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.
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.
The World Health Organistation (WHO) researchers have given a warning as a survey of births found women who underwent a surgical delivery were more likely to suffer health problems than those who gave birth naturally.
The findings, published in the Lancet medical journal, have revealed that women who had a caesarean section without a medical need (a term known as 'too posh to push') were at least ten times more likely to be admitted to intensive care than those who gave birth normally.
Rates of caesarean births have been rising in Britain to reach almost one in four and in some hospitals almost one third of babies are delivered surgically. Although most caesarean sections are emergency operations which are carried out because labour is not progressing or the baby is in difficulty, there has been growing concern about women opting for the procedure because it is seen as safe and desirable, leading to accusations they are 'too posh to push'.
Any new mother will tell you, no matter how carefully you ate whilst pregnant there will always be a few extra pounds you'll bring home along with your baby!
Never before have women felt under so much pressure to lose the baby blubber and not a day goes by without some smug celebrity mum gushing about how the weight just dropped straight off after giving birth. Hmmmm. Was this miracle weight loss perhaps aided by a little bit of post baby surgery, personal trainers and a starvation diet?
Anyway, it is reported that British women are following the lead of celeb mums such as Angelina Jolie and Gwen Stefani and shelling out up to £85 on a girdle named 'The Cinch'.
Most women, myself included, would welcome moves that would see women being giving more choice as to where and how they give birth and most importantly continuity of care. Just something simple like seeing the same midwife for antenatal visits can really put a mum-to-be's mind at rest but sadly this is often the exception rather than the rule. 
Speaking ahead of the Royal College of Midwives annual conference, their leader Cathy Warwick said progress is being made but maternity services in England are at a critical point. One of the targets that is looking likely to be missed is choice of where to give birth, a key promise in Labour's manifesto at the last general election.
Professor Warwick was quick to point out surveys suggested that full choice was only offered in about 5o% of cases.
Any research into the causes, prevention and cure of breast cancer certainly gets the thumbs up here at Babytastic. So we were interested to learn that experts have singled out a naturally produced chemical which occurs in pregnancy as a possible drug to fight breast ca
ncer.
A new study has found that Alph-fetoprotein, or AFP, seems to halt the growth of tumours and prevent new ones from growing. AFP is produced by the body in response to pregnancy hormones such as oestrogen and progesterone, which are known to accelerate the growth of certain types of tumour. The lead researcher, Dr Herbert Jacobson, stated: "Hormones in pregnancy, such as oestrogen, all induce AFP, which directly inhibits the growth of breast cancer".
"The body has a natural defence system against breast cancer. AFP needs to be safely harnessed and developed into a drug that can be used to protect women against breast cancer".
Children are like little dirt magnets - fact! Have you ever noticed how babies will ALWAYS find that one bit of fluff on the carpet or mud on the floor? I am convinced they could find that needle in a haystack.
Well, good news. Scientists are saying that children should be allowed to get dirty, as being too clean can affect the skin's ability to heal. Everyone has 'normal' bacteria on their skin which, when we cut or graze ourselves, lessens the skin's 'overreaction' which can lead to the affected area becoming red and swollen. 
These finding have been made by a US team at the School of Medicine at University of California. By studying mice and human cells they have found that a common bacterial species known as staphylococci blocked a vital step in a cascade of events that led to inflammation.
How do you possibly thank the man who saved your daughter's life? With rock 'n' roll piano lessons of course! This was the dilemma faced by one new father after his 8 day old daughter had life saving heart surgery.
When Marcella Pace was born everything seemed perfectly normal and her parents couldn't wait to begin life as a family. However after a few days at home, Marcella's parents Elio and Helen rushed her back to hospital after she began to have difficulty breathing.
Doctors initially thought that Marcella was suffering from respiratory infection however further tests revealed that the newborn had a heart problem. Without delay Marcella was placed under the care of Dr Michael Rigby, a consultant paediatric cardiologist at the Royal Brompton hospital in London. Dr Rigby broke the news that Marcella had two heart abnormalities: a narrowing of the aortic valve (critical aortic valve stenosis) and a narrowing of the aorta (aortic coarctation), the main blood vessel leading out of the heart. To have both abnormalities is very rare (it affects just 5 babies a year in the UK) and if left untreated the conditions can be fatal.
If you have a Maclaren pushchair, then this one's for you. 
Maclaren are issuing over 1 million hinge safety kits in the US after several children had fingertips severed as a result of getting them caught in the pushchairs open and close hinge.
Initally Maclaren said there was no need to send out safety kits to their customers here in the UK as the incidents of accients was lower than in the US. However after a number of parents contacted the BBC and the Department of Business got involved, Maclaren have backed down.
New research by Imperial College London shows how important it is to try and reduce stress levels during pregnancy.
In a survey of pregnant women at the hospital, nearly a quarter felt anxious and depressed, while the same number argued often with their partners. These women’s babies had a lower birth weight, lower IQ, slower cognitive development and more anxiety than those born to the other women in the survey.
It is also suggested that whilst the condition of postnatal depression is well known, far less attention is paid to prenatal depression which causes women to suffer from anxiety and cope less with stress.
P
regnant women who eat large amounts of liquorice could negatively affect their child's intelligence and behaviour, according to research.
Experts from Edinburgh and Helsinki universities studied eight-year-olds born in Finland, where consumption of liquorice among young women is common.
The children of women who ate a lot of liquorice when pregnant did not perform as well as other youngsters in tests.