Healthy Beginning - January'2016

Pregnancy
myths

MYTH: You can tell the baby's gender by heart rate. Boy's hearts beat slower than the girls.

FACT: It's illegal to try and determine the gender of the baby in India. But there is no difference in the heart rate of a baby boy or girl in the mother's womb. All that should matter is a healthy baby and a healthy mummy.

MYTH: Lifting your arm over your head can cause your baby's umbilical cord to wrap around their neck.

FACT: There's simply no connection between your arm muscles and joints and the umbilical cord, which connects your baby to your placenta.

MYTH: Running could cause early labour

FACT: Some form of exercise is recommended and healthy for most pregnant women. If your doctor permits slow running/ jogging keep up to it, unless specifically not told to. No kind of exercise causes early labour.

MYTH: Spicy foods can help you go into labour

FACT: Spicy food has no effect on your chances of inducing labour naturally — unless your body is really ready to have that baby.

MYTH: Castor oil helps induce labour

FACT: One of the many known tactics include consuming castor oil to induce labour, but they also lead to contractions in your intestinal tract, leading to really unpleasant side effects including diarrhoea, upset stomach and cramping.

Toddlers: Quirky discipline rules that work

As a mother of a toddler, you are constantly trying to battle their stubbornness, their irritations, frustrations and their tantrums. You try every trick you have heard, read and even gained from the experienced parents in the neighbourhood or relatives.

Smart ways to end picky eating

All new moms want their kids to be good eaters. But the question that always keeps arising is what can one do in the initial months to make sure that the toddler is open to eating and trying everything once they start weaning.

Nail changes during pregnancy

There's good news and bad news when it comes to 'pregnant' nails. Pregnancy brings in faster nail growth, sometimes accompanied by brittleness, groove formation or sometimes even separation of the nail from the nail bed called onycholysis.

New Mom: Don't Worry. Be Happy.

All the new moms are jealous of that one upbeat mom, who seems to have everything under control and manages to keep the joy and love flowing.

New Dad: What dads can teach the moms