Pregnancy and lactation
Janis Baines, Madeleine Ball, Danielle Gallegos, Jonathan M. Hodgson, Gwyn P. Jones, Antigone Kouris-Blazos, Louise B. Lennard, Jan Payne, Ingrid H.E. Rutishauser, Gayle S. Savige, Kelly L. Stewart, Naiyana Wattanapenpaiboon in Food & Nutrition, 2020
This chapter provides an understanding of the significance of nutritional intake during pregnancy and lactation. It discusses the physiological and metabolic adjustments that occur during pregnancy and lactation, and the consequent effects on energy and nutrient requirements during these times. The chapter describes key factors, and common concerns and issues, influencing nutritional intakes and outcomes during pregnancy and lactation. A greater energy intake would be needed by underweight or thin women in order to allow a greater weight gain by these individuals during the pregnancy to encourage adequate weight gain of the baby and a lower energy intake by obese women to promote appropriate weight gain within the recommended ranges. Provision of appropriate advice and support is required to help pregnant and lactating women successfully manage the common challenges and areas of concern encountered during these significant yet biologically normal stages of the life-cycle.
Pregnancy and Lactation
Janis Baines, David Borradale, Janeane Dart, Leisa McCarthy, Christina McKerchar, Claire Palermo, Gayle S. Savige, Jolieke C. van der Pols, Naiyana Wattanapenpaiboon in Food and Nutrition, 2020
This chapter explores the significance of nutrition during periconception, pregnancy and lactation and its implications across the life-course. It discusses food-based recommendations to address common concerns and issues during pregnancy and lactation. The life course approach underpins people understanding of the critical nature of the period around conception, pregnancy and lactation for a child’s development. Nutritional status prior to, during and after pregnancy influences maternal and infant health outcomes in the short term and the development of chronic disease later in life. Fertility issues in men include three primary disorders: low sperm counts, absence of sperm motility and low sperm motility. Many metabolic adjustments occur during pregnancy that has a profound effect on nutritional requirements. Blood volume increases in order to supply the placenta, which, as well as being the main source of the hormones regulating maternal metabolism, also provides the means by which nutrients and oxygen are transferred to the fetus and waste products are excreted.
Endocrinology of pregnancy, parturition and lactation
Ben Greenstein in Rapid Revision in Endocrinology, 2017
This chapter presents a brief account of the endocrine events implicated in parturition and lactation. It deals with the endocrine events that play an important role in the onset and course of labour. The chapter examines the major hormones of pregnancy and know in which tissues they are synthesised and what their major actions. Progesterone levels in the maternal blood stream rise steeply during pregnancy. Lactation is milk secretion from the breasts, which become enlarged during pregnancy through the action of several hormones, including: cortisol, estrogens, growth hormone, Human placental lactogen, prolactin, and progesterone. The chapter outlines the central events of the suckling reflex. The suckling reflex is the reflex letting down of milk, caused by the mechanical stimulation of the nipple. Mechanical stimulation of the nipple sends afferent nerve impulses up the spinal cord to the supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei of the hypothalamus.
Lactation after infant death: an analysis of Australian healthcare agencies’ online health information
Published in Health Sociology Review, 2020
Lara Sweeney, Katherine Carroll, Debbie Noble-Carr, Catherine Waldby
Lactation is a potent signifier of maternal love and care commonly associated with early motherhood and infant survival. It is common, however, for bereaved mothers who have recently undergone miscarriage, stillbirth or infant death to produce breastmilk. Drawing on a critical feminist lens that seeks to understand how maternal subjectivities and lactation norms are constructed through public and reproductive health information, this article tests whether lactation management options after stillbirth and infant death are comprehensively covered in Australia’s health organisations’ online information. A qualitative directed content analysis was conducted to critique the information provided on 21 Australian websites. Information extracted from websites was compared to a ‘best-practice’ Lactation After Infant Death (AID) Framework developed by the research team for the review. We found a notable absence of comprehensive lactation management information targeted directly to bereaved mothers. Moreover, the most common lactation option presented for women without a living infant was lactation suppression. This dearth of appropriate and comprehensive lactation information curtails maternal subjectivies and diverse lactation practices and further isolates women dealing with the painful contradictions of lactation after loss.
Chamomile reveals to be a potent galactogogue: the unexpected effect
Published in The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine, 2018
Fernando V. Silva, Francisca Dias, Gustavo Costa, Maria da Graça Campos
Good habits of breastfeeding have been associated with many long-term health benefits. Nowadays, improvement is seen in the health of children and mothers who practice exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life. The search of new potent stimulants for milk production is important to promote lactation, mainly in cases where breastfeeding is a difficult task. This report presents a case of a woman who accidentally realized an abundant amount of milk and had high breast tension, a few hours after consuming chamomile. Although usual consumption of chamomile during pregnancy and lactation are documented for several purposes, the galactogogue effect was never reported. In this case report, we document for the first time the influence of chamomile in a lactating woman by increasing lactogenesis. This article also highlights the need of more research in this field to assure the safety of the intake, by women, of herbal product without the risk for them or the newborns.
Effects of chronic social stress during lactation on maternal behavior and growth in rats
Published in Stress, 2011
Benjamin C. Nephew, Robert S. Bridges
Maternal mood disorders such as depression and chronic anxiety can negatively affect the lives of not only mothers, but also of partners, offspring, and future generations. Chronic exposure to psychosocial stress is common in postpartum mothers, and one of the strongest predictors of postpartum depression is social conflict. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the effects of chronic social stress (CSS) during lactation on the maternal behavior (which consists of maternal care and aggression toward a novel conspecific) of lactating rats, as well as on the growth of the dams and their offspring. It was hypothesized that chronic daily exposure to a novel male intruder would alter the display of maternal behavior and impair growth in both the dam and offspring during lactation due to the potentially disruptive effects on maternal behavior and/or lactation. The data indicate that CSS during lactation attenuates maternal care and the growth of both dams and pups, and increases self-grooming and maternal aggression toward a novel male intruder. These results support the use of CSS as a relevant model for disorders that impair maternal behavior and attenuate growth of the offspring, such as postpartum depression and anxiety.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Pig
- Mammary Gland
- Breastfeeding
- Nipple
- Prolactin
- Oxytocin
- Witch'S Milk