Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

There are many stressors that young children experience during their childhood.  As far as on a personal note, the stressor I would like to speak on is violence and abuse.  I was granted temporary custody of my three month old cousin about a year and a half ago, due to him being exposed to a violent environment as well as abuse.  My little cousin's mother was very young herself and was in an abusive relationship and ended up pregnant at eighteen, right after she graduated from high school.  She was in denial for months and did not seek prenatal care for the first five months.  After the baby was born, my cousin continued to be abused by the baby's father/boyfriend but would not leave him.  My cousin took the baby to the dr. for his 3 month checkup and the dr. called CPS on my cousin because the baby had cigarette burns on his legs and one on the bottom of his foot. Supposedly these burns were caused by the boyfriend/father.  The state immediately removed the baby from my cousin's home.  They were going to put him in foster care.  My cousin gave the state my phone number and they called me and said if I wanted him, I had to come get him right then or they were handing him over.  I had no time to think or consider how my life would be with an infant, I had to make an immediate decision.  He was "my baby" for three months.  My cousin had to move away from the boyfriend and attend parenting classes to get her son back.  Charges were pressed against the boyfriend and he spent some time in jail.  Baby Jordan is now 2 years old and back with his mother and I am thankful that I was able to make a positive impact on his little life!


Poverty, Hunger, War, and Disease in Africa

Children in sub-Saharan Africa are more likely to be ill, less likely to be in school and far more likely to die before the age of five than children in any other region in Africa. African children are trapped in a downward spiral of war, disease, and deepening poverty.(Fleshman, 2002).Chronic malnutrition remains widespread in Africa, and the target of a 50 per cent reduction of malnutrition in children under five is far out of reach. Fully one in three Africans is malnourished and, despite improvements in some countries, the absolute number of hungry children rose during the decade. Statistics on low birth weight reveal that an estimated one in eight African babies -- some 3.1 million infants -- is born underweight each year. (Fleshman, 2002). African children were beset by two other, largely unanticipated calamities during the 1990s: AIDS and war. Of the 580,000 people under age 15 who died of AIDS in 2001, a staggering 500,000 -- nearly nine out of 10 -- were African. Of the 2.7 million HIV-positive people under age 15 around the world in 2001, 2.4 million were in Africa. Tuberculosis infection rates, closely associated with HIV/AIDS, have also soared, from an African incidence rate of 16 per 100,000 in 1993 to 52 per 100,000 at the end of 1999. (Fleshman, 2002). The impact of the pandemic on children has been catastrophic, as those most important to the young -- parents, teachers, doctors, peers and siblings -- fall ill and die, causing close-knit families not talking about the disease itself, but its impact through the loss of health workers and the implications for the delivery of health and other essential services. For many children the loss of parents means a plunge into absolute poverty, the end of formal education and diminished prospects for the future as economies shrink and the hard-won development gains of decades are rolled back. (Fleshman, 2002). War too has wiped out advances for children in many African countries.  With peace would come an end to the economic and social dislocation of war, reduced military budgets and greater resources to invest in children. Instead, he continued, "the world was plunged into a decade of ethnic conflict and civil wars that was characterized by deliberate violence against children on a vast scale. Perhaps more children have suffered from armed conflicts and violence since the summit than at any comparable period in history."(Fleshman, 2002). References Fleshman, Michael.  2002. A troubled decade for Africa's children.  Africa Recovery, Volume 16, pg. 6 Website: www.africarecovery.org

Child Development and Public Health

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is the unexpected, sudden death of a child under the age of 1 in which an autopsy does not show an explainable cause of death. This topic is meaningful to me because my best friend's baby, Rylee died from this horrible syndrome last September at the tender age of 4 weeks.  The picture above is of our beautiful Rylee.  SIDS is a very traumatic experience because there is no closure and so many unanswered questions.  There are many factors that supposedly contribute to the increase of SIDS, but neither Rylee nor her mother fit any of these categories....Rylee's mother never smoked, Rylee did not have soft bedding, Rylee did not sleep on her stomach, and Rylee's mother had adequate prenatal care.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in India

During the past year in Kolkata, Malda, Burdwan and Berhampore in West Bengal, there has been a sudden risein the Infant Mortality Rate in government run hospitals.  This year, according to MA Rashid, Vice Principal of Malda Medical College, two hundred forty eight children were born between January 1st and January 25 of 2012.  Of these, eighty seven babies died due to unknown causes.  Fifty eight of them were premature or underweight and the cause remains a mystery. (Rao, Apekesha, 2012).

I am going to continue to research and try to stay abreast of ways to help parents deal with the pain and grief of losing a child to an unknown cause.

References:

Sation Magazine.  Issue 18:  7 February-22 February, 2012. Rao, Dr. Apekesha

Childbirth In My Life and Around the World

I would like to reflect on my own birthing experience with the birth of my beautiful son on May 18, 2011 at 8:08am.  I had a challenging pregnancy due to the fact that I was considered high risk.  Being 37 and pregnant with my first baby automatically catergorized me as high risk.  I also suffered from high blood pressure and developed gestational diabetes during my pregnancy.  I had to go to two different doctors twice a week and then I had to start to go three times a week.  My original due date was June 7, 2011 but I had a dr.'s visit on May 17th and my blood pressure was elevated, so my high risk doctor decided that we were gonna have a baby the next next day!  THREE WEEKS EARLY!! I had a C-Section and everything went perfectly! My baby boy was 6lbs, 12oz., 19inches long. The prep work for my delivery was very intimidating!  From the needles to the bright lights, to the million people that are in the delivery room at the same time, all this was a brand new experience for me and I don't think anyone can ever get you prepared for childbirth! The hospital experience did make me feel totally safe and the doctors took very good care of me.

I researched childbirth in Austraila and homebirths are an option for low risk pregancies.  There are several other other options involving midwives and and midwife-managed birthing centre.  There are private hospital facilities and public hospital facilities also.Your main antenatal and childbirth care provider will work as a team with others - even doctors and midwives are allowed to sleep and have days off. For example, if you choose a private obstetrician, you're likely to have all your antenatal appointments in their private rooms. During labour you will be seen by the midwives at the hospital until delivery is imminent, when your obstetrician will be called to attend. If your obstetrician is not available, it's likely another member of their practice group will attend in his/her place. If you attend a midwives clinic in a public hospital and have an uncomplicated pregnancy, you are likely to have each antenatal appointment with any one of the team of midwives or obstetricians available on your clinic day. Your birth will be attended by whichever team of midwives and obstetricians is on duty at the time. A number of hospitals are also now offering Caseload Midwifery or Midwifery Group Practice. This is where the pregnant woman is cared for by the same midwife, supported by a small team of other midwives, during their pregnancy, birth and early weeks at home.

After comparing these two options.. I see that Austrailia deals often with midwives.  In the United States you hear of them but not as often as in Austrailia.