It's generally agreed that we are turning into a fat nation, and now experts are suggesting that one in every 1,100 pregnant women in the UK is "extremely obese". OK, so it's still a fairly low percentage, but it is worth reading the below points if you are very overweight as being overweight in pregnancy poses a risk to mothers but can also increase harm to unborn babies.

Previous research has shown that obese pregnant women have more chance of developing blood clots, needing a Caesarean section, wound infections and complications with anaesthesia.

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OK, so we know that pregnancy provides a good excuse to pile on a bit of extra weight and indulge in the odd doughnut or two, but a fat-laden diet during pregnancy may lead to an increased risk of breast cancer that is passed down generations, say scientists.

Pregnant women who dine on junk food could unwittingly be risking the future health of not only their daughters but also their grand-daughters, research suggests.

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The number of fathers who give up work to look after their children has apparantly soared ten-fold during the past decade, according to research carried out by Aviva.

Around 6% of UK fathers, equivalent to 600,000 people, now consider themselves to be their child's primary carer, up from just 60,000 who said this 10 years ago.

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Did you know that there  are more than 14 million grandparents in the UK, with one in three families depending on them for childcare and more than 300,000 children being raised by their grandparents?

If your parents or inlaws fall into this category, you may be interested to hear that a guide advising grandparents how to provide help to their families has just been launched.

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I really do wonder if the world has gone mad sometimes as a magazine advert for SMA formula milk has been banned for indirectly promoting its use from birth as it showed a baby pulling itself up on an armchair with a tagline reading: "For every stage, a formula."

Apparantly, three readers complained that SMA was "socially irresponsible" for indirectly promoting the use of formula for babies under six months.

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You may well have heard the term 'preg-head', which basically refers to how your memory goes rather pear-shaped when you get pregant and now new research seems to back this theory as amongst the many odd effects pregnancy can have, one of them appears to be increasing the risk of losing things.

Scientists found women in the later stages of pregnancy tend to suffer a loss of spatial memory - the memory of locations and positions of objects.

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Pregnant women could be given the right to choose where to give birth by law under proposals being considered by the Government.

Any risks to the mother and child would have to be taken into account, but the plan could see parents given the right to choose a home birth, hospital birth or one in a midwifery-led centre.

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Drinking red wine with a meal, going for a run before you eat or eating cheese afterwards are some of the ways people mistakenly think they can boost the iron in their diet, according to a new survey by online health resource, meatandhealth.com.

The survey also found that more than half of women surveyed believe that spinach is the best source of iron. In fact, you would need to eat a large amount of spinach to get the same amount of iron as there is in a 4oz sirloin steak.

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I know there seem to be ribbons for all sorts of charities and causes, but this one is a great one! Celebrities and pop stars rubbed shoulders tonight at an event promoting safe motherhood.

BBC presenter Tess Daly, Prime Minister's wife Sarah Brown and singer Annie Lennox were among the celebrity guests attending the White Ribbon Alliance's Global Dinner Party Campaign.

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I find it hard to believe that in this day and age we still hear stories about  women receiving complaints when they breastfeed in public.

 Thank goodness it's not the norm to hear stories such as this, but a bus company in Bristol has apologised for asking a young mother to get off a bus in the rain because she was breastfeeding.

 Amy Wootten, 25, was travelling home from the city centre on the busy bus and was feeding her six-week-old daughter Emily.

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New research has suggested that babies given solid foods before they are four months old are more likely to be overweight at the age of three than other infants.

More than one in four (26%) babies given solids before four months were overweight aged three compared with 22% of those fed solids later on.

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It is important that you as parents are informed about the possible risks of any course of treatment for your baby and that you are able to discuss and properly assess the clinical options presented to you. So with this in mind, I wanted to share with you some information that doctors and nurses have been warned to take care when giving babies antibiotics (normally gentamicin) after the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) issued new guidance after 507 reports of harm or potential harm to babies caused by staff errors in the 12 months to March.

Of the reports, 483 resulted in no or low harm to the baby, while 23 resulted in moderate harm.

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Let's face it, drinking milk is pretty healthy at the best of times, but new research has discovered that Mothers-to-be can reduce their babies' risk of developing multiple sclerosis in later life by drinking it.

Around 100,000 people in the UK suffer from MS, an auto-immune disease which destroys the fatty insulating sheath of myelin that coats nerve fibres in the brain and spinal cord.

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This is obviously a senstive subject, but one that is emmotive and of interest for all new parents and is probably worth a read..

New research has shown that cot death babies lack a key brain chemical that regulates breathing, heart rate and sleep.

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On the surface, new proposals by the government about new rights for fathers to take up to six months' paternity leave - three paid - seems all nice and rosy as currently, Dads are only entitled to two weeks paid leave.

Coming into force from April 2011, the time off can be taken during the second half of a baby's first year if the mother returns to the workplace.

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In a survey just published by SurveyMonkey, it has discovered that almost 50% of babies due this year were conceived outside the bedroom and that nearly 1 in 5 pregancies were not planned. (in this day and age, I ask you!)

While 46% of babies were conceived in the bedroom, 9.5% were conceived on holiday and less than 1% were conceived in a car.

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Now I don't have my own iPhone as yet, though my husband is glued permanantly to his so I am well aware of the plethora of iPhone apps that exist!

A recent story in the Sun showed a couple who believes she conceived due to her iPhone app of the free menstrual calendar that you can download. To me, the story seems a little contrived and probably sold in by the PR company representing iPhone - call me cynical! But nevertheless, it could be an app worth knowing about this if you are trying to conceive, as whether be via your iPhone or just google it on your PC, the calendar can certainly help make you aware of your fertile days, that is if your periods are fairly regular.

There has been a recent spate of research and press articles which suggest breastfeeding may not be all it's cracked up to be.

From my perspective, doing blogs on all things baby and pregnancy related, it certainly makes a nice change to write about something different other than how breastmilk is some kind of miracle and magical tonic for your baby, and it's always nice to read both sides of the argument so that you can make an informed choice with regards to your feeding preferences, although of course there is no denying the health benefits gained from breastfeeding.

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There has been a lot of tit for tat cross party arguing over a new 10 page official guide on 'how to be a good father' to be launched by children's Secretary Ed Balls later this week.

A total of 600,000 copies of the guide will be distributed across the UK and its core message will be that men can be just as good at caring for children as women as well as the benefits gained by breast-fed babies will also be outlined.

Call me old fashioned, but the jury is still out for me whether the majority of men can be equal to caring for children as women - but regardless of the politics, the guide sounds like a great idea which I'm sure a lot of men will welcome.