The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Mother’s health crucial for getting healthy babies Health & Lifestyle

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Mother’s health crucial for getting healthy babies Health & Lifestyle

Ramya Kannan

“Lot of problems for newborns can be prevented”
Another concern is the late age of pregnancy

CHENNAI: If the mention of “National Newborn Week” conjures up images of bright bonnie babies or ailing ones, then you have not looked back far enough.

Going by what neonatologists (specialists who take care of newborn babies) say the well-being of a baby has to be ensured much before even conception.

In fact, let us look at the pre-marital stage, says Deepa Hariharan, senior consultant in neonatology and paediatrics, Sooriya Hospital. “A lot of problems for newborns can be prevented only if the mothers have good lifestyles. People wrongly think a baby’s health begins only after it is born,” she adds. The mother should be of ideal weight, not over or underweight, and should have appropriate nutritive inputs even before conception. Anaemia among mothers is a crucial factor that influences the weight of the baby and therefore must be given a lot of attention.

Sarada Suresh, director, Institute of Child Health, says, “At least 60 per cent of the women from middle and lower economic groups who come for delivery are anaemic. Ideally the haemoglobin count should be 12, but most women have 10 or less.”

This is primarily because most women, who have careers too, are too harried to spend time eating the right kind of foods. Protein and greens inputs are insufficient because women do not eat the right food groups. Doctors recommend that the minimum weight a pregnant woman must be is 50 kg, with a weight gain of not less than 8 kg during term. If a woman achieves the ideal weight of 10 kg, then the baby will be born at least 3 kg, Dr. Suresh explains.

Another concern of both gynaecologists and neonatologists is the late age of pregnancy and subsequent delivery of mothers.

“Most mothers-to-be are working women and have to balance the career and family. Since what is believed to be the ideal age of child bearing (between 22 years to 28 years) coincides with professional development, a lot of them postpone childbirth,” Dr. Suresh says. Lifestyle diseases among women, such as hypertension and diabetes, compound the problems during delivery. Indian women have 11 fold higher chance of developing diabetes during pregnancy, Dr. Hariharan says. This is likely to force pre-term births, leading to low birth weight babies.

At the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology doctors are observing more women coming in with gestational diabetes, its director Saraswathy says. “The women cannot give up work or take time to relax, we advise them to do yoga and take up other relaxation techniques.”

It is also important to choose a safe place for delivery and a safe timing and mode of delivery. Post delivery, mothers should combine kangaroo mother care (holding the baby close) and breast feeding in order to ensure that the child remains warm and facilitating maturation of the heart and easy breathing even among high risk cases, Dr. Hariharan adds.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu