Informed Choice News

New figures obtained by the cot death charity, the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths (FSID), reveal that in the last two years at least 25 babies in the UK have died while sleeping together with an adult on a sofa.

Commenting on the new National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines on neonatal jaundice, published today (Wednesday 19th May 2010), Gail Johnson, education and professional development advisor at the Royal College of Midwives, said: "We welcome these guidelines. Decisions around the diagnosis and treatment of jaundice in newborns can be challenging. The new toolkits and guidance will help to offset the difficulties of judging when to maintain observations (in newborns) or when to intervene".

NICE yesterday(17 May) launched a consultation on its quality standard for specialist neonatal care[1]. The four-week consultation period will also include field testing; this involves NICE implementation consultants visiting service providers and exploring how the standard can be effectively and successfully put into practice.

Over 1,500 parents, health professionals and volunteers from NCT, the UK's largest parenting charity, headed to Telford at the weekend to hear some world-renowned speakers and find out what the charity is planning for the future.

With less than two months to go, almost 1,000 schools, pre-schools, nurseries and children's centres from Aberdeen to Cornwall across urban and rural areas covering the most diverse communities in the UK are busily planning their activities for Fathers' Story Week…why not join them?

Commenting on the study on extreme obesity in pregnancy in the United Kingdom, released today by the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford, Mervi Jokinen, Practice and Standards Development Advisor at the Royal College of Midwives, said:

Thousands of schools, pre-schools and nurseries across the UK are being encouraged to take part in the first ever ‘Fathers' Story Week', launched by the Fatherhood Institute today as part of a major campaign to encourage dads and father figures to play a greater role in their children's learning and development.

In the run up to the election NCT, the UK's largest parenting charity, has today launched a manifesto calling for the next government to address the pressures affecting modern parents. The charity is particularly concerned about the growing commercial and economic pressures faced by parents and the obstacles they have to overcome to achieve a healthy home and work life balance.

Commenting on the study published today (Wednesday, 3rd February 2010) in the British Journal of Psychiatry on pregnant women and the ‘baby brain myth', Cathy Warwick, general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, said: "This is useful research that I have no doubt will be interesting to women and health professionals. It is about time that some research lays to rest this notion of pregnant women and the ‘baby brain' myth.

Commenting on the finding on smoking and its affects on the blood pressure of newborns from the Karolinska Institutet, published 25th January 2010 in ‘Hypertension' the Journal of the American Heart Association, Janet Fyle, Professional Policy Advisor at the Royal College of Midwives, said:   "These findings support what we know; that smoking during pregnancy can harm the developing fetus. The RCM would urge pregnant women who smoke to seek advice and support from their midwife about stopping smoking, for the benefit of their own long-term health. This would also benefit the health of their child."