Taking Care of Your Hair Throughout Pregnancy

Pregnancy can make your hair shine or wither. If you are lucky, you will have zero worries about your hair during pregnancy. Many women feel their hair becomes thick and shiny hair during pregnancy. However, if you are on the other side, then your hair may turn frizzy, and dry, and you may notice substantial hair fall.

Interestingly, many women have observed their hair health varied from one pregnancy to another. Yes, you may have shiny hair in one pregnancy, and frizzy in the next. It all depends on how your hormones act up during each pregnancy.

If you are unlucky with your hair during pregnancy, then here are some tips for keeping your mane healthy throughout your pregnancy.

Oil Massage

Massage your hair with warm oil at night and shampoo the next day. Repeat this at least twice a week. You can use coconut oil, amla oil, almond oil, olive oil, or sesame oil. You can add some herbal ingredients such as neem leaves, shikakai, and henna leaves to your regular coconut oil.

Warm the oil slightly before massaging. Use your fingertips to apply the oil. Start from the scalp and use the tip of your fingers to apply and rub the scalp. Gently part the hair and apply the oil throughout the scalp. You can wrap your head with a soft cotton cloth after the massage. Leave it overnight and shampoo it the next day. Use herbal non-chemical shampoo only.

Regular Combing

Combing is not only to style your hair. It also helps in maintaining the quality of your hair. Never comb when your hair is wet. Avoid hair dryers and use a towel to air dry your hair. Keep your hair loose when it is wet. Once your hair becomes dry, use a comb with wide teeth to gently comb your hair. Regularly combing your hair improves blood circulation in the scalp and keeps your hair healthy.

Healthy hair also needs lifestyle modifications. Eat a balanced diet that includes lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Avoid fried food and sweets. Drink a minimum of 8-10 glasses of water daily. Sleep for 7-8 hours. Try meditation and pre-natal yoga to keep your stress levels under control. Stress can cause hair fall. Following all these should make your hair soft and shiny.

What You Need to Know About Chlamydia During Pregnancy

Contracting a sexually transmitted disease (STD) during pregnancy can adversely affect your baby. Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted bacterial infection. You may contract it during vaginal, oral, or anal sex. Chlamydia can infect your reproductive organs, mouth, and rectum. You may also pass this infection to your baby during vaginal delivery.

How Does Chlamydia Affect Pregnancy?

Chlamydia is a silent infection as 75% of affected women usually show no symptoms. This means that affected people keep spreading the disease to others unknowingly. Chlamydia requires a special diagnosis and can be treated with antibiotics.

If you are pregnant and infected, you will be given medicines. Your partner will also be treated to avoid re-infection. If left untreated, chlamydia can cause pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). The other complications caused by chlamydia include:

• Yellow discharge or bleeding after sex called cervicitis
• Painful urination and discharge from the urethra known as urethritis
• Chronic pelvic pain
• Painful sexual intercourse
• Bleeding between periods
• Ectopic pregnancy
• Infertility
• Premature membrane rupture
• Preterm delivery
• < ahref="https://www.cordlifeindia.com/blog/low-birth-weight-babies/">Low birth weight
• Eye infections in newborn
• Lung infections in newborn

Symptoms of Chlamydia During Pregnancy

The common symptoms of chlamydia include:

• Burning sensation during urination
• Green or yellow discharge from the vagina
• Low back pain
• Abdominal pain
• Painful intercourse

Diagnosis and Treatment

All pregnant women are screened for chlamydia in their first trimester. They are once again screened during the third trimester. Chlamydia can be treated only with antibiotics. However, the choice of antibiotic is different if you are pregnant. Your doctor may prescribe a single-dose antibiotic or a seven-day course of antibiotics.

Your doctor will also ask you to do a test after a couple of weeks to check if the infection is gone. Your doctor will again ask you to do a re-test in the third trimester to check if there is any infection.

Chlamydia during pregnancy is risky. The best way to avoid infection is by being in a monogamous relationship. Refrain from having sex if you or your partner is tested positive for chlamydia.

Ways to Tighten Loose Belly Skin after Childbirth

Pregnancy changes your life and body in more ways than you can imagine. The most common body changes include the appearance of stretch marks, cellulite, and loose skin. While loose skin takes a long while to go away on its own, you can try some tips to get rid of it sooner.

Cardio Exercise

Regular exercise is the most effective way to tighten your loose skin. Cardio exercise can not only help you burn fat but also tone your muscles. Cardio exercises such as running, jogging, swimming, cycling, and brisk walking can help. Just 45 minutes of cardio exercise, five times a week can help you lose weight and tone up faster. However, consult your doctor before starting any kind of intense exercise. You should not start exercising at least one month after delivery. If you had a C-section delivery, your doctor may ask you to wait for three months before starting any intense routine.

Core Strength Training

Apart from cardio, you should also include strength training exercises to tone your core muscles, hips, and glute. You can try sit-ups and push-ups at home. You can lift weights under a trainer’s supervision in a gym. You can also start yoga and Pilates which also include planks and core strengthening asanas. Always do strength training exercises under the supervision of a trainer or may injure yourself. Do not start strength training immediately after giving birth. Consult with your doctor before you start core exercises.

Protein Diet

A diet rich in protein can help you lose excess weight easily. Protein will help you build muscle. It is also helpful if you are breastfeeding.

Stay Hydrated

Drink plenty of water to reduce water retention in your body. Water reduces fat in your body, hydrates your skin, and makes it more elastic.

Massage

Massaging your skin with essential oils after childbirth is a traditional way to tighten your skin. You can also go for regular spa sessions to tighten your skin.

Tightening your loose belly skin won’t happen overnight after delivery. Have patience and accept the change your body is going through gracefully. With regular exercise and a good diet, your skin will tighten over a period.

Tips For Newborn’s Eye Hygiene

Your newborn infant’s eyes are delicate and sensitive and need special attention. A proper cleaning routine can prevent any kind of eye infection or discomfort among infants.

Apart from maintaining the hygiene of their eyes, you should also regularly keep looking for any signs of eye issues such as blocked tear duct, white pupil, squinting, misalignment of the pupils, and excessive watery discharge.

A newborn’s eye care routine does not need to be elaborate. Some simple daily habits can help you keep your baby’s eyes clean, healthy, and infection-free.

Clean the Eyes

Regular cleaning of your baby’s eyes is important. Here’s how to do it:

• Wash your hands with neutral soap and water before you start cleaning your infant’s eyes.
• In the initial days after birth, you will notice a yellowish discharge at the corner of the eyes. Clean it properly.
• Do not use a tissue, handkerchief, or bare hands for cleaning. Use only sterile water and soft cotton balls.
• Soak the cotton ball in lukewarm water, squeeze out the excess water, and then gently wipe the corners of your baby’s eyes with it.
• Always wipe from the inside corner to the outside of the eyes.
• Use a new cotton ball for each eye.
• Never scrub or scratch the eyes while cleaning as it could damage their eyes forever.
• Do not rub the eyes for long periods.

Cosmetics

In India, often kajal or kohl is applied to a newborn’s eyes to ward off evil spirits. Many people also believe that applying kajal gives a good shape to their baby’s eyes. However, it is dangerous to apply kajal to the eyes of babies. It contains chemicals that can cause severe allergic reactions. The eyes and skin of babies are sensitive, and chemicals can cause permanent damage.

Avoid Sharp Objects

Keep sharp objects such as pens, pencils, forks etc. away from your infant at all times. Accidental injuries from sharp objects are common. This can cause severe visual impairment.

You need to be very careful when dealing with the eyes of babies. If you notice any irregularities, immediately visit a pediatric ophthalmologist.

Author Bio:

Prapti Chauhan has been connected with the prosperity business for a long time. In her unwinding, she loves making articles. Through her articles, you can get data about stem cell cord blood banking, what is stem cell preservation?, umbilical cord blood banking.

How to Prevent Sciatica Pain during Your Pregnancy

Sciatica pain is very common during pregnancy. It is caused due to the irritation, compression, or inflammation of your sciatica nerve that starts from your lower spine and passes through your buttocks and back of your lower limbs. As your baby grows, your sciatica pain will also increase. It is more common in the third trimester compared to the first two trimesters.

Causes of Sciatica Pain During Pregnancy

The most common causes include:

• The shifting of your center of gravity due to your growing belly can lead to the tightening of muscles in your pelvis and buttock areas. This may pinch the sciatica nerve and cause pain.
• A pregnant woman’s body releases a hormone called relaxin, preparing the body for childbirth. Relaxin loosens your ligaments. Due to relaxed ligaments, joints become unstable, and muscles become tense. This can also put pressure on the sciatica nerve and cause pain.
• The increasing weight of your baby and expanded uterus can put pressure on your sciatica nerve.
• As your baby prepares for birth, its head may turn towards the pelvis in the third trimester, thus pressing the sciatica nerve.

How to Prevent Sciatica Pain

It is difficult to prevent sciatica pain. However, controlling your weight, stretching, and swimming can help to some extent. You may try these tips to get relief from sciatica pain:

• Take a warm shower or bath.
• Use a heating pad.
• Rest when it starts paining.
• Avoid sitting or standing in one position for long.
• Sleep on the opposite side of the pain.
• Use a pregnancy pillow between your legs.
• Kegel exercise can give your relief.
• Prenatal yoga helps a lot in dealing with sciatica pain.
• Swimming is also effective.
• Prenatal massage is effective.
• Ask your doctor for pain medication.

It is difficult to prevent sciatica pain but stretching, swimming, yoga, and proper sleeping position can help you reduce the pain. Maintain healthy body weight. Excessive weight gain during pregnancy can worsen your sciatica pain. Eating healthy and regular exercise can help you prevent sciatica pain to a large extent.

Asperger’s Disorder: Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment

Asperger’s disorder is part of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Some children start showing signs of Asperger’s at an early stage, while for others the diagnosis may take time due to a lack of awareness. If you find your child has a problem with social interactions, pretend to play, dislikes being held or touched, or has an unusual reaction to smell, taste or noises, then you must consult with your doctor or a child therapist.

Symptoms

All children with Asperger’s disorder are different. However, the common sign is their unusual social skills and obsessive behavior. If your child has Asperger’s syndrome, they may exhibit one or more of the following symptoms:

• Poor social interactions
• Obsessions
• Peculiar and formal speech pattern that is flat, high-pitched, or robotic
• Restricted facial expressions
• Unusual sensitivity to sensory stimuli
• Inability to understand body language, facial expressions, and gestures of others
• Dislikes any change in their routine
• Memorizes facts and information easily
• Insensitive to other people’s feelings
• Inability to understand sarcasm, irony, or humor
• Unable to communicate with peer groups
• Difficulty with sharing things or engaging in conversations

Diagnosis

Asperger’s syndrome can be diagnosed as early as 18 months old. There is no scanning or blood test required for the diagnosis. A team of medical and psychological professionals usually observes the child and asks questions to both the parent and child to conclude.

Asperger’s syndrome is part of ASD. However, the condition is sometimes overlapped with other conditions like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), or oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). The common assessments used to diagnose Asperger’s are:

• Asperger Syndrome Diagnostic Scale
• Gilliam Autism Rating Scale
• Asperger’s Quotient Test
• Ritvo Autism Asperger Diagnostic Scale

Treatment

The treatment for each child is different. The treatment plan should be customized as per the child’s symptoms and should be changed as per requirement. The main treatment includes:

• Parent education and training to understand and manage the condition
• Social skills training
• Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)
• Occupational therapy
• Special education
• Medication

If your child is diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome then it will take them effort to build relationships. However, that doesn’t mean that your child cannot be successful in school or in their adult life. Your child may require counseling and therapy their entire life. However many people with Asperger’s syndrome are capable of living a successful life.

Cord Blood Can Treat Over 80 Life-threatening Diseases: What Diseases Can Be Treated?

Earlier, after the delivery of your baby, the umbilical cord used to be treated as medical waste. However, with the advent of cord blood banking and cord blood stem therapy, the scenario seems to be completely changed.

Basically, cord blood is a great source of haematopoietic (blood-forming) stem cells, which has the potential to differentiate into different cell types – red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma, and platelets.

Research has it that, the treatment of Fanconi Anaemia was believed to be the first successful cord blood stem cell transplant. That’s not it:

• Red blood cells which have foetal haemoglobin in them are used for newborn’s blood transfusion. In fact, umbilical cord red blood cells are used to treat sickle cell anaemia.
• While blood cells, whose main job is to save your baby’s body from injuries are good for childhood cancer. These stem cells are also used to fight infection.
• Platelets play an important role in blood clotting and healing after an injury and are extremely important in regenerative medicine.
• Plasma is the core of cord blood and like white blood cells, platelet-rich plasma can be used to treat cancer.

Additionally, cord blood stem cells have proven themselves instrumental in treating inherited metabolic disorders and deficiencies of the immune system. Umbilical cord blood contains natural killer cells, a lower absolute number of T-cells, and various types of stem cells and progenitor cells.

Unlike embryonic stem cells, haematopoietic stem cells are not pluripotent, but they are being researched with the goal of using them beyond blood and immune disorders.

In fact, these are some of the reasons that allow expecting parents like you, to include cord blood banking in your birth plan. You can either save your baby’s cord blood in a public cord blood bank or in private cord blood bank to reap the benefits later on.

Strengthen Pelvic Floor During Pregnancy—Here’s How

Staying active during pregnancy is good for both you and the baby. Exercises have numerous benefits such as maintaining a healthy weight, making your muscles strong, and preventing conditions like preeclampsia and gestational diabetes.

Certain pelvic floor exercises will help you strengthen your pelvic floor hammock and prevent diseases related to the pelvic floor. It will help you to avoid urinary and bowel incontinence after delivery. Here are some exercises that can help you strengthen your pelvic floor during pregnancy.

Kegel Exercise

Kegel exercise is the most important exercise to strengthen your pelvic floor. As the baby grows, your abdomen starts expanding and pushing your pelvic floor. Often the pelvic floor muscles are not able to bear the load and your start leaking urine. However, Kegel can help you strengthen your pelvic floor muscles and prevent problems during and after delivery.

Sit in a comfortable position or you can even do this while standing. Tighten your pelvic floor muscles and hold them for three to five seconds. Release the muscles and stay for the same amount of time and then repeat. Gradually start contracting and relaxing for a longer duration. Try to work for a minimum of 20 repetitions daily.

Belly Breathing

Sit cross-legged on the floor or a flat surface. Support your back against a wall or something else. Put your hands on your belly. Keep your back and shoulders still and start breathing through your nose while expanding your belly. Feel the expansion of the belly with your hands. Gradually start exhaling through your mouth while squeezing your abdomen in towards your spine. In yoga, this is also known as ujjayi breathing or ujjayi pranayama. This breathing technique will strengthen both your abdominal and pelvic floor muscles.

Cat and Cow

Get down on all fours with wrists under your shoulder and knees hip-width apart. Inhale and draw your navel in towards your spine. Your body should resemble the way a cat stretches. Hold the breath for a few seconds and then release while tilting your pelvis upwards. This is an excellent posture to improve your core and pelvic muscles.

Squat

Hold on to a fixed object like a pole or chair. Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Keep your weight on your heels and lower your body to a deep squat. Hold on for a while and gradually rise. Repeat this minimum of five times.

Cord Blood Viability and Factors That Affect Its Quality

Cell viability is a critical issue in the biobank industry. When parents decide to bank the umbilical cord blood of their baby, they do so with the hope that in future it will help in treating conditions like leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell anemia and other critical life-threatening diseases if needed. Cell viability is an important indicator of the quality of the umbilical cord blood and can influence the outcome of the transplant. The number of stem cells that persist in the umbilical cord blood unit is limited and that renders the viability of cord blood in the preservation of stem cells.

Several factors affect the quality of stored umbilical cord blood. If anyone is compromised it affects the viability of the stem cell.

Collection Procedure

Collection procedure plays an extremely important role in the future viability of umbilical cord blood. Baby stem cell collection requires a proper protocol. If the collection is not done according to the proper protocol then it can immensely impact the quality of the stem cells procured from the collected umbilical cord blood. The umbilical cord blood should be collected using a single bag. Blood should be collected by inserting a needle proximal to the clamp and keeping the cannulation site below the placenta level. The free flow of blood should be allowed. Thermocol boxes at room temperature are not ideal for the collection and storage of umbilical cord blood and they should be discarded.

Volume Reduction

Volume reduction is an important step after the collection of the umbilical cord blood. Cord blood banks usually use the centrifugation method to compress the volume of blood. Ideally, within a couple of hours, the separation of plasma columns happens under gravity. The separation of the plasma columns depends on the hematocrit of the umbilical cord blood.

Cryopreservation Protocols

After the separation of the Plasma-Lyte, they are mixed with the cryopreservation mixtures. The cryopreservative contains DMSO and they are mixed with the cold Plasma-Lyte. After volume reduction, the final product is transferred to a fresh tube and product volume is noted. Cold cryoprotectant mixture is added in equal volume slowly by directly trickling from the sidewall of the Falcon tube. The final pre-cryopreservation product mixture is quickly transferred to a cryogenic pouch and stored in a refrigerator at a temperature of -800 degrees Celsius. The temperature of the refrigerator is continuously monitored.

10 Things You Eat That Can Weaken Your Immunity

While a well-balanced, nutrient-rich diet can improve your body's immunity and functions, a diet that is high on processed foods and low in nutrition can also adversely impact it.

Let’s take a look at 10 foods that can weaken your immunity:

Sugar

Excess sugar in the body means a higher risk of Diabetes. High levels of blood sugar in the body can be harmful and lead to gut bacteria imbalance. It also inhibits the immune cells in the body, making it more vulnerable to infections.

Salt

Like sugar, excess salt intake can also inhibit the immune system's anti-inflammatory response, create an imbalance of gut bacteria, and even lead to an increase in autoimmune diseases like Lupus, Crohn's disease, Ulcerative Colitis, etc.

Fatty foods/Fried Foods

Deep fried foods like French fries, bhajjiyas, samosas, chips, etc., are high in advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which cause inflammation and cell damage in the body.

Fast Foods

Eating highly processed food are responsible for increasing inflammation, causing an imbalance of gut bacteria, and can even create immune dysfunction in the body.

Soft Drinks and Colas

These types of drinks have a high level of artificial sweeteners in them which hamper the immune response, alter the gut bacteria, increase gut inflammation, etc.

High Omega 6 Foods

Omega 6 fats are needed by your body to function smoothly. However, it can increase your risk of contracting diseases like asthma, allergic rhinitis, and other autoimmune diseases when had more than required.

Charred Foods

Grilled meats, barbequed paneer, etc., are great to have once in a while. However, if consumed regularly, the saturated fat in the foods can create immune dysfunction and increase the risk of diseases like cancer.

Foods With Additives

Processed or packaged food often contain additives that make them flavourful and last longer. However, these additive ingredients can lead to intestinal inflammation and weakening the immune system.

Bread and Other Baked Foods

Highly refined carbs found in white bread and other bakery items like cakes, pastries, etc., causes the sugar and insulin levels to shoot up in the body and increase inflammatory proteins.

High-fat Foods

Fatty foods like milk chocolates, white bread, red meat, etc., can damage the intestinal lining, increasing the chances of infections and diseases if had too frequently.

Make sure to have a balanced diet always. Don't give up on your favourites; make sure you eat them in moderation.

Author Bio: Prapti Chauhan is a professor of Genetics in Bangalore. She has contributed to several online research papers. However, she passionately develops contents on pregnancy, childbirth, childcare and stem cell preservation in india and umbilical cord lining and more.