Dear Community Partners,                                                                                           

Each year at our annual meeting, The Perinatal Network pauses to reflect on the past year’s work and to present future agency goals.  The meeting also gives us an opportunity to thank our partners and recognize individuals who have made an exceptional contribution to the health of babies and their mothers.  In preparation for this year’s meeting, we are seeking your help in identifying candidates for two awards:  The Direct Service Award recognizes a front line health or human service provider who has demonstrated success in collaborating with others to improve perinatal health for individuals.  The Community Champion Award goes to an individual who has had a community-wide impact on perinatal health.  The criteria for each award are described on the nomination forms below.

Both the Community Champion Nomination Form and the Direct Service Nomination Form are available online (select the form you want to use).   Please share these nomination forms with others if you would like.  Completed forms are due back to the Perinatal Network by 4 p.m., March 30, 2012 by either mail, Fax at 585.546.3021 to the attention of Jacqueline Procope-Isaacs or e-mail to jisaacs@perinatalnetwork.net.

This year the Perinatal Network of Monroe County will host its Annual Meeting on June 7^th  from 4:00-6:30pm at the Holiday Inn Rochester Airport.  A registration form is available from our events calendar.  We do request that our honorees attend the event.

PDF versions to print, fill out and return by fax or mail:

Community Service Nomination Form (printable PDF version)

Direct Service Champion Nomination (printable PDF version)

Coughing, sneezing, and a stuffy head that keeps you from breathing — you call this a minor illness?

What’s behind them: Colds are most commonly caused by rhinoviruses; cases of the flu are caused by influenza viruses. There are some 200 or more cold viruses and an unlimited number of flu viruses (since they are constantly mutating).

What you need to know: Your immune system runs at low speed when you’re pregnant, which is a good thing, since it keeps your body from fighting off the baby — a foreigner to your body. The down side of this immune suppression, though, is that your body can’t fight off colds or flu as well as it normally does — making you extremely vulnerable to coming down with a stuffy or runny nose, a cough, or a sore throat. Colds are mostly an uncomfortable annoyance. The flu, which is more likely to announce itself with body aches, fever, and/or chills, can be more dangerous in pregnant women (which is why you should get a flu vaccine before flu season arrives).

What you can do about colds and flu during pregnancy: Since the jury is still out on decongestants and their use in pregnancy (which means you should avoid them if you can, especially during the first trimester when the fetus’s organs are forming), you should turn to more natural ways of relieving symptoms, including:

1. Rest, and plenty of it
2. Water, and plenty of it
3. Lots of clear, decaffeinated liquids, such as teas and broths
4. Orange juice or other juices with vitamin C
5. Taking your prenatal vitamin, which contains vitamin C to boost your immune system and zinc to help fight off germs. And don’t forget to get your vitamins and minerals the natural way — by eating food rich in nutrients. You can find vitamin C aplenty in citrus, strawberries, melon, kiwi, mango, papaya, broccoli, red cabbage, tomatoes, bell peppers, spinach, and a host of other delicious foods. Get your zinc from turkey, beef, pork, cooked oysters, yogurt, wheat germ, oatmeal, and eggs.
6. Eating fresh garlic — known to have virus-fighting compounds (if you can actually get it down), or using anti-viral spices such as cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves in your cooking
7. Humidifiers to keep the air around you moist (consider a warm mist humidifier)
8. Saltwater gargles to relieve sore throat pain (try one teaspoon of salt in eight ounces of warm water to get the fastest relief)
9. Steam inhalation or nasal lavage to relieve nasal congestion or sinus headaches (for lavage, dissolve a quarter teaspoon of salt and a tiny pinch of baking soda into eight ounces of lukewarm water, and use a nasal aspirator to irrigate — or clean — out your nasal passages)
10. Saline sprays to moisten your nasal passages (but make sure not to use the medicated sprays)

If you’re running a fever or suffering from nasty body aches or headaches, it’s generally considered safe to take products containing acetaminophen, such as Tylenol. Products containing aspirin or ibuprofen (such as Motrin or Advil) or naproxen (such as Aleve) are not recommended to take while pregnant; they can interfere with your baby’s development in the early months and create problems during labor later on. Always check with your practitioner before you take medication (prescription, over the counter, or homeopathic), or consult the instruction sheet he or she gave you on your first visit. You can also try to bring down a low-grade fever the natural way, by taking a tepid bath or shower, drinking cool beverages, and keeping clothes and covers light. But don’t take echinacea, megadoses of vitamins, or homeopathic remedies unless you talk it over first with your practitioner.

Remember that being pregnant puts you at greater risk for the flu’s more serious complications, like pneumonia. If you’re suffering from flu symptoms, it’s important to call your practitioner.

From:  www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/

Join Frontier Communications and ADT Home Security for an educational seminar on how to keep your children safe with Alison Rhodes, the Safety Mom. Rhodes will cover topics ranging from environmental toxins and healthy eating to top baby proofing concerns and travelling safely with your baby.

This event is on:
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Casa Larga Vineyard
2287 Turk Hill Road
Fairport, NY 14450

To register for this free event please visit www.Frontier.com/safetymom.
Continental breakfast will be served and space is limited.
For questions please call 585-777-1127 or email anne.tetamore@ftr.com.

Click here for a flyer.

Folic acid is a B-vitamin that is necessary for proper cell growth. If taken before and during early pregnancy from a multi-vitamin or fortified foods, folic acid can prevent 50%-70% of some forms of serious birth defects of the brain and spine.

Experts recommend that women who could possibly become pregnant should take 400 micrograms of synthetic folic acid EVERY DAY, from:

• fortified foods like grains, pastas, or breakfast cereals,
• daily multi-vitamin, and
• eat a variety of foods as part of a healthy diet

However, every woman needs folic acid every day, whether she’s planning to get pregnant or not, so that she can continue to produce the healthy new cells the body makes daily. Folic Acid may also help to lower your chances of heart disease and certain types of cancers. Foods high in folic acid are good for everyone!

The easiest way to be sure to get the recommended daily amount of folic acid is to take a multi-vitamin every day.

Posters in both English and Spanish are available here, under the Nutrition heading.

Text4baby is a free health text messaging service. It is the first of its kind here in the U.S. Text4baby was launched by the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB), in order to help more pregnant women and new moms get information about caring for their health and giving their babies the best possible start in life. Text4baby supports moms by providing accurate, text-length, health information and resources in a format that is personal and timely, using a channel that is familiar and frequently used.

With that said, Text4baby has just announced their early evaluation results from a study conducted by the National Latino Research Center at California State University, San Marcos and the University of California, San Diego Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology with support from the Alliance Healthcare Foundation. The study took place with text4baby users in San Diego County, California and included both in-depth interviews with 38 women and a phone survey with 122 users.  The study recently concluded in San Diego, CA, illustrates that text4baby is increasing users’ health knowledge, facilitating interaction with health providers, improving adherence to appointments and immunizations, and strengthening access to health services. The top findings are summarized below:        

• 63.1% of respondents reported that text4baby helped them remember an appointment or immunization that they or their child needed
• 75.4% of participants reported that text4baby messages informed them about medical warning signs of which they were not aware
• 71.3% of participants reported talking to their doctor about a topic that they read on a text4baby message
• 38.5% of respondents reported that they called a phone number they received in a text4baby message
• 53.3%of respondents without health insurance reported calling a service number.

As you can see from the results of the study, women enjoy and have responded well to receiving health information via text messages.  This is a great preliminary study of what great things are to come from the text4baby program. If you would like to join the text4baby movement, just follow these simple steps:

• Using your cellphone, text the word BABY (or BEBE for Spanish) to the number 511411.
• You’ll be asked to enter your baby’s due date or your baby’s birthday and your zip code. 
• Once registered, you will start receiving free messages with tips for your pregnancy or caring for your baby.

(These messages are timed to your due date or your baby’s birth date. If you are pregnant and your due date changes, text UPDATE to 511411 to enter your new due date. Once you have your baby, be sure to text in UPDATE with your baby’s birthday so you keep getting messages through baby’s first year. If you want to stop receiving messages from text4baby, texts STOP to 511411. To start receiving the messages again, you will have to enroll again by sending BABY to 511411 (or BEBE to 511411 for Spanish messages.)

Just recently it was announced that text4baby launched their first-ever text4baby web enrollment button. The text4baby enrollment button directs the user to an online registration form (in a new window) to sign up for the service. Click on the logo to test it out:  

Few things are more personal than parenting.  In fact, bring the topic up with even a close group of friends and almost certainly tensions will mount.  Parenting style is as personal and individual to us as our personality.  Often it is neither solely our experience with our own parents, our education, or new learned behavior that determines our style.  Instead, it is a complicated murky mix of our own experiences, perspectives, hopes, and behaviors.  What happens when two people (as is most often the case) are contributors to parenting? What happens when those two parents are no longer in a relationship with one another?

We call this “Co-parenting,” a term that describes parents who are exes (no longer a couple) but come together and interact to share the responsibility of raising their children.  The term is meant to express a cooperative agreement between parents to create a “space” to parent their children without being a couple or in the same household.  The general idea is that each parent, whether or not s/he lives with their child, can offer physical, emotional, and financial support.  When co-parenting happens in a spirit of collaboration each parent is able to offer the child a close relationship, stability, and support. 

I am asking you each to be educated, be aware, and then DO SOMETHING.  So examine yourselves.  Do you have a child with an ex? Do you maintain a close relationship with your child? Do you participate in parenting that child by offering physical, emotional, and financial support? Do you know someone who struggles to parent or be involved in the life of their child with an ex?  DO SOMETHING.

You may find that co-parenting may not be easy to establish. It won’t happen overnight.  It can often be a lot of work depending on the relationship between mom and dad.   Become educated. Gather enough information to decide if it is safe and productive to co-parent.  Both parents must want to co-parent, one parent cannot simply decide for both.  Special consideration must be given to situations involving violence, drug use, or other sensitive circumstances.  Be aware. Is each parent able to agree and honor a commitment to set aside their relationship issues in the best interest of their child? Is each parent willing to share space with the other with an agreement that the sole focus of the interaction will be their child?   Do Something.  If you are a parent desiring to co-parent, start with a phone call to discuss your ex’s willingness to co-parent.  Then graduate to a meeting to establish guidelines that both parents agree on, and include how disagreements will be handled. If you know a parent that is not involved in their child’s life because of issues they have with an ex, talk to them. Give them this article.  DO SOMETHING.

While there are many parental benefits to co-parenting, like reduced stress, or assistance coordinating your child’s activities or transportation needs, the greatest benefit is to the child.  Having two parents who are on one page, focused on their child builds confidence, inspires hope, and prepares children for life.  Clearly, there are children that grow up with one parent who are happy and accomplish great things.  However if both parents are able to co-parent, that gives a child two people in their life to care for, guide, and develop them.  DO SOMETHING.

Guidelines for co-parenting:

1.  Agree in advance that your child’s well being and needs are your collective responsibility and priority 
2.  Agree to set your relationship or breakup issues aside. 
3.  Establish firm guidelines for when, how, and what you will communicate about your child. 
4.  Agree in advance how disagreements will be solved.
5.  Keep your communication focused on your child.
6.  Agree not to exchange information through your child.
7.  Remain calm, consistent, and non confrontational especially in front of your child.

DO SOMETHING. The above list is meant only to get you started.  I also suggest you pick a parent you respect that also agrees with your choice to co-parent to use as a sounding board or mentor.  This person must be able to be objective, give you solid (sound) advice, and be capable of telling you when are you are wrong. 

Are you ready to get started? I hope the guidelines above will help.  If you are in need of more assistance contact the Center for Dispute Settlement, Reynolds Arcade Building, 16 East Main Street, Suite 800, Rochester, NY 14604 or by phone at 585-546-5110.  They also have a website with additional resources log onto  www.cdsadr.

DO SOMETHING. DO SOMETHING. DO SOMETHING. DO SOMETHING.

DO SOMETHING. DO SOMETHING.

Join the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition for our latest MCH Topics Webinar: Effects of Foodborne Illness on Pregnant Women and Newborns: An Hour with CDC’s Investigative Expert. The webinar will take place on December 15, 2011 from 1:30 – 2:30 pm Eastern Time. Our speaker, Dr. Benjamin Silk, will provide an overview of Listeria and listeriosis (Listeria infection) and explain why pregnant women, fetuses, and newborn infants are at higher risk. He will discuss listeria outbreaks in the United States, including the recent multi-state listeria outbreak caused by contaminated cantaloupes. He will also review how pregnant women can take steps to reduce their risk by learning what foods to avoid and how to safely prepare and store food. Dr. Silk is a CDC subject matter expert on listeriosis, and has 16 years of experience in public health disease tracking, disease investigation, and research to prevent and control infectious disease.  To register, click here.

On December 8, 2011, please join us to make a difference in the Rochester community.  Choosing the Perinatal Network of Monroe County will help us to continue to improve the health of babies and their mothers. 

It’s easy, click on “Learn More”, then select the Roc the Day logo!