UK Schools To Teach About Breastfeeding in Kindergarten

Kate Tuttle — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:31:00 GMT

Facing falling rates of women who even attempt to nurse their newborns, local officials in Liverpool, England, are launching an educational program to introduce students, some as young as five years old, to the idea of breastfeeding. Early lessons would use diagrams and include the material in "general discussions about growing up," while students in high school would be visited by actual nursing mothers. Boys will be part of the curriculum because school officials acknowlege that male opposition is a factor in women's rejection of breastfeeding.

Two things shock me about this idea. One, that it's possible to go forward with this kind of endeavor in England, while in the US you'd face rampant objections from all sides. And two, that a breastfeeding rate of "just one third" is considered particularly low. The current US rate is something like 70% upon leaving the hospital, but less than a third at three months. It's too bad our culture wouldn't allow such a program here; we could use it.

More by this author:

Is This Baby Obese? Aussie Mom Says No
Baby Nearly Starves to Death, Diluted Formula to Blame
Grandmother’s Right? Or Totally Obnoxious?
Health Scam: Crisis Pregnancy Centers
Mama’s Got a Brand New Bag

Study: Pregnant Smokers Have Girls, Not Boys

Karen Murphy — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 18:08:00 GMT

A crude but fairly-effective low-tech method of gender-selection seems to have been stumbled upon by British researchers: a new study of 9000 pregnancies in Liverpool, England* shows that moms-to-be who smoke are one-third less likely to have male children than moms who don't smoke. If the dad-to-be smokes, the likelihood drops to almost one-half (this is taking into account other factors such as health and age).

The mother doesn't even have to be a smoker at all, as even second-hand smoke was found to have an effect upon the resulting baby's gender. This is all pretty significant when you consider that 52%, or slightly more than half (I know you know this but I'm saying it for my own math-deprived brain), of babies born in Western countries are male. What would the balance be like if no one smoked at all, I wonder? (or if everyone did?)

Researchers still haven't a clue as to the cause of this phenomenon, but they hypothesize that it ~~has something to do with smoking~~ has to do with the effect of nicotine upon the Y-chromosome (which determines gender), and also something having to do with the effects upon the mother (it's known, for instance, that smoking reduces estrogen and thins the cervix, as well as causes other bad stuff, but how this results in gender changes they haven't a clue).

So, if you want a girl, smoke 'em if you've got 'em!

*damn, I couldn't work the term "Liverpudlian" into this article.

Strollerderby : Liverpool

UK Schools To Teach About Breastfeeding in Kindergarten

Study: Pregnant Smokers Have Girls, Not Boys