Showing posts with label mother. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mother. Show all posts
Thursday, July 27, 2017
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
Sunday, May 10, 2015
The woman who created Mother's Day died despising it
Now, here's a tragic but true story. A lot of these kinds of women; be it the mother's day inventor or the pink ribbon inventor for breast cancer, despised the commercialization of what they believed in so much.
Love for a mother can never be repaid through a few flowers & chocolates or cards. If this would've been true, then nursing homes wouldn't be filled with old moms crying that their kids put them there (many by coercion) & have forgotten them completely.
Last week or so, I put a blog post here how there are inheritance wars are going on in Canada & US. The article showed how kids (Baby Boomers) despise their parents to be still alive & not sharing their wealth with them. It's not the story of one or a few families, but many families. Those Baby Boomers also showered their moms with chocolates & flowers on Mother's Day, because that's easy to do. The harder part is taking care of an old, fragile, a shell of a woman. But that's tough to do, so let's ship mom off to nursing home & divide up the bounties of her wealth.
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If you think the spirit of Mother’s Day has been spoiled by the commercialism of cards, flowers & once-a-year sincerity, you stand united with the woman credited with giving us the annual event.
West Virginian Anna Jarvis was so horrified by the monster she helped create in 1914, she spent most of her later years campaigning to have the second Sunday in May removed from the calendar as the day to honour your mother.
In the end, Jarvis lost the fight. The woman, who was never a mother herself, exhausted her financial resources & ruined her mental health, dying alone in 1948 in an asylum at the age of 84.
“She simply wanted a day to honour & remember mothers, but in her mind it didn’t turn out that way,” says William Pollard, an archivist at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Va., where Jarvis bequeathed her letters & other writings.
In 1914, Jarvis spearheaded a campaign to help persuade US president Woodrow Wilson to set aside May’s second Sunday as a national day for recognition. She orchestrated a letter-writing campaign to Wilson, lobbied influential politicians & clergymen & distributed brochures arguing about the importance of a national day for mothers.
Jarvis’ cause came from admiration for her recently deceased mother, Anna Maria & others like her, who had been an inspiration.
But by the early 1920s, she was sickened by the commercial circus she had helped create. She felt the day had nothing to do with celebrating the real achievements of women.
Jarvis spent her days crashing floral company conventions to protest & urging card companies to give the money they made from Mother’s Day to the poor. At one Mother’s Day convention where flowers were being sold she was arrested for disturbing the peace. She even launched a lawsuit to stop a Mother’s day festival from being held.
Her story didn’t end happily. Jarvis, who didn’t marry, died in 1948 alone & penniless in a hospital near Philadelphia from a illness brought on in part by her ceaseless campaign.
Just before her death Jarvis told a local reporter: “I devoted my entire life to Mother’s Day & the racketeers & grafters have taken it over.”
Love for a mother can never be repaid through a few flowers & chocolates or cards. If this would've been true, then nursing homes wouldn't be filled with old moms crying that their kids put them there (many by coercion) & have forgotten them completely.
Last week or so, I put a blog post here how there are inheritance wars are going on in Canada & US. The article showed how kids (Baby Boomers) despise their parents to be still alive & not sharing their wealth with them. It's not the story of one or a few families, but many families. Those Baby Boomers also showered their moms with chocolates & flowers on Mother's Day, because that's easy to do. The harder part is taking care of an old, fragile, a shell of a woman. But that's tough to do, so let's ship mom off to nursing home & divide up the bounties of her wealth.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you think the spirit of Mother’s Day has been spoiled by the commercialism of cards, flowers & once-a-year sincerity, you stand united with the woman credited with giving us the annual event.
West Virginian Anna Jarvis was so horrified by the monster she helped create in 1914, she spent most of her later years campaigning to have the second Sunday in May removed from the calendar as the day to honour your mother.
In the end, Jarvis lost the fight. The woman, who was never a mother herself, exhausted her financial resources & ruined her mental health, dying alone in 1948 in an asylum at the age of 84.
“She simply wanted a day to honour & remember mothers, but in her mind it didn’t turn out that way,” says William Pollard, an archivist at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Va., where Jarvis bequeathed her letters & other writings.
In 1914, Jarvis spearheaded a campaign to help persuade US president Woodrow Wilson to set aside May’s second Sunday as a national day for recognition. She orchestrated a letter-writing campaign to Wilson, lobbied influential politicians & clergymen & distributed brochures arguing about the importance of a national day for mothers.
Jarvis’ cause came from admiration for her recently deceased mother, Anna Maria & others like her, who had been an inspiration.
But by the early 1920s, she was sickened by the commercial circus she had helped create. She felt the day had nothing to do with celebrating the real achievements of women.
Jarvis spent her days crashing floral company conventions to protest & urging card companies to give the money they made from Mother’s Day to the poor. At one Mother’s Day convention where flowers were being sold she was arrested for disturbing the peace. She even launched a lawsuit to stop a Mother’s day festival from being held.
Her story didn’t end happily. Jarvis, who didn’t marry, died in 1948 alone & penniless in a hospital near Philadelphia from a illness brought on in part by her ceaseless campaign.
Just before her death Jarvis told a local reporter: “I devoted my entire life to Mother’s Day & the racketeers & grafters have taken it over.”
Saturday, May 9, 2015
Breastfeeding 'linked to higher IQ'
Breastfeeding an infant, a practice, which has been going on since humans came on this planet, through creation or evolution (regardless of what you believe), is still the best possible practice to get an infant the essential nutrients, in that early stage of life.
Regardless of how much the world develops & how much Nestle or other companies try to sell infant formula, they still cannot replace the value of nutrition an infant receives from breast milk.
Furthermore, the breast milk is an affordable (read: free) source of nutrition for the infant. Many babies around the world die because of malnutrition or water-borne diseases, because of these formulas. How?
Mothers, in rural areas of developing nations, are given free samples of Nestle's infant formula in the beginning (these companies want to hook these mothers for life on formulas). Since, clean water is scarce in those areas, mothers use dirty water, & essentially, kill their newborn with their own hands.
Also, since biologically, if the mother's breasts are not used by the infant in those early days after birth, they dry up. After those free samples are gone, mothers are required to buy the formula. Those women don't have enough finances to purchase those relatively expensive formulas. So, those babies suffer malnutrition in their early days of growth, which in turn, inhibit their growth, or may even kill them.
On top of that, Islam teaches people that breastfeeding creates a very strong bond of love between a mother & her baby. We can see nowadays that many career women, especially the ones who are very busy in their careers, don't opt for breastfeeding. Heck, they may not even go for the whole pregnancy drama & just hire a surrogate. What happens when those kids grow up? Mothers don't know what their kids are doing & how they are growing up etc. Kids return that non-existent love by also not caring about their mothers.
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The research in Brazil traced nearly 3,500 babies, from all walks of life, & found those who had been breastfed for longer went on to score higher on IQ tests as adults.
Experts say the results, while not conclusive, appear to back current advice that babies should be exclusively breastfed for 6 months.
But they say mothers should still have a choice about whether or not to do it.
Regarding the findings - published in The Lancet Global Health - they stress there are many different factors other than breastfeeding that could have an impact on intelligence, although the researchers did try to rule out the main confounders, such as mother's education, family income & birth weight.
Dr. Bernardo Lessa Horta, from the Federal University of Pelotas in Brazil, said his study offers a unique insight because in the population he studied, breastfeeding was evenly distributed across social class - not something just practised by the rich & educated.
Most of the babies, irrespective of social class, were breastfed - some for less than a month and others for more than a year.
Those who were breastfed for longer scored higher on measures of intelligence as adults.
They were also more likely to earn a higher wage & to have completed more schooling.
Dr. Horta believes breast milk may offer an advantage because it is a good source of long-chain saturated fatty acids which are essential for brain development.
Kevin Fenton, national director of health & wellbeing, Public Health England, said there was strong evidence that breastfeeding provides some health benefits for babies - reduced respiratory & gastrointestinal infections in infancy, for example.
He said: "PHE's advice remains that exclusive breastfeeding for around the first 6 months of life provides health benefits to babies.
"We recognise however, that not all mothers choose, or are able, to breastfeed & infant formula is the only alternative to breast milk for babies under 12 months old."
Dr Colin Michie, chairman of the Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health's nutrition committee, said: "There have been many studies on the link between breastfeeding & IQ over the years with many having had their validity challenged.
"This study however, looks at a number of other factors including education achievement & income at age 30 which, along with the high sample size, makes this study a very powerful one.
"It is important to note that breastfeeding is one of many factors that can contribute to a child's outcomes, however this study emphasises the need for continued & enhanced breastfeeding promotion so expectant mothers are aware of the benefits of breastfeeding."
Regardless of how much the world develops & how much Nestle or other companies try to sell infant formula, they still cannot replace the value of nutrition an infant receives from breast milk.
Furthermore, the breast milk is an affordable (read: free) source of nutrition for the infant. Many babies around the world die because of malnutrition or water-borne diseases, because of these formulas. How?
Mothers, in rural areas of developing nations, are given free samples of Nestle's infant formula in the beginning (these companies want to hook these mothers for life on formulas). Since, clean water is scarce in those areas, mothers use dirty water, & essentially, kill their newborn with their own hands.
Also, since biologically, if the mother's breasts are not used by the infant in those early days after birth, they dry up. After those free samples are gone, mothers are required to buy the formula. Those women don't have enough finances to purchase those relatively expensive formulas. So, those babies suffer malnutrition in their early days of growth, which in turn, inhibit their growth, or may even kill them.
On top of that, Islam teaches people that breastfeeding creates a very strong bond of love between a mother & her baby. We can see nowadays that many career women, especially the ones who are very busy in their careers, don't opt for breastfeeding. Heck, they may not even go for the whole pregnancy drama & just hire a surrogate. What happens when those kids grow up? Mothers don't know what their kids are doing & how they are growing up etc. Kids return that non-existent love by also not caring about their mothers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The research in Brazil traced nearly 3,500 babies, from all walks of life, & found those who had been breastfed for longer went on to score higher on IQ tests as adults.
Experts say the results, while not conclusive, appear to back current advice that babies should be exclusively breastfed for 6 months.
But they say mothers should still have a choice about whether or not to do it.
Regarding the findings - published in The Lancet Global Health - they stress there are many different factors other than breastfeeding that could have an impact on intelligence, although the researchers did try to rule out the main confounders, such as mother's education, family income & birth weight.
Dr. Bernardo Lessa Horta, from the Federal University of Pelotas in Brazil, said his study offers a unique insight because in the population he studied, breastfeeding was evenly distributed across social class - not something just practised by the rich & educated.
Most of the babies, irrespective of social class, were breastfed - some for less than a month and others for more than a year.
Those who were breastfed for longer scored higher on measures of intelligence as adults.
They were also more likely to earn a higher wage & to have completed more schooling.
Dr. Horta believes breast milk may offer an advantage because it is a good source of long-chain saturated fatty acids which are essential for brain development.
Kevin Fenton, national director of health & wellbeing, Public Health England, said there was strong evidence that breastfeeding provides some health benefits for babies - reduced respiratory & gastrointestinal infections in infancy, for example.
He said: "PHE's advice remains that exclusive breastfeeding for around the first 6 months of life provides health benefits to babies.
"We recognise however, that not all mothers choose, or are able, to breastfeed & infant formula is the only alternative to breast milk for babies under 12 months old."
Dr Colin Michie, chairman of the Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health's nutrition committee, said: "There have been many studies on the link between breastfeeding & IQ over the years with many having had their validity challenged.
"This study however, looks at a number of other factors including education achievement & income at age 30 which, along with the high sample size, makes this study a very powerful one.
"It is important to note that breastfeeding is one of many factors that can contribute to a child's outcomes, however this study emphasises the need for continued & enhanced breastfeeding promotion so expectant mothers are aware of the benefits of breastfeeding."
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Souvenir Ultrasound scans should be banned for first 10 weeks of pregnancy
In this modern race of narcissism & ego-boasting, a selfie stick may not harm you or your loved ones as much as collecting souvenir pregnancy ultrasound scans.
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Souvenir scans of the unborn baby should not be carried out in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, say doctors.
Such keepsake images are shown off by proud parents-to-be, who can buy special wallets & photo frames to mark every stage of pregnancy.
But new advice from the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists rules against the growing trend when there is no medical reason for doing an early-stage scan.
A new scientific review says ultrasound – which uses high-frequency sound waves to provide images of the foetus – could expose it to unknown risks.
Although there is no evidence of harm, the ‘precautionary principle’ should apply, it says.
Dr. Christoph Lees, Reader in Obstetrics & Fetal Medicine at Imperial College London & lead author of the paper said the review looked specifically at the first 10 weeks in the womb.
Normally a scan would be ordered only for a potential problem identified by a clinician & in those circumstances it was perfectly safe, he said.
But an increasing number of clinics were offering keepsake images from as early as 6 weeks, he said.
He said: ‘Ultrasound scanning in the embryonic period is an invaluable resource in several important scenarios where the embryo is at possible risk.
‘There are presently no grounds for questioning the safety of diagnostic ultrasound in this context.
‘However, ultrasound imaging is increasingly being used without obvious medical justification & we have to be aware of the possibility of subtle long-term adverse effects, particularly in the first weeks of gestation when the embryo is potentially the most vulnerable.’
The review was produced by the Scientific Advisory Committee at the RCOG to provide doctors with up-to-date information about the issue.
The US Food & Drug Administration issued similar advice in December, saying excess ultrasound at any stage in pregnancy should be avoided.
Dr. Lees said one of the possible harms might come from the slight heating effect produced by ultrasound which was more easily dissipated by the placenta after 10 weeks of pregnancy.
He said the safest period for taking souvenir scans was 20 weeks of pregnancy & beyond.
The review highlights the various types of ultrasound, including B-mode – the most commonly used form of ultrasound in obstetrics – colour & pulse wave Doppler.
Colour & pulsed wave Doppler involve greater average intensity & power outputs than B-mode & are not recommended at all during the first 10 weeks.
Additionally, there has been a move to perform 3D & 4D ultrasound scans earlier in pregnancy, states the paper.
4D ultrasound is ‘real time’ scanning & involves higher power outputs as the scanning time is longer, typically by several minutes, & should not be the sole purpose of souvenir images or video recordings in early pregnancy.
Dr. Sadaf Ghaem-Maghami, chair of the RCOG’s Scientific Advisory Committee, said ‘B-mode ultrasound used for clinical reasons from conception to 10 weeks of gestation is safe & the benefits outweigh any theoretical risks.
‘We are adopting a precautionary approach & are highlighting the small but possible risks to women so that they can make informed choices.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Souvenir scans of the unborn baby should not be carried out in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, say doctors.
Such keepsake images are shown off by proud parents-to-be, who can buy special wallets & photo frames to mark every stage of pregnancy.
But new advice from the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists rules against the growing trend when there is no medical reason for doing an early-stage scan.
A new scientific review says ultrasound – which uses high-frequency sound waves to provide images of the foetus – could expose it to unknown risks.
Although there is no evidence of harm, the ‘precautionary principle’ should apply, it says.
Dr. Christoph Lees, Reader in Obstetrics & Fetal Medicine at Imperial College London & lead author of the paper said the review looked specifically at the first 10 weeks in the womb.
Normally a scan would be ordered only for a potential problem identified by a clinician & in those circumstances it was perfectly safe, he said.
But an increasing number of clinics were offering keepsake images from as early as 6 weeks, he said.
He said: ‘Ultrasound scanning in the embryonic period is an invaluable resource in several important scenarios where the embryo is at possible risk.
‘There are presently no grounds for questioning the safety of diagnostic ultrasound in this context.
‘However, ultrasound imaging is increasingly being used without obvious medical justification & we have to be aware of the possibility of subtle long-term adverse effects, particularly in the first weeks of gestation when the embryo is potentially the most vulnerable.’
The review was produced by the Scientific Advisory Committee at the RCOG to provide doctors with up-to-date information about the issue.
The US Food & Drug Administration issued similar advice in December, saying excess ultrasound at any stage in pregnancy should be avoided.
Dr. Lees said one of the possible harms might come from the slight heating effect produced by ultrasound which was more easily dissipated by the placenta after 10 weeks of pregnancy.
He said the safest period for taking souvenir scans was 20 weeks of pregnancy & beyond.
The review highlights the various types of ultrasound, including B-mode – the most commonly used form of ultrasound in obstetrics – colour & pulse wave Doppler.
Colour & pulsed wave Doppler involve greater average intensity & power outputs than B-mode & are not recommended at all during the first 10 weeks.
Additionally, there has been a move to perform 3D & 4D ultrasound scans earlier in pregnancy, states the paper.
4D ultrasound is ‘real time’ scanning & involves higher power outputs as the scanning time is longer, typically by several minutes, & should not be the sole purpose of souvenir images or video recordings in early pregnancy.
Dr. Sadaf Ghaem-Maghami, chair of the RCOG’s Scientific Advisory Committee, said ‘B-mode ultrasound used for clinical reasons from conception to 10 weeks of gestation is safe & the benefits outweigh any theoretical risks.
‘We are adopting a precautionary approach & are highlighting the small but possible risks to women so that they can make informed choices.
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