Save your unborn baby from mental disorder

We’ve always known that eating well in pregnancy and maintaining healthy lifestyle will lead to safe delivery — barring all odds. However, little did we know that certain little oversights during pregnancy can determine the future economic fortune of the child in the womb, or his mental health for that matter later in life.

Experts are warning that except the mom-to-be maintains perfect health throughout the nine-month pregnancy period, her baby might develop mental disorder. For one, scientists warn that maternal vitamin C deficiency during pregnancy can have serious consequences for the foetal brain.

In a study done by researchers at the University of Copenhagen and published in the scientific journal, PLOS ONE, scientists warn that once brain damage occurs, it cannot be reversed by vitamin C supplements after birth.

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Lead researcher, Prof. Jens Lykkesfeldt, says, “Even marginal vitamin C deficiency in the mother stunts the foetal hippocampus — the important memory centre, by 10-15 per cent, preventing the brain from optimal development.”

He says further, “We used to think that the mother could protect the baby. Ordinarily, there is a selective transport from mother to foetus of the substances the baby needs during pregnancy. However, it now appears that the transport is not sufficient in the case of vitamin C deficiency. Therefore, it is extremely important to draw attention to this problem, which potentially can have serious consequences for the children affected.”

Lykkesfeldt notes that the groups that are vulnerable to vitamin C deficiency include those with low economic status who eat poorly — and perhaps also smoke. “Children of such mothers risk being born with a poorly developed memory potential, and they may encounter learning problems,” the scientist and his team warn.

Worse still, the scientists say, in social context, for such children, their life of misery might become cyclical, as they may find it more difficult to escape the environment into which they are born, and thus unwittingly pass on a defeated lifestyle to their own offspring.

Another study published in JAMA Psychiatry also suggests that a common sickness during pregnancy can actually expose the child in the womb to serious mental health issue.

The researchers found that children of women exposed to influenza during their pregnancy were more at risk for bipolar disorder. They concluded that preventing flu during pregnancy could reduce the risk for bipolar disorder in children later on.

The scientists note that other research has also found influenza during pregnancy to be linked to schizophrenia in children. They argue that other complications or health issues during pregnancy can lead to mental health issues for children later on as well.

A Child Psychiatry expert with the Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital, Oshodi Annex, Lagos, Dr. Masheedat Mojeed-Bello, at an earlier encounter, describes schizophrenia as a severe, lifelong brain disorder.

“People who have it may hear voices, see things that aren’t there or believe that others are reading or controlling their minds. Symptoms include hallucinations, or seeing things, and delusions such as hearing voices. Such people may have unusual thoughts or perceptions, disorders of movement, difficulty speaking and expressing emotion, or problems with attention, memory and organisation,” Mojeed-Bello explains.

Worse still, scientists say when pregnant women have mental health problems such as depression, it can lead to similar issues for their children. This much is detailed in a study published in the journal Child Development, where scientists argue that depression during pregnancy is linked to children’s anti-social behaviour.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School say, “Children of depressed parents in general are highly vulnerable to depression, and long-term adjustment is sometimes a problem for the children of mothers with postpartum depression.”

Physicians counsel pregnant women to desist from self medication, eat well, and prevent any form infection, as all these may have untold effects on the baby in the womb.

And from Malaysia: Women Deliver Conference

This morning, more than 3,000 world leaders, policymakers and advocates representing over 150 countries convened in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for Women Deliver 2013, the decade’s largest meeting focused on girls’ and women’s health and rights.

The conference will feature more than 100 sessions with talks by some of the world’s leading voices on girls’ and women’s issues, including Melinda Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Chelsea Clinton, Board Member of the Clinton Foundation; Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Foundation; and Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Malaysian Prime Minister Honorable Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak declared the ceremony open.

The Women Deliver 2013 conference will focus on themes that include the economic and social benefits of investing in girls and women; how to achieve the goal of reaching 120 million more women with voluntary family planning services by 2020; and the need to place girls and women at the heart of the post-2015 development agenda.

During the meeting, organisations such as the World Bank, the Guttmacher Institute and the World Health Organisation will release major new research and reports focused on the benefits of investing in girls and women.

“Women Deliver 2010 was critical in showing that investing in girls and women is not only the right thing to do, it is also good for the economy and good for society,” said the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who gave opening remarks at Women Deliver 2010 and later that year launched the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health.

“Women Deliver 2013 will be an opportunity to keep up the pressure and to affirm our plans for the period ahead,” he had said.

Women Deliver 2013 takes place at a critical time, just days before the Secretary-General will receive recommendations for the post-2015 development framework. Conference speakers and attendees will call for action to ensure that girls and women are prioritised in the lead-up to the 2015 Millennium Development Goal deadline and beyond.

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