A Week in the News - 9th August 2013

With the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge still enjoying the first few weeks of their baby's life in private, the news in the world of pregnancy and babies has yet again calmed down. Whilst elsewhere there have been many issues surrounding benefits, "bongo-bongo land" and other mess ups in government. The typical British summer weather has firmly installed itself, with rain, sun and wind all featuring across the UK.

Babies and pregnancy have still hit the news this week though, and we'll take a moment to look back at the past week and the stories that caught our attention.

Breastfeeding and Baby Booms

A recent report in The Guardian suggested that breastfeeding your baby would make him or her more intelligent, but that breastfeeding is becoming less and less common. Apparently a year of breastfeeding gave a baby, on average, 4.2 more IQ points - which I suppose could be the difference between MENSA membership or not. It suggests that it would give babies the ability to develop speech and other verbal skills quicker than those who were not breastfed. This is an interesting finding but I'm not sure it will convince some mothers that breastfeeding should be a serious consideration. Which leads us onto the Daily Mail article that suggests shy women are less likely to breastfeed. This sounds like an absolutely ridiculous suggestion, and it's little wonder that it only featured in the Mail, whether you're shy, or the most outgoing person possible, we can all read and understand the positives and negatives of decided to breastfeed or bottle feed.

The ONS also revealed their figures for births this week with 2011-12 being the year with the most births since 1972 with 813,200 births recorded. Figures like this are interesting as it shows that demand for housing and schools will continue to increase, and that even though some parents may be waiting until later in life to have their children - many families are still developing across the country. Hopefully we've been able to help out some of these families along the way!

Maternity Leave issues and Your Due Date

In an article in the Telegraph Laura Perrins was asking for the government to leave alone a mother's right to maternity leave. With suggestions that maternity leave days will be cut because men are become less likely to be the main breadwinners in the household. It seems the the government will do anything possible to annoy varying groups across our nation, and now it's the turn for new mothers. Can't we just leave some things alone? Although I'm sure some employers would welcome a change, including a Countess who demanded that her nanny discuss any family planning with her, interestingly enough she was sacked when she fell pregnant and this case went to tribunal - no surprise who won.

Finally a story repeated across various news agencies, including the BBC, stating that your due date might actually not be very accurate. In fact pregnancy can vary naturally by up to 5 weeks, so it looks like it might be time to look at your calendar and factor this in, your baby is very unlikely to arrive on the date you've been given!

If you spot anything in the news let us know via the site, or through our twitter account @MumNetwork, we'll be back soon!

About the author

James Brighton

Since 2011 James has been in charge of working with and organising all our writers to put together Pregnancy.co.uk and Babies.co.uk. Anna, his girlfriend, knows he will be an encyclopaedia of knowledge if she ever falls pregnant!

Click here to read my full biography.

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