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You are what you eat…and so is your baby

Thursday, October 20th, 2011

We’ve all been told how important it is to eat well in order to stay healthy. Now, new research shows that what you eat when you’re pregnant can be as important for your baby as it is for you.

A study published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine shows that when mothers-to-be ate healthful foods, such as those that make up the so-called Mediterranean diet, their babies had fewer birth defects such as cleft palates and neural tube defects.

The Mediterranean diet focuses on vegetables, beans, fruits, grains and fish, and is lower in meat, dairy and “empty” carbs.

Before you panic if you’re reading this while gorging on burgers and fries, no, your baby isn’t going to be born with birth defects just because you’re taking a vacation from your diet. The birth defects researchers looked at in the study are quite rare to begin with. It’s just that they are rarer still among women who eat well.

But the study does hint at something we know: your baby’s development depends, in part, on the nutrients you consume. So, give your little one a head-start on a good future. You’ll be doing a favor for both of you.

– Yvonne S. Thornton, MD, MPH

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Learning Your Baby’s Gender at Seven Weeks –Test is Mixed Blessing

Tuesday, August 16th, 2011

For parents-to-be, impatient to know whether to paint the nursery blue or pink, a simple test can provide answers as early as seven weeks into the pregnancy.  These tests have been available for some time but weren’t widely used in the U.S., because their accuracy wasn’t known. Now, The New York Times reports, a new study in The Journal of the American Medical Association, has “found that carefully conducted tests could determine sex with accuracy of 95 percent at 7 weeks to 99 percent at 20 weeks.”

But is it really necessary to know your baby’s sex that early? For some parents, it can be.  The Times reports that European doctors routinely use such tests to:

… help expectant parents whose offspring are at risk for rare gender-linked disorders determine whether they need invasive and costly genetic testing. For example, Duchenne muscular dystrophy affects boys, but if the fetus is not the at-risk sex, such tests are unnecessary.

But the big downside, and one that concerns me greatly as a doctor and a mother, is that some cultures have such a bias against baby girls that the wide availability of such testing will result in ever more otherwise healthy female fetuses being aborted.

Several companies do not sell tests in China or India, where boys are prized over girls and fetuses found to be female have been aborted. While sex selection is not considered a widespread objective in the United States, companies say that occasionally customers expressed that interest, and have been denied the test. A recent study of third pregnancies in the journal Prenatal Diagnosis found that in some Asian-American groups, more boys than girls are born in ratios that are “strongly suggesting prenatal sex selection,” the authors said.
At least one company, Consumer Genetics, which sells the Pink or Blue test, requires customers to sign a waiver saying they are not using the test for that purpose. “We don’t want this technology to be used as a method of gender selection,” said the company’s executive vice president, Terry Carmichael.

Cultural preferences won’t be deterred by a signature on a form, but at least, it’s a start. At some point, all cultures will learn to value both genders equally. Until then, a test that holds promise for some, can be a terrible incentive for the ultimate act of bias against females in others.

– Yvonne S. Thornton, MD, MPH

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The Latest News From the CDC on Birth Defect Risks

Saturday, March 5th, 2011

In a report published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) [] warned against using prescription opiate-based painkillers such as codeine, hydrocodone or oxycodone (brand names include Vicodin and Oxycontin) during pregnancy.

According to an article about the CDC report:

In the study of data from 10 states, the CDC researchers found that 2 percent to 3 percent of mothers interviewed received prescription opioid pain killers, or analgesics, just before they got pregnant or early in their pregnancy. Any illicit use of painkillers was not assessed.

For those women, the risk of having a baby with hypoplastic left heart syndrome — a critical heart defect — was about double that of women who took no opioid drugs.

Risks of other birth defects, including spina bifida (a type of neural tube defect), hydrocephaly (build up of fluid in the brain), congenital glaucoma (eye defect), and gastroschisis (a defect of the abdominal wall), also somewhat increased among babies whose mothers took these drugs either shortly before or during pregnancy.

I have concerns about the generalization of both articles, but the conclusions may be valid. Taking a drug before you’re pregnant, or up to 17 days after conception, is unlikely to cause birth defects. It will either cause a miscarriage or will have no effect. But because most women don’t know precisely when they conceived, it’s best to avoid taking drugs at any time during pregnancy.

The greatest risk to a developing baby from a pregnant mother taking potentially toxic drugs occurs between 17 days post-conception to 12 weeks (end of the first trimester).

You’ve probably heard of Thalidomide, a sedative given in the 1950s to pregnant women in their first trimester. It dramatically illustrated the risks to a fetus’s development from drug effects during the critical first weeks. Thalidomide given early in pregnancy stunted the development of babies’ arms, legs, hands and feet, and caused other limb deformities.

If you’re pregnant, or planning to be, you should also be aware that most drugs, whether prescription or over-the-counter can have unknown effects on a growing fetus. The bottom line is: Every drug is, in some sense, a poison. Don’t consider any drug safe in pregnancy unless prescribed by someone who knows its toxicity as well as the risks and benefits of the drug.

– Yvonne S. Thornton, MD, MPH

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Time to Deliver? Mother Nature Knows Best

Thursday, December 30th, 2010

For years, I’ve been sounding the alarm about Cesarean delivery on-demand, and have persuaded my patients that childbirth isn’t something you can simply pencil into your schedule when convenient. It’s not just that a baby needs all the time nature gives her within the womb to develop, and that delivering just a few days early can mean that lung development and other functions may be potentially compromised. Cesareans are major surgery, which brings inherent danger to both mom and newborn. Necessary Cesareans are often life-savers. Unnecessary Cesareans can be just the opposite.

And now, at last, the word is spreading.

The San Jose Mercury News reports:


Babies born early through induction or C-section without a medical reason are nearly twice as likely to spend time in the neonatal intensive care unit, researchers say. They also are more likely to contract infections and need breathing machines, according to a 2009 study in the New England Journal of Medicine and a number of other reports.


“We are finding out that the last weeks of pregnancy really do count,” said Leslie Kowalewski, an associate state director for the March of Dimes.


“At 35 weeks, the brain is only two-thirds of what it will weigh at 40 weeks.” Many organizations are responding with programs designed to eliminate early elective deliveries. Most significantly, chapters of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have begun to notify doctors about the serious consequences of performing early elective births.

With luck, as information about potential consequences spreads, expectant mothers and their doctors will decide to let nature take her course, for the sake of the mom’s health and her baby’s.

– Yvonne S. Thornton, MD, MPH

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When New Moms – or New Dads – Get the Pregnancy Blues

Friday, May 21st, 2010

Most women are familiar with the term post-partum depression.  Start with all the stresses of adding a new member to the family – not just the financial burden, but the schedule upheaval, the sleep deprivation, and the demands of a tiny person who can only make his or her needs known by wailing. Add the wild surge of hormones flooding a woman’s body, and is it any wonder that she might not be the picture of serenity and assurance? Estimates vary on the prevalence but as many as 25 percent of new moms may experience some level of depression either before or after delivery.

That’s bad enough, but now a study suggests that new fathers, just like new mothers, can find themselves overwhelmed when baby makes three (or more).

“The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., found that 10.4% of men experienced serious depression at some point between his partner’s first trimester and one year after childbirth, more than double the depression rate for men in general. American men were more likely to experience prenatal or postpartum depression compared with men in other countries, 14.1% in the U.S. compared with 8.2% internationally.”

What can you do when the guy you depend upon to keep you sane is going through his own blue period?

Your most important step –the one you should take if either you or your partner starts to feel sadness, agitation or hopelessness – is to talk to your doctor. Don’t try to tough it out. Reach out for help at the first signs that something isn’t quite right. It’s possible that all you need to get back to your cheery old selves is a good night’s sleep, but sometimes, you need more. The good news is that help is available. But first, you have to be aware of the signs of depression.

Post-partum depression can be debilitating if you let it go, so take steps immediately to get yourself and your new family back into the swing of enjoying things together again.

– Yvonne S. Thornton, MD, MPH

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Pregnant or new mom and feeling depressed? Get help now.

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Pregnancy and childbirth alter the hormonal balance, which may explain why depression is so common at this stage of women’s lives. Up to 23 percent of pregnant women experience symptoms of depression and that figure rises to up to 25 percent among new mothers.

Many women decide to simply suffer through it without seeking help, but that could be a big mistake. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists:

“… untreated maternal depression negatively affects an infant’s cognitive, neurologic, and motor skill development. A mother’s untreated depression can also negatively impact older children’s mental health and behavior.”

Everyone feels sad some of the time. It’s normal to have a bad day. But if your bad day stretches into weeks, for your own sake and the sake of your baby, you need to get help. If you don’t have a therapist, ask your ob-gyn for a referral if you experience feelings of hopelessness, sadness or despair. Don’t suffer needlessly. Help is available.

– Yvonne S. Thornton, MD, MPH

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Labor & Delivery: Don’t try this at home

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Most women today have no idea how dangerous it once was for a woman to give birth. The maternal death rate today is about eight per 100,000 births.  When home births were in style, the maternal death rate was 83 per 100,000 births – 10 times the number of deaths.

Women today almost never die in childbirth because, when things go wrong during labor and delivery, medical professionals can step in and prevent emergencies from becoming tragedies.

Which is why I want to scream when I read nonsense like the following, from a website calling itself “Born Free.”


“Welcome to Bornfree! This site is based on the belief that childbirth is inherently safe and relatively painless provided we don’t live in poverty, and do not interfere either physically or psychologically. Drugs, machinery, and medical personnel are not only unnecessary in most cases, they are also no match for a woman’s own intellect and intuition.”

The site quoted above advocates for unassisted childbirth at home. No doctor. No midwife. And no professional help at the ready if something goes wrong.

Ordinarily, I wouldn’t get too exercised over an obscure website. But, it’s how I found this website that has me troubled. It was featured in an article on ABC News.com in the “Entertainment” section. The article mostly extolled the concept of women giving birth at home, with neither a midwife nor a doctor present, giving only the briefest nod to the caveats from an ob-gyn.

In the age of reality TV, maybe a piece about women risking their lives to experience “freebirth” makes good copy. Maybe, because it was in the Entertainment section, this quote from a mother who recently gave birth on her own didn’t raise any eyebrows: “…it is not risky if you do your homework.”

But ask an ob-gyn and you’ll get a much different albeit less entertaining quote.

Yes, so-called “freebirth” is risky. And no, you can’t mitigate the risk by doing “homework.” Approximately 40 percent of high-risk patients appear to be low-risk before labor and delivery. No amount of “homework” can prepare a woman for suddenly finding herself among those 40 percent. If she’s at home, without medical attention, she and her baby could be in serious danger.

Most certified nurse midwives are affiliated with hospitals today precisely because the unexpected can and does happen during childbirth and having medical and surgical teams within shouting distance can mean the difference between life and death. The birthing process is still the 11th leading cause of death in women between 15 and 44 years of age.

When I was in the military, we received a stat call about a home birth gone wrong. The woman lost all muscle tone in her uterus after the birth of her child. By the time the ambulance got her to Bethesda, she had bled to death.

So I’ve seen firsthand how “freebirth” can be a recipe for disaster.

– Yvonne S. Thornton, MD, MPH

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CVS: a first trimester alternative to amniocentesis

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

Amniocentesis (amnio) is a test that identifies the presence of a chromosomal or genetic defect in the growing fetus, such as Down Syndrome or Tay-Sachs disease.

But amniocentesis can’t be done until a woman is between 16 and 20 weeks pregnant. If a serious problem is found, and the patient chooses not to continue with the pregnancy, then it is a more involved procedure than during the first trimester. And it can be more heart wrenching to have to make such a decision after investing so much hope in a pregnancy that has progressed to 18 or 20 weeks.

What many prospective parents don’t realize is that there is an alternative to amniocentesis that can be done during the first trimester, as early as 10 weeks. It’s called chorionic villus sampling (CVS). It’s about as safe as amniocentesis. Either procedure (CVS or amnio) has a fetal loss rate (miscarriage) of less than 1%. And, in most cases, CVS can be as good a choice or better.

As one of the investigators for FDA trials of the procedure in the mid-1980s, I was among the first physicians in the U.S. to gain significant experience in chorionic villus sampling.

If you are older than 35 and your ob-gyn has recommended prenatal genetic testing but hasn’t offered this alternative to you, it may be because fewer physicians are trained in CVS than in amnio.

But you and your pregnancy should not be penalized just because your physician does not perform CVS.

If you’d prefer to have chorionic villus sampling, check with one of the major academic medical centers in your area where CVS is more likely to be performed regularly. And be sure to have it done by a physician who has over 100 procedures under his or her belt, because the procedure has a steep learning curve. The miscarriage rate is directly related to the experience of the person performing CVS.

The advantage with CVS is that you will know the results of the test within a week, while you are still in your first trimester.

– Yvonne Thornton, MD, MPH

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Pregnancy and the pill

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

For many women, taking the pill is more a matter of delaying pregnancy until the time is right rather than preventing it all together.

So, the big question becomes, how long after you stop taking the pill can you expect to become pregnant? No two women are alike but, generally speaking, pregnancy is possible the next time you ovulate. You may ovulate within two weeks after finishing up your last package of birth control pills. So, theoretically, you could become pregnant almost immediately. However, as we all know, there are many variables. Some couples try for years to become parents without success.

It almost seems an unfair trick of the heavens that it’s sometimes the women who don’t want to become pregnant who easily do.

That means, if you’re dead set against pregnancy, and you stop the pill, you need to begin another form of contraception immediately. I actually recommend that my patients begin using an alternate contraceptive before getting off the pill so they get into the habit of using it.

Otherwise, you may have to get into the habit of changing diapers.

– Yvonne Thornton, MD, MPH

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More media attention for the study

Friday, June 5th, 2009

Forbes reports on my study, showing that obese pregnant women should limit weight gain as does Medline.

Other media outlets giving the study prominent coverage are United Press International, Yahoo News, The Baltimore Sun, US News and World Report, and even the Times of India.

– Yvonne S. Thornton

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