Here’s what you need to know about the symptoms, causes, and complications of heartburn in pregnancy, along with tips for dealing with it. About Heartburn It may burn, but it doesn’t have anything to do with your heart. Heartburn happens when food and acid from your stomach move back into your esophagus (the tube that goes from the back of your mouth to your stomach). It doesn’t hurt when the acid is in your stomach because the cells that make up the stomach lining are meant to hold acid and the enzymes that break down food....

An effective latch entails putting the entire nipple and part of the surrounding areola into the baby’s mouth. Without a proper latch, a baby will likely have difficulty getting enough milk, which can lead to insufficient milk intake for the baby and issues with low milk supply and cracked and painful nipples for the mother. The Areola’s Function During pregnancy, the Montgomery glands, which are located in the areola, tend to become raised and more noticeable....

How Do Multiples Happen? Twins and other multiples can happen naturally in two ways. The first is when an egg splits after fertilization, creating identical or monozygotic twins. The second is when two or more eggs are fertilized at the same time (dizygotic). Fertility drugs can increase the likelihood of more than one baby being conceived. For example, the likelihood of having twins when using Clomid (clomiphene) is 10%. Other fertility treatments, like in vitro fertilization (IVF), can also result in twin, triplet, or other higher-order multiple pregnancies....

When a family reunion or Sunday dinner isn’t in the cards, maybe there’s room for us to reframe these circumstances more positively. Perhaps this time could be an opportunity to connect with family in novel ways. As we await the return of “regular” life, here are seven alternative ideas for spending time with cherished loved ones from afar. Plan a Virtual Hangout Thank goodness for the internet! Though we may be physically distanced from relatives, at least we have the blessing of virtual connection....

When this doesn’t happen—or hCG levels actually decrease—it may mean a miscarriage is taking place. Learn more about low hCG levels in early pregnancy. How hCG Is Measured Following conception, hCG can be detected in the blood as early as day 11 using a test known as the quantitative serial beta-hCG assay, which measures the volume of hCG in a milliliter of blood. A single hCG test may be used to see if levels are within the normal range expected at that point in pregnancy....

When new parents are presented with this information, they may have mixed feelings about it. So let’s take a look at what’s involved. Types of Donor Milk Products for Preemies in the NICU There are two major uses of donated human breast milk in the NICU: ready-to-feed plain breast milk, and breast milk fortifier. Donor Milk. When a baby’s birth mother is unable or unwilling to pump milk, Donor Milk can be used....

But did you know that “sleeping through the night” is usually defined as any stretch of nighttime sleep that lasts between six and nine hours? So while you may not be able to bask in blissful, feeding-free silence from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. yet, by the time your baby is three or four months old it’s reasonable to expect one nice, uninterrupted snooze at some point during the evening hours....

Give Your Toddler Access to Music and See What Happens You may have noticed that it doesn’t take much at all to get your toddler dancing. Just put on a catchy tune with a decent rhythm and they’ll start moving. They may not even realize that their legs are bouncing to the beat in their car seat as you drive along with the music going in the car. Even very young toddlers are aware of different rhythms and the feelings they elicit....

Cisgender women using oral contraceptives, the contraceptive ring, and some long-acting reversible contraceptive methods experienced short-term delays in a return to fertility compared to users of barrier methods, according to research published in peer-reviewed medical trade journal The BMJ. “Women who used injectable contraceptives had the longest delay in return of normal fertility (five to eight cycles), followed by users of patch contraceptives (four cycles), users of oral contraceptives and vaginal rings (three cycles), and users of hormonal and copper intrauterine devices and implant contraceptives (two cycles),” says Jennifer Yland, lead author of the study and a doctoral student in epidemiology at Boston University....

Fetal Autopsy After Stillbirth Among the many difficulties parents face following a stillbirth may be the decision of whether to have a fetal autopsy performed on the baby. People have a variety of reactions to this prospect, and the choice is a very personal decision. Let’s take a look at some of the information an autopsy may provide, what an autopsy probably can’t tell you, and how often an autopsy can give you information that might help guide you in future pregnancies....

Here’s what you need to know about frequent urination during pregnancy, why it happens, how to deal with it, and when it could be a sign of a problem. What Does ‘Frequent Urination’ Mean? Frequent urination is going more than you usually do in a day, so it’s different for everyone. A regular urination pattern can be anywhere from four to ten times a day, with an average of about six....

These guides are ideal for tweens and parents, and will help educate your tween about puberty, and serve as a resource to you, too. The writers, Lynda Madaras and Area Madaras, go into great detail on a number of subjects including puberty changes, how to buy a bra, hygiene, periods, falling in love and more. There’s even a detailed guide that explains the changes boys go through when entering puberty, which can answer a lot of questions a girl might wonder about....

According to L1ght, an organization that monitors online harassment and hate speech, there has been a 70% increase in cyberbullying in just a matter of months. They also found a 40% increase in toxicity on online gaming platforms, a 900% increase in hate speech on Twitter directed toward China and the Chinese, and a 200% increase in traffic to hate sites. Plus, popular website applications like Zoom have already come under fire when hackers infiltrated online business meetings with rude, hateful, and inappropriate comments....

Here’s what your Scout and you need to do and when. Tenderfoot to Life Tenderfoot is the second rank for Scouts and it’s the first advancement one can make on the path to becoming an Eagle Scout (Life is the rank that precedes Eagle). Preparing for and chipping away at this goal early on can prove helpful. To that end: As a child advances from the earliest stages of scouting, as a novice Scout and then Tenderfoot, up through Second Class, First, Star, and Life levels, they’ll be completing various advancement projects and working on merit badges....

Some of these reasons may include: A medication you were taking interacted with the test. You didn’t follow the instructions correctly. You simply want to take another test. You tested before your period was due and are uncertain of the results. Your results don’t match your physical symptoms. All of these are perfectly valid reasons for repeating a pregnancy test, but what is the ideal amount of time between pregnancy tests?...

What Is the Cost of Traditional Daycare? There are several different options when considering childcare and related costs. Traditional Daycare for Babies and Toddlers The cost of daycare varies by location, quality, and age of children. Childcare for babies and toddlers is more expensive than childcare for older kids because younger kids need more hands-on care and there must be more childcare providers in each room. Location matters when considering costs....

Babies can imitate because the first language component they pay attention to is melody. Your baby is testing this skill with their adorable, sing-songy chatter. This repetition is a part of prosody, which is the very first phase of language development! It is a sign your little one is on their way to speaking. Here’s what you need to know about prosody, and your baby’s developing speech. What Is Prosody?...

If that’s not enough to motivate pregnant women to kick the habit themselves or steer clear of others who light up, the evidence is mounting that exposure to secondhand cigarette smoke in pregnancy—even in mothers who don’t smoke—also increases the risk of miscarriage and stillbirth. There also is some evidence that when a dad-to-be is a heavy smoker (more than 20 cigarettes a day), his habit could increase his partner’s risk of miscarriage....