Huge numbers of stillborn babies 'may have been missed'

Hundreds of thousands of deaths a year are not being recognised in international estimates, research suggests

Hundreds of thousands of babies who died in the womb could have been missed out of international estimates on stillbirths, research suggests.

According to figures for 2015, an estimated 2.6 million babies a year worldwide are stillborn – dying at a point in pregnancy when most babies would survive outside the womb.

Related: 5.5m babies a year die without birth or death certificate

Related: Time to target the shocking neglect of stillbirths

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Sister of UK woman who died in botched C-section makes justice plea

Xynthia Hawke, 28, died in France in 2014 after error by anaesthetist who was drunk

Xynthia Hawke was 28 and expecting her first child, with all the excitement and delight of a new mother to be.

She and her French partner, Yannick Balthazar, had planned everything down to the last detail in what they hoped would be as natural a birth as possible in a specially chosen clinic.

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‘There are pressures to keep working to the end of pregnancy - to keep up’

Young pregnant women are significantly more anxious and overwhelmed than a generation ago. What’s behind this rise, and what are the solutions?

When Jasmine Hanks, 27, was pregnant with her first child, so was Beyoncé, as well as some of the cast of The Only Way is Essex. “I think this is really stupid,” she says, sounding embarrassed, but still pained. “I followed them on Instagram; they had perfect bumps and looked really glam. When you’re heavily pregnant, you think you look an absolute sight in comparison – that does nothing for your self-esteem.”

Hanks checked Instagram first thing in the morning, then Facebook on her lunchbreak, and found an inexorable onslaught of feelings of inadequacy – which she found much more distressing in pregnancy than before. “You’re constantly having these images of perfect, beautiful women thrust in your face all the time. It’s quite difficult to see past what’s in front of you in the mirror.”

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Air pollution sickens us in a car-addicted society | Letters

Readers join the dots between various recent reports on the effects of air pollution on human health and the part played by cars in turning the atmosphere toxic

Your report (School run is the ‘biggest polluter’ of air children breathe, 18 September) highlights the continuing failure of government to recognise the dangers of air pollution, specifically from diesel engines, and to take necessary action to limit the number of premature deaths. But the school run is only part of the problem facing infants, children and the wider population.

Many schools are on what are now extremely busy roads; only a minority have had an air pollution survey; and because of austerity measures they seldom have the resources to take remedial action by acquiring air purifiers. School buses keep their diesel engines ticking over for half an hour or longer and legal restrictions are simply ignored by bus companies and the police. Ice-cream vans in public parks and holiday resorts are diesel-powered, but they keep their engines running all day, even when located near children’s playgrounds.

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Too much gluten while pregnant linked to increased diabetes risk for baby

Experts warn against switching to a gluten-free diet because that may reduce intake of fibre, iron and B-vitamins

Eating a high gluten diet when pregnant appears to be linked to an increased risk of having a child who develops type 1 diabetes, new research suggests, although experts say expectant mothers shouldn’t rush to ditch bread and pasta.

While studies in rodents have suggested there a possible link between low gluten consumption in mothers and a lower incidence of type 1 diabetes in offspring, no such link has previously been found in humans.

Related: Gluten-free: health fad or life-saving diet?

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Pregnancy weigh-ins were stopped in the 90s – and they’re still a bad idea | Lucy Jones

Yes, talk about healthy diets and weighing if there’s a problem, but calls to make this mandatory are misguided

In the latest “pregnant women are doing it all wrong” news, the weigh-in may return in an effort to stop Britain’s expectant mums piling on too many pounds.

Midwives stopped weighing pregnant women in the 1990s because there wasn’t any clinical evidence to suggest it made a difference to the health of the woman or their baby. In fact, regular weighing was thought to cause stress and anxiety.

Related: Midwives call for pregnancy weight targets after study highlights health risks

Related: Pippa, you’re carrying a child, not some unwanted fat | Barbara Ellen

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NHS fees for maternity care 'putting migrant mothers at risk'

Vulnerable women becoming distressed by legacy of ‘hostile environment’, report says

Migrant mothers and their babies are being put at risk because they are too frightened of incurring large debts and falling victim to the so-called hostile environment immigration policy to access vital medical care, a report has found.

Migrant mothers not settled in the UK are not eligible for taxpayer-funded treatment, and are charged 50% more than the normal tariffs for antenatal care, births and postnatal care. Some with secure immigration status have also been mistakenly charged for treatment. Attempts at debt collection launched shortly after new mothers leave hospital can trigger mental health issues among some of the poorest and most vulnerable women in the UK, the research found.

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Gaining too much or too little weight in pregnancy could affect baby's health

Midwives say guidelines should be provided to help them advise expectant mothers

Midwives should be given guidelines on how to advise expectant mothers about managing their weight, their professional body has said, reacting to research that suggested the commonly held belief that pregnant women needed to eat for two was a myth.

Gaining too much weight during pregnancy could put the future offspring at an increased risk of insulin resistance and affect their blood pressure in childhood, according to the study published in the journal, Diabetologia.

Related: Global study finds 75% of pregnant women don't have healthy weight gain

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The state has no right to stop me learning the sex of my unborn child

A new test that reveals a baby’s sex at 10 weeks has, predictably, led to panic about an increase in terminations – as if we need even more anxiety about pregnancy

When should a woman be able to find out her baby’s sex? And what should she be able to do with this information? In the latest instalment of What to Expect When Society Lays Expectations Upon You, to which Wide Awoke dutifully refers whenever anything pregnancy-related crowns its head, the Labour party is calling for a ban on pregnant women being told the sex of their baby after the early blood tests. Why? Because of a concern that some people may choose termination on the grounds of sex. Which is, quite rightly, illegal. The sex of a foetus is not a reason for termination; I think most human beings can agree on that.

Let’s delve deeper. Noninvasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT), now offered by the NHS to screen for genetic conditions including Down’s syndrome, can also determine a foetus’s sex from as early as 10 weeks. Parents cannot use NIPT to find out a baby’s sex unless they go private, and this appears to be happening more. A report last year warned that “permitting NIPT for sex determination in the UK may be encouraging sex selection”. The Labour MP Naz Shah said that a preference for boys in some cultures could force parents “to adopt methods such as NIPT to live up to expectations of family members”.

Related: Air pollution particles found in mothers' placentas

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Labour calls for ban on early foetus gender test

There are concerns some could choose to terminate pregnancy because of baby’s sex

Parents-to-be should be banned from using a blood test to determine the gender of their baby in the early stages of pregnancy, Labour has said.

The call comes amid concerns that some could choose to terminate the pregnancy because of a foetus’s sex.

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Air pollution particles found in mothers' placentas

New research shows direct evidence that toxic air – already strongly linked to harm in unborn babies – travels through mothers’ bodies

Scientists have found the first evidence that particles of air pollution travel through pregnant women’s lungs and lodge in their placentas.

Toxic air is already strongly linked to harm in foetuses but how the damage is done is unknown. The new study, involving mothers living in London, UK, revealed sooty particles in the placentas of each of their babies and researchers say it is quite possible the particles entered the foetuses too.

Related: Air pollution harm to unborn babies may be global health catastrophe, warn doctors

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Growing childbirth terror disorder 'fuelled by social media'

Horror stories may exacerbate tocophobia, leading to more C-section requests and abortions

Horror stories on social media could be one reason why some women suffer from a pathological terror of childbirth, a leading expert and midwife has said.

Tocophobia is a mental condition defined as a severe fear or dread of childbirth.

Related: Thousands of mothers left to cope alone with mental illness

Related: Instead of judging women who want a C-section, why not listen? | Rebecca Schiller

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Freeze eggs before 35 for a better chance of IVF success, says report

Age at time of freezing is key to whether fertility treatment will succeed, says UK regulator

For women intending to undergo IVF treatment using frozen eggs, the younger they are when they are frozen the greater the chance of a successful pregnancy, according to a report by the UK’s independent fertility regulator.

Most IVF treatment cycles use fresh eggs, but a very small number use eggs that have been frozen and thawed. It can, for example, be especially beneficial for cancer patients who decide to freeze their eggs before undergoing chemotherapy.

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My IVF life: I'm pregnant, and I feel like hell

The early weeks of pregnancy leave me anxiety-ridden and depressed, but I’m lucky compared to many who undergo IVF

Is it particular to IVF, or are the early weeks of every pregnancy as anxiety-ridden as this? Perhaps. I feel like you would have to be very relaxed not to fear that every twinge or flicker of something is a harbinger of miscarriage. The odds that the PGS-tested embryo that implanted in my uterus will result in a live birth are about two out of three – much better than the odds we faced earlier in the IVF process. But they’re still far from perfect. I Google “chances of miscarriage” and the number of weeks pregnant I am on a fairly regular basis.

Pregnancy makes me anxious, and does not agree with me physically, either. After the positive test I feel normal for a week and then the nausea begins: every morning I awake feeling like I am trapped on the choppiest of seas, or suffering from the worst hangover of my life. The usual remedies do not abate it for long – yes, I try crackers, ginger candy, peppermint, vitamin B6 and Unisom taken in combination. At best I get an hour of semi-relief before relapsing. But because I am only nauseous and not vomiting, my doctor offers me no further remedy, just a cheerful reassurance than it’s likely to pass by the time I reach 15 weeks. If I reach 15 weeks.

Related: My IVF life: six months in, we have an answer – but it isn’t over yet

Related: Women need more realistic data on egg-freezing success, say experts

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Ruth Davidson describes pregnancy as 'fearful and hopeful'

In her new book, the Scottish Conservative leader also wrote about being offered lower pay than a male predecessor during her time at the BBC

Ruth Davidson has described her pregnancy as ”joyous, mortifying, fearful and hopeful”.

The Scottish Conservative leader announced earlier this year that she was expecting a baby with partner Jen Wilson and has revealed they are currently referring to the unborn baby as Fionnuala.

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Pippa, you’re carrying a child, not some unwanted fat | Barbara Ellen

If the younger Middleton sister would stop trying to exercise her pregnancy into oblivion, she might find she enjoys it more

Does Pippa Middleton realise that she’s pregnant, or does she think that she’s just fat? I ask, because in her always unmissable Waitrose Weekend column, she was musing on endeavouring not to “break into a penguin-style waddle”. Having fretted about forms of exercise such as running, tennis, swimming and yoga, she’s “embraced barre-style workouts”, and wants to ensure that her “old favourite jeans will still fit … eventually”.

Especially considering that Middleton is in her third trimester, this seems tragic. Where does such “still got it!” gestation paranoia come from? As for waddling – what is her problem with being a pregnant woman who looks and acts … pregnant? Same with those “old favourite jeans” – they’re just an item of clothing, not a denim-rebuke. If they don’t fit so well, post-birth, how about just sticking them in the bin? Or perhaps she could don a black veil and bury the jeans in the garden in a symbolic gesture of mourning to her lost pre-pregnancy “hotness”?

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What the US can learn from Canada about how to treat moms

I can’t imagine motherhood without Canada’s generous paid maternity leave. It’s time for America to get with the program

When my daughter was 11 months old, we were strolling down a sunny street when she casually reached her hand out of her stroller and made the sign for “airplane”. I looked from her dimpled knuckles to the sky and, sure enough, there in the distance was a plane streaking its way across the horizon. I hadn’t seen it, but she had. And although she hadn’t yet signed “milk” during the thousands of times I’d nursed her over the previous months, she had remembered the one time I showed her the sign for airplane. She’d seen an airplane and then she told me about it. On the scale of milestones in a baby’s life, this was huge.

Related: Gifting moms vacation days is cute - but could we give them rights instead?

I’ve now come to see that ​​12-month period as an official, federally mandated recognition of how life-changing it is to become a parent

Related: Your stories about motherhood in America: 'There are no social safety nets'

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