In Utero Exposure To Urban Air Pollutants Can Increase Risk

In Utero Exposure To Urban Air Pollutants Can Increase Risk: “Prenatal exposure to air pollutants in New York City can adversely affect child development, according to the results of a study released today by the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health (CCCEH) at the Mailman School of Public Health. Previous studies have shown that the same air pollutants can reduce fetal growth, but this study is the first to reveal that those pollutants can also affect cognitive development during childhood.”

Ultrasounds Show Mothers’ Drinking Shrinks Fetal Brain

Ultrasounds Show Mothers’ Drinking Shrinks Fetal Brain: “Routine ultrasounds show that heavy drinkers who continue to imbibe after learning they are pregnant may carry fetuses with reduced skull and brain growth compared to those of abstainers or quitters, says a new study.”

CBC News: Vatican reconsiders condom ban

CBC News: Vatican reconsiders condom ban
The Roman Catholic Church might ease its longstanding opposition to the use of condoms to prevent AIDS, a senior church official says.

This is certainly something to watch…

Music: Mendoza Line

Full Of Light And Full Of Fire

Mendoza Line
Misra

A little Dylanesque, but very good folky-alterna-pop.

• Buy at iTunes Music Store

• Download “Catch A Collapsing Star” (MP3, 192kbps)

An interesting comment?

This was posted anonymously as a comment on a previous post:
“Thanks for the interesting links, I always learn something from blogs like yours. I’ve been checking out dad blogs. Yours is a regular stop for me, as well as Blogfathers and a few others. I have a couple of questions for dads at large. If you have the time and the inclination, I’d love to know:
1. Why did you decide to become a dad?
2. How scared were you when you found out a little one was on the way?”

The answer to these sorts of questions are never straightforward. I didn’t “decide” to become a dad in the sense that I decided to have eggs for breakfast this morning. It was something that evolved over a few years. I always knew that I wanted to have a family. I never debated whether or not to have children in a philosophical way. As my studies began to draw to a close, my wife and I both just knew that the time was right. The “why” question just did not occur to me.

The scared part was different. I wasn’t that scared, nervous more like. I think that I had been looking forward to it for a while so I was more excited than anything else. As the actual due date approached I was so buried in my research that I barely had time to sleep, let alone worry about the seemingly abstract notion of fatherhood. Once our son was born, I was flooded by anxiety. You can see it in the earliest photos of me holding the little guy. My shoulders were literally around my ears. I was terrified of hurting him, more than anything else.

I have always been a relaxed, chill at home kind of guy, so the transition to parenthood was perhaps less difficult that for some others.

What about you?

Please leave your name when you comment. Thanks

Liquid Ventilation For Babies

Liquid Ventilation For Babies: “The main problem that premature babies have is that their lungs are not well formed. In order to alleviate this situation, the Nautical School at the University of the Basque Country has developed a liquid respiration respirator.”

Older Children Not Smarter Than Their Younger Sibs, Study Finds

Older Children Not Smarter Than Their Younger Sibs, Study Finds: “A recent study provides some of the best evidence to date that birth order really doesn’t have an effect on intelligence. The findings contradict many studies over the years that had reported that older children are generally smarter than their younger siblings.”

iTod

This is really something else. A portable music player for toddlers.

I could have understood a digital music player for kids that came with a speaker… a new version of the classic Fisher-Price turntable. Headphones for kids, even though they are apparently volume controlled are insance. Children need to interact with their environment. Quiet time does not need to be taken this far.

That being said, there are some great ideas here, like graphical representation of song titles (ie a star for “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)

via: wired.com and mobilemag.com

Music: The Black Angels

Passover

The Black Angels
Light In The Attic

So I thought that an album called Passover by a group called The Black Angels was appropriate for this time of year. Turns out, these guys probably never ate matza or spread lamb’s blood on their doorposts. They do, however play great balls to the wall rock music that you don’t get to hear very often. Check it out. Chag Sameach.

Download “Bloodhounds On My Trail” (MP3, 192kbps)

• Buy at iTunes Music Store

Prenatal Nicotine Exposure Reduces Breathing Response Of Newborns

Prenatal Nicotine Exposure Reduces Breathing Response Of Newborns: “Exposure to nicotine equivalent of smoking two packs of cigarets a day produced complicated, abnormal breathing development during the first 18 days of newborn rats, University of Arizona researchers report. They ‘found the required increase in breathing in response to reduced oxygen supply was lower in nicotine-exposed animals compared to controls over their first nine days. Between nine and 18 days, the situation reversed, showing an overall complicated, abnormal breathing development over the18 days.”

This may shock all of us urban types, but I see it all the time -smoking parents. One of the drawbacks of living in “The Europe of North America”, aside from the elongated winter, is that people here still smoke like Europeans.