The Federal Government will seek advice on covering the cost of stillbirth autopsies, to help families understand more about the death. The decision was made as part of its response to a parliamentary inquiry examining why Australia's stillbirth rate has not dropped in two decades. The inquiry's...
Victorian newborns who do not pass their routine hearing screening tests are being invited to join a pilot program screening for the most common viral cause of disability. The study, a collaboration between the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, the University of Melbourne and four maternity hospitals...
Spina bifida comes from the term for ‘split spine’ in Latin. It is a serious birth defect that involves damage to the spine and to the nervous tissue of the spinal cord. In people affected with spina bifida, some of the vertebrae of the spine don’t...
Klay Lamprell draws attention to the issue of discrimination against pregnant women in the workplace. “While direct discrimination is worrying enough, the greater problem involves indirect or covert discrimination, which forces women to resign” A pregnant woman had to sit on a bin after her employer wouldn’t...
Belinda Horton, Past CEO of the Post and Ante Natal Depression Association (PANDA), says honest conversations with expectant mothers and new parents can help them through times of distressing emotional upheaval. Babies are amazing, and becoming a parent is life-changing. So why do we hear over...
COPE has a new online resource dedicated to providing emotional and mental health for women. Here we look at why it's such an important free tool for parents. Finding information on every pregnancy symptom and test online, always misses one of the most important pieces of...
Genetic testing can give you vital information if you're planning a family, advises Dr Di Milnes Not so long ago, diagnosis of a recessive condition such as adrenoleukodystrophy was only possible after a child developed symptoms. For many rare conditions, the time from onset of...
Philippa Macken explains how our own genetic cocktail can have fatal consequences for our children. Part of the fun of pregnancy is imagining what traits you’ll pass down to your baby. Perhaps they will inherit your dark curls or your partner’s wicked sense of humour. But...
Maria Jensen opens up about her experience with chronic morning sickness and suicide. June 2009. Two pink lines on the stick. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I was pregnant with my third child – a child I swore I would never have after hyperemesis gravidarum (chronic...
Women who have suffered a pregnancy loss need to be kind to themselves, even when others aren’t, writes Michelle Hayward. I am a mother and a survivor. I am currently ‘recovering and healing’ from a pregnancy loss – a miscarriage at 10 weeks – and I...
