Low Birth Weight
Low birth weight (LBW) is a term used to describe infants that are born under 2, 500 grams, or less than five pounds eight ounces. This is a disorder that plagues certain races, age groups, and the poor. Seven percent of all infants who are born in the United States are born too small and eleven percent are born too soon ( Behrman). There are many risk factors that put a mother at risk of having a low birth weight baby, as there are many complications early and later in life for the child.
There are certain women who are more likely to have a child who is born extremely under weight. These influences can be ethnic, environmental, and genetic. Recent studies have shown that thirty to forty percent of low birth weight children are born into African American families. In fact, black women are two times more likely than are white women to have low birth weight babies.
If a woman does not gain very much weight during her pregnancy, then she is more likely to have a child with LBW. A small or petite woman is also more likely to produce very small children. The first born child in a family is also more at risk. Women who have had previous low birth weight children, low birth weight themselves, and or genetic disorders are all at higher risk of low birth weight (Behrman).
Female babies are more likely than boys to be smaller at birth. Children who are born premature, or before thirty-seven weeks are more likely to have LBW. If a woman's placenta is irregular, then that could also inhibit the growth of the child. This is because of feeding difficulty while in the womb (Campbell). The age of the expectant mother is another deciding factor about whether the child will be of LBW...
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...nitoring stress women can greatly reduce their chances of having children who suffer such great obstacles. Prenatal care is also very important. This small segment of our population deserves a fighting chance.
Works Cited:
Behrman, Richard E, and Patricia Shiono. "Low Birth Weight: Analysis and Recommendations."
Online. Internet.25 Sept. 1998. (www.futureofchildren.org)
Campbell, Dr. Neil. "Low Birth Weight Babies: Facts Sheets for Health Professionals." Online.
Internet. 26 Sept. 1998. (http://hna.ffh.vic.gov.au).
"Low Birth Weight At a Glance." Children and Family Canada. Online. Internet. 25 Sept.
1998. (www.cfc-efc.ca).
"Low Birth Weight Babies..." Baby World. Online. Internet. 25 Sept. 1998.
(www.babyworld.com).
Zaichkin, Jeanette RNC, MN. Newborn Intensive Care: What Every Parent Needs to Know.
Petaluma: NICU Ink, 1996.
Asfour, V, and S Bewley. 2011. Cord clamping practice could affect the ratio of placental weight to birth weight and perinatal outcomes. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology 118 (12): 1539–40. Retrieved November 8, 2014
Within The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde depicts two characters that follow the philosophy of Walter Pater. These two characters are Dorian Gray and Henry Wotton. They both embody Pater’s ideal of placing as much enjoyment in one’s short life as possible. While Dorian learns of Pater’s philosophy from Henry he soon exceeds his teacher and becomes invested within the philosophy of living life to the fullest. Dorian exceeds Henry in Pater’s philosophy through his active experimentation and desire for beauty, but Dorian fails to live up to all of Pater’s expectations due to his inability to separate morality for art.
...ing that there is still much to discover on how exactly maternal stress affects the fetus in prenatal development.
Children born to older parents are at greater risk for genetic abnormalities, such as Down syndrome. No one knows what causes the chromosomal abnormality that results in Down syndrome, a condition according to the National Association for Down syndrome, affects one in 800 to 1,000 babies in the United States. Any woman regardless of her culture, race and socio-economic status can have a baby with Down syndrome. However, a mother’ age seems to be a unifying factor among children with Down syndrome. Older women have a greater chance of giving birth to a baby with Down syndrome, and the risks increases with every passing year. The National Association for Down syndrome estimates the chance of having a baby with Down syndrome to be as follows:
Low birth weight is arisen due to preterm birth, intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) or both. Therefore low birth weight infants can be considered as a heterogeneous group of infants. Premature infants are born before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Those babies account for about 70% of low birth weight infants in the world. In other words, many low birth weight infants are premature. This is linked with mortality, morbidity, disability in infancy and has a greater risk of having chronic diseases in later life.
Rawlings, James S.; Rawlings, Virginia B.; Read, John A. "Prevalence of Low Birthweight and Preterm Delivery in Relation to the Interval between Pregnancies among White and Black Women." The New England Journal of Medicine, Vol 332, No 2, 1995, p 69-75.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one out of every eight babies each year in the United States is born premature. This affects approximately 500,000 babies yearly. Premature babies are defined as babies born more than three weeks before the baby’s due date. Full term babies are born at approximately forty weeks, and premature babies are born at less than thirty-seven weeks. In the final months and weeks of pregnancy, important growth and development occur in the fetus. This is why premature babies are considered to be at-risk for a number of issues. The earlier that a baby is born, the baby’s risks drastically increase for developmental issues.
Obesity is characterized by comparing height and weight measurement to determine a Body Mass Index as normal, overweight or obese. African- American women maintain the highest rates of obesity, infant mortality and pre-term births in comparison to non-Hispanic Caucasian women (Isaac & Thomas, 2013). According to the text Race, Ethnicity and Health, obesity rates for African-American women between ages two to nineteen was 24%, and obesity rates for Caucasians was 14%. Considering these facts, many women are unaware of the adverse effects that becoming pregnant with high BMI indexes or gaining too much weight during pregnancy can have on the fetus and the mother. It is important for women to understand what a healthy amount of weight to gain based on their personal proportions. “The recommended gain for women of normal size (BMI 19.8- 26) is 11.5- 16kg; for women with low BMI (below 19.8), the recommended gain is 12.5- 18 kg; where, for women with a high BMI (above 26-29), it is 7-11.5 kg. The target gain for obese women (BMI above 29) is at least 6.8 kg” (Hickey, 1997). Also not gaining enough weight can have adverse effects on the fetus. The high prevalence of gestational obesity in the African American community would be beneficial to educate women on the detrimental life span idiopathic diseases that affect infants, complicate pregnancies and deliveries through individual readiness plans at a local community health center.
The cattle industry produces vast amounts of strain in the environment. It is energy inefficient, pollutes water, occupies many acres of land, and deteriorates the health of the people who abuse its consumption. The government subsidizes this industry. Therefore, the price paid for meat doesn’t reflect the environmental hazards involved in the process. In order to protect our health and the health of the environment we should pay close attention to our food choices and make sure we don’t support industries that degrade it.
Intrauterine growth retardation is now known as intrauterine growth restriction or IUGR. Intrauterine growth restriction is a condition where an unborn baby is not growing at the normal rate that it should and is therefore smaller than the 10th percentile for their gestational age (Bates, et al., 2015). Studies have shown what size a baby should be at every stage of the pregnancy. In the earlier months of the pregnancy, all babies are normally the same size; only if there is a health concern should there be any deviation. Babies in the later stages of the pregnancy normally start to vary in weight and size.
According to “Meat the Truth”, a 2007 documentary directed by Karen Soeters, the film exposes the consequences of meat and dairy. It influences people about increasing the consumption of a plant-based diet and decreasing the intake of meat. Marianne Thieme, the narrator of the documentary and a Dutch politician who is a Member of the Party for the Animals in the Dutch Parliament, states, “Eating meat is the number one most environmentally destructive behavior, not cars, planes and power plants”. A consumer can make a great impact by changing their diet and restricting the consumption of meat. The transition to a plant-based diet is strongly informed by the film. Consumers have fallen into the advertising and marketing of meat to trigger minds the satisfaction of meat. Statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization prove that from 1950 to 2000, the population of the world went from 2.6 to 6 billion and from this meat production increased five times as great. It is possible it can keep doubling this amount every fifty years if there isn’t a change that occurs. From the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, they state, “The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that roughly 80 percent of ammonia emissions in the U.S. come from animal waste.” Raising animals to
Over the years, meat eating has grown dramatically in many countries. Demand for meat production increased at a fearsome speed, which led to producers using pesticides and fertilizers on their crop. Because of our exponential population we could not begin to feed the population of the world without them. Farmers will need to increase the amount the chemicals used on their crops and animals to accelerate production process i...
Birth weight is considered as the first weight that is measured immediately after birth of the baby. Birth weight of an infant is a strong indicator of the newborn's survival chances, growth, long-term health as well as the psychosocial development. Furthermore, it is an efficient sign of the health and nutritional status during the pregnancy period and pre-pregnancy period. Low birth weight has been defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as weight at birth of less than 2500 grams (5.5 pounds). According to their survey results, low birth weight babies are approximately 20 times more likely to have the chance of being fatal than normal babies within the first year of their lifetime.
Henry, being a part of the Victorian Society, values beauty too much. To him, beauty acts a sensory pleasure. Henry’s strong views and preference towards beauty greatly influence Dorian throughout the novel. About his friendships and enmities, Henry mentions that he “chooses [his] friends for their good looks, acquaintances for their good characters, and enemies for their good intellects” (Wilde ...