts sag.
While infants certainly drain a lactating breast, their hunger doesn't cause long-term changes in breast firmness. Scientists have confirmed that breastfeeding does not contribute to breast ptosis (the scientific name for saggy breasts).
 
However, multiple pregnancies, smoking and simply getting older have been correlated with droopier cleavage, according to a study of 132 women published in the Annals of Plastic Surgery in May.
 

132 Women?  Um.  Because guess what, plastic surgery people?  This is also the biggest load of bollocks I have seen.  Try checking out 132,000 women and you will get a fairer picture.

 

 
Twins skip a generation.
Fraternal twins do run in families, due to a gene that can make a woman more likely to release multiple eggs during ovulation. But the hyper-ovulation gene doesn't leapfrog over certain generations. It is passed on from parent to child just like all genes are.
Evidence shows that identical twins, however, occur at random, rather than running in families. If there are many sets of carbon-copies in your family line, "it is probably just a coincidence," Vreeman told MyHealthNewsDaily.
 

Erm.  Call this crap too.  I personally know families who have had identical twins in every generation for about the past 7 or 8 they know of.  But I guess it is probably just a coincidence.  There is no such thing as a coincidence.

 
You can predict the sex of your baby without technology.
Time to break it to grandma: Basketball-shaped bellies do not forecast boys. In a study of 104 women, published in the journal Birth in 1999, no correlations were found between a pregnant belly's size or shape and the baby's gender.
Similarly, predictions using the Chinese lunar calendar, the fetal heart rate and the Drano test (where the woman's urine is mixed with the de-clogging liquid and the resulting color allegedly reveals the baby's gender) were examined by physicians in Vancouver in 1999. None of them were reliable.
 

Grandma's Challenge. Fetal heart rate - strange how every single midwife, gynae and technician doing scans said that girl's hearts beat faster than boy's hearts.   1999?  How out of date is that?  

 

Neither is women's intuition dependably accurate, according to a 1996 article in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine. Of 110 women who professed having a strong sense of the baby's gender, roughly half were right – the same number expected to be right if they were just guessing.
 
In all, scientists have found most folklore-based methods of predicting a baby's sex have the same odds as flipping a coin. "And 50/50 odds are not that bad," Vreeman said.
 
There may be a case for the predictive value of extreme morning sickness. Excessive, unrelenting morning sickness – also known as hyperemesis gravidarum – is slightly more correlated with having girls, Vreeman said.

 
When you have sex determines the gender of your baby.
Dads-to-be have two types of sperm: those that make baby boys and those that make baby girls. Some say that the body of a mom-to-be is more hospitable to boy sperm or girl sperm during certain times in her cycle. And so, the theories go, when a couple has sex can determine whether they conceive a Junior or a Bubette.
 
While a few small studies have supported timing methods for sex selection, larger, more recent studies have failed to find any correlation between the day within the fertile window a couple has sex and the gender of the baby, explained Dr. Rachel Vreeman, co-author of "Don't Swallow Your Gum! Myths, Half-Truths, and Outright Lies about Your Body and Health" (St. Martin's Griffin, 2009).
 
The only way you can reliably choose the sex of your baby is with the help of technology.

 

Sorry to say that this blurb, from MyHealthNews.com,  has actually made me cranky.  I have read a load of twaddle in my time, but this is sheer bunkum for most of it. The research doesn't even seem recent, and most of it is sketchy - in my opinion!

 

C'mon ladies, let me know what YOU think about this?