Updates in Medicine

Baby care products raise dangerous chemicals

Baby lotion, powder and shampoo can lead to higher concentrations in an infant's body of phthalates, chemicals linked to allergies and altered reproductive development.

The study conducted at the University of Washington and Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute found that babies treated with common infant care products such as lotion, shampoo and powder were more likely to have phthalates in their urine than other babies.

Researchers at the university measured the levels of nine different phthalates in urine samples collected from 163 infants, aged two months to 28 months, and had the babies' mothers fill out questionnaires on their use of infant care products in the previous 24 hours.

The scientists found that at least one phthalate was present in every baby's urine sample, and that using baby powder, lotion and shampoo were strongly associated with higher phthalate levels in the urine.

"This is troubling, because phthalate exposure in early childhood has been associated with altered hormone concentrations as well as increased allergies, runny nose and eczema," said the study's lead author Sheela Sathyanarayana, a professor of paediatrics at the University of Washington medical school.

Animal-based studies of phthalates have found that the synthetic chemicals can harm reproductive system development, and studies in humans have found that prenatal exposure or exposure through breast milk can alter hormone concentrations, the study says.

"Babies may be more at risk than children or adults because their reproductive, endocrine and immune systems are still developing," Dr Sathyanarayana said.

Phthalates are man-made chemicals commonly found in personal care and other household products, including plastic children's toys, lubricants and chemical stabilisers in cosmetics and personal care products.

In 2006, the European Union banned the use of six phthalate softeners in polyvinyl chloride toys designed to be placed in the mouth by children younger than three.

Stress in pregnancy tied to schizophrenia in kids

Children born to mothers who experience severe stress in the first trimester of pregnancy are at increased risk for developing schizophrenia later in life, new research shows.

Stress during pregnancy has been linked to an increased risk of prematurity and birth defects in the baby. Whether such stress affects the infant's neurological development, specifically the risk of schizophrenia, is unclear, according to the report in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Kathryn M. Abel, from the University of Manchester in the UK, and colleagues investigated this topic by analysing data from 1.38 million births that took place in Denmark from 1973 to 1995.

The focus was on severe mental distress in the six months before conception or during pregnancy. Stress indicators included the death of a close relative, or a diagnosis of cancer, heart attack, or stroke in a close relative. Children were followed from 10 years of age for the occurrence of schizophrenia.

The likelihood of developing schizophrenia and related disorders among children born to mothers who experienced a death of a relative during the first trimester was 67 per cent higher than among children with non-stressed mothers.

By contrast, severe stress due to other causes or that occurred before pregnancy or during other trimesters did not increase the risk of schizophrenia in the offspring.

The link between first trimester stress and schizophrenia in offspring is "consistent with other evidence from whole populations exposed to severe stressors but requires replication in larger samples to allow examination of, for example, sex differences," the researchers point out. Nonetheless, they conclude, "our findings suggest that environment may influence neuro development at the feto-placental-maternal interface".

A spoonful of sugar eases babies' vaccination pain

Giving infants a small dose of a sugar solution just before they get injections seems to make the pain more tolerable, a study shows.

"Administration of 2mm of a 24 per cent oral sucrose solution two minutes before routine immunisations is effective in decreasing maximum immunisation pain and shortens the time before returning to a near normal state in infants at two and four months of age," the research team reports in the medical journal Paediatrics.

Linda A. Hatfield, at the Pennsylvania State University School of Nursing in University Park, and her associates gave the sugar solution to 38 infants and plain water to 45 infants before they were to get a series of injections.

The first, second and third injections were administered at two minutes, five minutes and seven minutes after the solutions were given.

To assess the babies' experience of pain, the investigators used a validated composite pain scale that measures crying, facial expression, behaviour, body movement and sleep. The scale goes from zero to five, with higher scores representing greater pain.

Pain was assessed immediately after each injection, and at nine minutes.

Scores ranged from 1.19 to 3.80 immediately after each injection in the group given the sugar solution, versus 3.02 to 4.81 in the group given water. At the nine-minute assessment, mean scores were 0.59 and 2.75, respectively.