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May 6, 2004
Prairie Fare: Walking for Healthier Babies
“This is pretty fun,” my five-year-old daughter remarked as we recently walked hand in hand on a three-mile walk to raise funds for the March of Dimes, an organization dedicated to saving babies. Just a year ago, she and I walked in the same event, although I walked more slowly. I was seven months pregnant with her sister at the time. “Do you know why we’re walking?” I asked. “We’re walking so all the teeny, tiny little babies get healthy like our baby,” she responded. She was right. She has a healthy baby sister who was born one day before the due date last July. She had seen pictures of premature babies and also caught a glimpse of one in the hospital nursery. You can’t help but take note of the tiny fingers of a premature infant grasping an adult finger. The number of premature births has increased. North Dakota had a 25 percent increase in pre-term births from 1991 to 2001. About one in 10 North Dakota babies were born before week 37 of pregnancy in 2001. Premature infants and their families often face many obstacles, including costs of hospitalization. While an average hospital charge for a full-term newborn is $1300, the cost increases to an average of $75,000 for a “preemie.” Several factors place certain women at greater risk of premature delivery, but the exact trigger to labor remains unknown and is the subject of research. Sometimes moms-to-be do all the “right” things, yet they deliver early anyway. Age can play a factor. Being younger than 20 or older than 35 puts women in a higher risk category for delivering prematurely. According to the March of Dimes, often one or more of these factors contributes to premature delivery:
Getting regular check-ups, eating a balanced, varied diet and getting regular moderate physical activity are good recommendations for everyone, especially for pregnant women. A woman’s diet during pregnancy can have long-term effects on the health of her child. Some research suggests a pregnant woman’s diet may play a role in whether or not her child develops diabetes, heart disease, cancer or other diseases during the child’s lifetime. For information on a wide variety of topics related to a healthy pregnancy, visit the March of Dimes Web site: www.modimes.org When I was expecting, I had a few cravings, including baked beans. Fortunately beans are a good source of folate, a B vitamin shown to help reduce the risk of birth defects. Beans also are a good source of protein and fiber.
### Source:
Julie Garden-Robinson, (701) 231-7187, jgardenr@ndsuext.nodak.edu |
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North Dakota State University |
