pregnancy

Seema Verma, who is President Trump's nominee to head the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, has said that maternity benefits should be optional.

GOP Considers Trimming Health Law's 10 Essential Benefits

12:07pm February 22, 2017

by Michelle Andrews

The woman set to run the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services told senators that maternity coverage should be optional in individual and small group plans. Other services could be cut entirely.

Salma Shabaik holds her newborn son, Ali. When he was born, she held him naked against her bare skin, a practice called kangaroo care. Ali is wearing an ear cap to correct a lop ear.

Kangaroo Care Helps Preemies And Full Term Babies, Too

7:56am January 23, 2017

by Patti Neighmond

Holding a newborn on a parent's bare chest has long been used to help premature babies. Hospitals increasingly recommend it for full term babies, too. Doctors say it reduces pain and lowers stress.

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Folic acid in food might not be enough to prevent birth defects, a federal advisory panel says. Thus the recommendation for supplements.

Women Still Need Folic Acid Supplements To Prevent Birth Defects

4:23pm January 10, 2017

by Katherine Hobson

Taking folic acid while pregnant reduces the risk of birth defects. But there may not be enough of the vitamin in enriched grain products, a federal advisory panel says.

Morning sickness treatments range from steady consumption of dry crackers to a pill not much better than a placebo.

Morning Sickness Pill Gets Second Look From Persistent Researchers

4:19pm January 06, 2017

by Richard Harris

The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says pregnant women with morning sickness shouldn't reach hastily for the pill bottle. Controversy over one medicine called Diclegis continues.

Keishla Mojica, 23, lives in Cuagas, Puerto Rico. She was infected with Zika virus while pregnant and expects to give birth in early January.

In Puerto Rico, A Woman Infected With Zika Prays For A Healthy Baby

4:21pm December 30, 2016

by Carmen Heredia Rodriguez

Puerto Rico has experienced many more cases of Zika virus than the continental U.S. But health and educational services are scarce on the islands for children born with disabilities.

Danish Study Links Fish Oil During Pregnancy With Lower Asthma Risk In Kids

9:02am December 29, 2016

by Richard Harris

But that's not the final word, caution pediatricians, including the Danish author. It's one of several recent studies with contradictory findings that suggest the supplements could help or hurt.

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Janet (left) and Jackie Carter's wedding in August 2015. They set up a crowdfunding site to help defray the considerable costs of IVF.

Please, Baby, Please: Some Couples Turn To Crowdfunding For IVF

4:30pm December 18, 2016

by Stephanie O'Neill

Infertility is often a private struggle. But some couples are going public — via crowdfunding sites — to help subsidize in vitro fertilization treatments that can cost as much as $20,000 each time.

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Florida Department of Health workers package a urine test, part of the state's effort to provide free Zika tests to pregnant women.

Study Offers Clues To Risk Of Zika Birth Defects In The U.S.

6:41pm December 14, 2016

by Rob Stein

Women who were infected with Zika virus while abroad and then came to the U.S. had complications about 6 percent of the time, a study finds. First-trimester exposure was linked to more birth defects.

Flu shots are recommended for all pregnant women.

Flu Vaccine During Pregnancy Not Linked To Autism

7:39pm November 28, 2016

by Nancy Shute

Neither getting the flu nor getting a flu shot appears to increase the risk of autism in children, a study finds. The shots are recommended because the flu poses health risks to mother and fetus.

Florida Department of Health workers at a temporary clinic set up in Miami Beach in September package up a urine sample to be tested for the Zika virus. Pregnant women in Texas and Florida have complained it can take as long as a month or more to get thei

Public Health Labs Hope Federal Funds Will Speed Zika Test Results

2:01pm October 06, 2016

by Shefali Luthra

But they'll have to wait a while. The portion of the $394 million Congress allocated to help pregnant women find out more quickly if they have Zika isn't expected to get to strained labs until 2017.