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great expectations
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Babies
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Spray Warning
A recent study at Edinburgh University reports that chemicals that are commonly found in cosmetics, household fabrics and plastics can restrict the action of androgens, causing fertility problems and future health risks for pregnant and female rats. Although the study does not categorically link the unspecified chemicals with harm on human babies, the researchers still caution expecting mothers against using cosmetic products that could be absorbed into their skin (like perfume) because it might harm their future child later in life. The chemicals may also increase the risk of testicular cancer in baby boys when they grow up. In any case, the research shows that there needs to be more research into the effects of chemical compounds in cosmetics for pregnant women. [BBC]
Loose Lips
Wethinks Jennifer Aniston is fucking with the paparazzi and the tabloid obsession with her marital woes. She was spotted wearing a ring on her left ring finger during a meeting with Woody Allen yesterday. β’ Us is really en fuego today: they've even got stars as lego characters! β’ Cute celebrity baby with idiot name alert! Check out pictures of Chris Noth and his son, Orion, here.
great expectations
clips
Poverty Drives The Tragic Infant Death Rate In Tennessee
The U.S. has the highest infant mortality rate of the world's 23 richest nations, and within the country, black babies die at three times the rate of white babies. On Friday, the 20/20 report "Babyland" focused on Memphis, the city with the highest infant death rate. Dr. Sheldon Korones, seen in the clip above, was spurred by the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. to found a neo-natal unit in Memphis's inner city. He describes the city's high rate of premature births and infant deaths as the result of years of social inadequacies. "There is so much else in that picture, ranging all the way from the proper lifestyle and diet, to the proper education and life itself," he says. "In this community, when a premature baby is born, society has failed." More »
Loose Lips
Joe Jonas (the better-looking middle brother of horrible music-making group, The Jonas Brothers) is officially a high school graduate. β’ The Naked Cowboy, the semi-famous briefs-wearing street performer, is getting his own reality show, an American Idol-style competition of street performers. β’ Ellen and Portia "talk" about having kids someday. Wow, it's like they're married or something! [Perez Hilton,UPI, People]
If you're resisting the urge to have a Brangelina-sized brood anytime soon (or maybe ever) you have some company. The number of women ages 40 to 44 who don't have children has doubled in the last generation, according to a new report from the U.S. Census. As of June 2006, 20% of women in that age group were childless, up from 10% thirty years ago. And the study finds that even women who do decide to start families are having fewer children. The birthrate among the white and Asian populations have declined to the point that they will not replace themselves, but the Hispanic population is growing. The report gives no reason for the changing rates, but analysts point to delayed marriage and more women choosing careers over having children. [USA Today]
Leftovers
Polish Baby Factory Is Open For Business β’ Date Rape Drugs May Be Banned In UK
A surrogate "baby factory" has opened in Poland where 37 young women are ready to give birth to babies for couples unable to conceive for roughly $22,000 a child. β’ An 84-year-old Nigerian man with 86 wives advises men against taking so many partners, but he was granted his power to "control" and "heal" women by God, so, you know, whatevs. β’ In the wake of the news that The Well of Loneliness is being reprinted for its 80th anniversary, one critic asks if there is still a need for the category of "lesbian literature." β’ Researchers have discovered that your natural body odor is determined by genetics, not simply your level of cleanliness. More »
don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys
5 Ways To Prevent Your Son From Turning Into A Date Rapey Alcoholic Douchebag
There's an article on Newsweek's site today called "5 Reasons To Warn Your Daughter About Alcohol," which includes such news flashes as girls can get drunker faster than boys, there are health consequences, peer pressure is hard and girls can get assaulted when under the influence. There's no comparable conversation for boys because, of course, since it's a girl's responsibility to protect her precious ladyflower at all costs, it's not up to a boy (or his mother) to have a conversation about how not to be an alcoholic date-rapey asshole. But it should be. And so, after the jump, we give you the ways to talk to your college-bound sons about how not to be the kind of guy that other people's daughters have to protect themselves from. More »
babies having babies
Gloucester Teens Deny Existence Of "Pregnancy Pact"
Last night, the Today show's Hoda Kotb and the hunky Dr. Drew Pinsky hosted a reunion of the cast of The Baby Borrowers to discuss the experiment, what the teen parents learned, and more importantly, the "Juno Effect" and the supposed glamorization of teen pregnancy in pop culture. In addition, some of the girls from the Gloucester, MA "pregnancy pact" were interviewed. What was interesting was that the Gloucester girls all denied that there even was a pregnancy pact, and that they only learned about it once it was reported in the media. One of the teens, 17-year-old mom Alexis Silva, appeared on the show with her mother, who also attended Gloucester High School and became pregnant with her first child at 16. It's perhaps evidence that kids are still learning by watching their parents, not by emulating characters, real or fictional.
babies having babies
The Baby Borrowers: Teen Bathes, Then Bonds With Senior Citizen
Last night, on the season finale of The Baby Borrowers, the teens were given their final assignment: Caring for the elderly. Morgan β the SoCal chick who took on the role of being a single mother after she and her boyfriend broke up and he left the show β really bonded with "her" senior citizen, both emotionally and physically. (She also had to bathe her, and she was a really good sport about it.) Later, the thrice-married woman talked about love and marriage with Morgan, explaining to her that life is better when lived as a single. Then Morgan asked her why her generation doesn't file their nails into a square shape. Seriously. Clip above.
clips
Breastfeeding A Friend's Baby: Bonding? Or A Blurring Of Boundaries?
Earlier today Good Morning America reported that "cross nursing," or moms breastfeeding their friends' children, is on the rise. In the clip above, moms Sarah and Morgan explain that they started cross nursing one day when Morgan was watching Sarah's 3-month-old son. He was crying and wanted to nurse, and Morgan thought, "Okay, Buddy, we'll just go ahead and do this." (Morgan doesn't say she'd discussed this with Sarah beforehand, so there was probably a pretty awkward conversation when Sarah came to pick the baby up.) Now Morgan regularly breastfeeds Sarah's son, a practice that many mothers find "disgusting" or "weird", according to one poll. Sarah and Morgan (like writer Jennifer Baumgardner) say that cross nursing is actually a way for mothers to bond and create a sense of community. Clip above. More »
babies having babies
Baby Borrowers: Fake Parents Teach Real Parents About Respect
Last night on The Baby Borrowers, the teen parents had to deal with perhaps the most challenging task to date: Raising teenagers. One couple, Alicea and Cory, were placed with an insolent, destructive 13-year-old boy who clearly has no respect for anyone. When his mother came to pick him up at the end of the experiment, Alicea and Cory were sure to let her know just how ill behaved he was. But she was one of those "Oh, not my child" kind of parents, insisting that the teens just weren't assertive enough. Alicea and Cory held their ground, and I think they really actually walked away from this one learning a valuable lesson: That children are a reflection of the way their real parents raise them, not the way their fake, TV, teen parents handle them for 3 days.
Leftovers
Adopted Panda Passes Away β’ Woman Buys Baby For $1,000
Sad news: Remember that baby red panda that was adopted by a domestic cat and her four kittens? The panda died, apparently after choking on milk. β’ Russia's booming economy (combined with weak borders and no laws for victim's rights) means more sex slaves and human trafficking. β’ An Army training plan to shoot live pigs and treat their wounds to teach medics how to treat wounded soldiers has angered PETA. β’ A woman with a previous charge of plotting to steal another woman's infant claims to have bought a baby for $1,000 from an unknown woman. More »
babies having babies
The Baby Borrowers: Sometimes Little Girls Are Less Sugar, More Spice
Last night on The Baby Borrowers, the teen parents were given their new assignment: Preteens! (There should be like scary, dun, dun, dun music after that.) They weren't so much preteens as just like, actual kids. But there was one little girl, in particular, named Hannah, who was a hellion. She screamed, she was insolent, she was violent toward her little sister, she was mean to her teen parents, and she was overall, kind of demonic. Interestingly, her antics led to a discussion as to which gender is more difficult to raise: wild, energetic, destructive boys or dramatic, back-talking, attitude-having little girls. Clip above.
The Future Of Fertility
Scientists Predict That Babies Of The Future Will Be Born To Centarians With Artificial Wombs
2007 marked a baby boomlet, with the most babies born in the United States since 1957. One of the factors behind the baby landslide is the fact that more "professional women who delayed childbearing until their 40s" are having kids, says USA Today, and at least some of those women probably had some help in the fertility department with in vitro fertilization. To mark the 30th birth of Louise Brown, the first baby who was born using IVF, Nature magazine surveyed several fertility experts for an article called Making Babies: The Next 30 Years. And what scientific advancements are these experts predicting in the baby making arena? They're forecasting that women of any age (as old as 100!) will be able to conceive, that artificial wombs will be created, that infertility will be a thing of the past, and that the price of IVF will plummet to less than $100. More »
Start 'Em Young
It is generally agreed that tabloids and gossips have already crushed the self-esteem of every working actress by mocking their bodies, hairstyle, and clothing choices. Next up: Kids! Luckily, OK! magazine (cheaper than Us Weekly in every way) has finally begun judging the fashion choices of celebrity kids with its "Hollywood's Best Dressed Little Girls" feature. What other celebrity weekly is going to tell you that Marcia Cross' barely walking twins, Eden and Savannah, are a couple of fashion plates? Sure, they can barely form coherent sentences, let alone pick out outfits, but hell, let's really drive home the fact that, as celebrity children, they are always being judged. [OK! via Mollygood]
Welcome To The World
Photojournalist Mariana Bazo traveled to Cuzco, Peru for a story about vertical birthing. Her tale — and photographs — are chilling, vivid and breathtaking. "The fact of me being a woman and a mother too was like an invitation into their world, even though I had never felt the same pain of birth that they were feeling," Bazo writes. "They always asked me if I had a child, and that opened the door for me." The mothers-to-be in the clinic receive no anesthesia. "The women scream out their pain, lying on the floor or pacing. They suffer, endure and survive in spite of not receiving anything for the pain." After she left the clinic, she visited some of the new mothers. "I had only planned to take pictures, but they invited me into their houses, gave me food and beverage, and had me hold their babies... Itβs for stories like these that I became a photographer." Click here for much more. [Reuters]
babies having babies
