The Demo Site

The day of delivery has finally come for the mother-to-be. Her husband stands watching and waiting for the blessed moment with a look of uncertainty and a little anxiety. How can he step up and be the comforter that his wife needs during this trying time?

Instructions to follow:

Step 1
The most important thing that a man can do for his wife while she is in labor, even more important in some cases than offering to make her comfortable, is to let her know how much he loves her and to give her emotional support. Labor is a trying time for both parents and for the newborn child, and the mother has some strong forces working on her body as well as her emotions.

Step 2
When things start to heat up and the contractions become stronger, it is important that the husband remains calm and focused on his purpose for being there. Be sure your wife has all the comforts of home. If she's cold, get her blankets. If she's hot, turn on the portable fan that you brought and apply some wet washcloths to help cool her down. Try to take her mind off the situation by showing her some old photographs or by watching a movie together. Use lotion or massage oil and give her a foot massage and/or a back massage.


Step 3
Try hard to remove all distractions from the room. Keep visitors to a minimum. Post a sign on the door that directs visitors to the nurse's station and ask the nurses to check with you before sending people in. If you have a mobile phone with you, be sure to switch it to vibrate and put it in your pocket. If someone calls, step into the hall to speak with them. Allow your wife to rest as much as possible and don't let small annoyances keep her awake. Be attentive to her and be sure to ask her how she's feeling often. Don't stay away from her room for too long and do not, under any circumstances, eat in front of her even is she says it’s OK!

Step 4
After the baby is born, take some time and spend these precious moments with them and with your wife. Although the moment won't last forever, it will be one of the best of your life. Wait a little while before letting friends and family into the room. Encourage them to visit your baby when you've gone home and had time to settle. After you leave the hospital, continue to do thoughtful things for your wife and make every day special for her.

Women who smoke during pregnancy risk delivering aggressive kids, finds a new study.

While previous studies have shown that smoking during gestation causes low birth weight, this research shows mothers who light up during pregnancy can predispose their offspring to an additional risk: violent behavior.


The Canada-Netherlands study is published in the journal Development and Psychopathology.

What’s more, the research team found the risk of giving birth to aggressive children increases among smoking mothers whose familial income is lower than $40,000 per year. Another risk factor for aggressive behavior in offspring was smoking mothers with a history of antisocial behavior: run-ins with the law, high school drop-outs and illegal drug use.

Psychiatry professor and researcher Jean Séguin, of the Université de Montréal and Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Center, co-authored the study with postdoctoral fellow Stephan C. J. Huijbregts, now a researcher at Leiden University in the Netherlands, as well as colleagues from Université Laval and McGill University in Canada.

“Mothers-to-be whose lives have been marked by anti-social behavior have a 67 percent chance to have a physically aggressive child if they smoke 10 cigarettes a day while pregnant, compared with 16 percent for those who are non-smokers or who smoke fewer than 10 cigarettes a day,” says Dr. Séguin.

“Smoking also seems to be an aggravating factor, although less pronounced, in mothers whose anti-social behavior is negligible or zero.”

The research was carried out as part of a wider investigation of children, the Quebec Longitudinal Study, which examined behaviors of 1,745 children between the age of 18 months to three and a half years. Aggressive offspring were characterized by their mothers as quick to hit, bite, kick, fight and bully others.

Other risks for aggressive behavior

Although physical aggression is most common in preschool children, the researchers identified other prenatal factors associated with aggressive behavior in children: mothers who are younger than 21, who smoke and who coerce their children to behave. The researchers also found that children from families who earned less than $40,000 per year were at an increased risk for aggressive behaviour.

In this category, heavy smokers had a 40 percent chance of having highly aggressive children, compared with 25 percent for other mothers who were moderate or non-smokers. When income was greater than $40,000 annually, the gap between heavy smokers and others fell to 8 percent.

The effect of smoking on aggression in offspring remained significant – even when other factors were removed such as divorce, depression, maternal education and the mother’s age during pregnancy. Smoking during pregnancy is one factor that could be curbed to decrease risks of aggression and violent behaviour.

The research team recommends that low-income women, who are heavy smokers and who have a history of anti-social behavior become a screening criterion for prenatal testing to determine what families need extra support to prevent development of aggressive behavior.

1. Vitamins

Encourage participants in your childbirth education class to take supplements prescribed by their health-care providers. They should not take any single vitamin or mineral supplements in higher-than-normal doses unless recommended by a health-care provider for a special condition. Also, inform class participants that higher-than-normal doses of the fat-soluble vitamins can be toxic. Fat-soluble vitamins include vitamins A, D, E, and K. Large doses of retinol (vitamin A) are known to cause birth defects in animals. It is safest to urge expectant mothers to take only their prenatal vitamins and no other over-the-counter vitamin supplements. That way, they do not have to remember which ones can be toxic or risk an accidental overdose on a vitamin.

2. Herbs and Other Supplements

Advise your perinatal educator colleagues to strongly discourage all pregnant women from taking herbal products or any other supplements (except their prenatal vitamins). Why? “Unregulated” refers to more than the testing of effectiveness and side effects of an ingredient. Manufacturing plants and the practices surrounding the production and packaging of these products are not regulated by the industry or the government. That means the concentration or dosage of ingredients in different products, and what contaminants are in the product, are unknown. Additionally, known and unknown effects of herbal products can be dangerous to the pregnant woman and to her developing fetus. Studies of safety are not conducted on pregnant and lactating women. Therefore, without specific directions from their health-care provider, expectant parents are advised to avoid the use of herbal products during pregnancy and lactation.

3. Caffeine
Caffeine crosses the placenta and affects the fetus. Caffeine is also passed on to the breastfed infant through the mother's milk. Please encourage the pregnant women in your class to avoid (or at least minimize) their consumption of caffeine. Most mothers know that coffee, tea, energy drinks, and some soft drinks contain caffeine, but it is also a hidden ingredient in many products. Dietary supplement ingredients that contain caffeine include guarana, yerba mate, kola or kola nut, cocoa, tea, coffee or coffee beans, and citrus aurantium or bitter orange. (Some of this is new information that even most dietitians may not know.) These ingredients and the products containing them should be avoided during pregnancy. Again, rather than remembering this long, strange list, mothers really should avoid supplements other than prenatal vitamins during pregnancy and lactation.

4. Good Manufacturing Practices
Finally, when discussing the postpartum period and life changes after the child is born, advise your class participants that if they choose to use supplements after pregnancy and lactation, they should look for products that state they use Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) for increased assurance of quality composition.