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Baby
Congenital heart defects are the most common types of birth defect, affecting nearly 40,000 infants in the US each year. These conditions—which form in the baby’s heart while it’s still developing in utero—range from mild to severe life-threatening...
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Blog
Zika virus has been in the news quite a bit recently, and with good reason: since an increase in microcephaly (a birth defect where a baby develops an abnormally small head and brain) was noted in Brazil last year, there have been concerns that an...
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Baby
Doctors often diagnose congenital heart defects in the womb or during infancy, when symptoms, the mother’s medical history, or routine tests or physical exams reveal the abnormalities. But not all congenital heart defects are diagnosed so early....
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Blog
Every year the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) releases statistics about the previous year’s births. The report for 2014 was just released, and below are some of the more interesting findings for this past year: Overall, the birth...
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Baby
A normal heart has a muscular wall known as the atrial septum that separates the organ’s upper chambers, or the left and right atria. If there is a defect in this wall, it’s known as an atrial septal defect. In a normal newborn’s heart, the heart’s...
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Baby
Heart defects in newborns are among the most common birth defects in the United States. Heart defects occur during fetal development when the structures of the heart don’t develop normally. Alternatively, heart defects can occur after birth when...
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Baby
Parents are often devastated when they find out their newborn has a congenital birth defect. An uncommon cause of birth defects includes amniotic bands. Amniotic band sequence (ABS) involves a group of disorders that result in birth defects of the...
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Pregnancy
For women with cystic acne—painful, deep, and reddened acne blemishes—the oral medication isotretinoin can provide a solution for clear skin. However, this medicine is known to cause birth defects in babies born to women who use it during...
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Baby
Hypoplastic left heart syndrome is a serious congenital heart defect that affects development of the left side of the heart. This rare condition affects the heart’s mitral valve, left ventricle, aortic valve, and aorta. The baby’s left ventricle,...
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Baby
Some parents are concerned when they meet their newborn and see a defect in the front of their child’s ear. These are called ear tags or ear pits (preauricular pits). They are common birth defects. Both conditions are formed in utero, when the ears...
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Blog
One of the most common questions I answer on Bundoo is, “Can I be pregnant?” I often receive these questions on Week 1-2 of our week-by-week pregnancy series. Though the scenarios vary, my answer is almost always some variation of the following:...
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Baby
While major congenital heart defects are sometimes diagnosed before birth through imaging studies like a fetal ultrasound, in most cases, doctors only diagnose a congenital defect after the newborn or infant begins to develop symptoms. In many...
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Baby
A ventricular septal defect (VSD) is a congenital heart defect that occurs during fetal development. Babies born with a VSD have a hole in the septum (wall) that separates the heart’s lower chambers, or the right and left ventricles. An intact...
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Pregnancy
Did you know that about one in every 33 babies is born with a birth defect? Although not all birth defects are preventable, a woman can take steps to increase her chances of having a healthy baby. One of these steps for all women of childbearing...
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Baby
It can be very scary for a new parent to find out their infant has a heart defect. Most parents have no idea what this means or what to expect next. But believe it or not, more than 40,000 babies each year are born with heart defects. Hopefully...
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Baby
Many parents will be surprised to learn that a heart murmur isn’t a disease. Rather, it is a symptom of an underlying condition. If your child has a heart murmur, your pediatrician will hear it while listening to your child’s heartbeat with a...
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Baby
Cleft lip and palate is one of the most common birth defects in the United States. Parents of infants who have a cleft defect at birth may face uncertainty and confusion. What is cleft lip and palate? What caused them? Can they be fixed? The...
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Pregnancy
A seizure is when brain activity becomes abnormal and can cause abnormal movements, awareness, or emotional states. Epilepsy, which is only one type of seizure disorder, tends to be the most well-known. This occurs when there is no known cause for...
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Health
During a typical conception, a sperm carrying either an X or Y chromosome fertilizes an egg, which already has an X chromosome. An XY pairing is a boy; an XX chromosome pairing is a girl. Abnormalities in the genes on these or other chromosomes can...
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Baby
Newborn jaundice is a common occurrence in babies. Physiological jaundice—the yellowing of skin and eyes—is usually harmless. Jaundice occurs because a substance called bilirubin builds up in the blood. Bilirubin is a waste product that forms when...
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Pregnancy
Ideally, all women who are planning for pregnancy should have a preconception check-up to make sure they are in good health and have all the information they need to get their pregnancy off to a good start. However, if that is not possible, it is...
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Pregnancy
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is an umbrella term used to describe the devastating effects that alcohol consumption can have on a baby in utero. This term includes several related conditions, resulting in physical, behavioral, and learning...
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Pregnancy
Up until now, only one weight has really mattered: yours. Your Body Still waiting for your “baby bump”? You might have to wait a little longer. Your uterus now is about the size of a grapefruit and still below your pubic bone, so most of the...
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Baby
The foramen ovale has an important role in the health of the fetal circulatory system. During fetal development, this hole in the wall between the heart’s upper chambers allows blood to bypass the lungs, which aren’t yet needed. After birth,...
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Blog
Remember that measles epidemic this past winter—the one that sickened over a hundred people and had millions worrying about this vaccine-preventable disease? California sure does, and it just did something major to prevent it from happening again....
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Baby
Tetralogy of Fallot is a complex congenital heart defect (e.g., present at birth) characterized by the presence of four heart problems. Babies born with this heart defect have: A large hole in the muscular wall that separates the heart’s lower...
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Pregnancy
Amniocentesis is a diagnostic procedure that is used before birth to look for genetic problems and birth defects in the developing fetus. During the procedure, your doctor removes a small amount of amniotic fluid from the uterus using a long...
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Baby
Ankyloglossia, the medical term for tongue-tie, is a common birth defect. More common in boys than girls, it affects between 3 and 10 percent of infants, with varying degrees of severity. Tongue-tie occurs when the small piece of skin that connects...
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Blog
During the third and final presidential debate on October 19, between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, the conversation quickly turned to a subject that is divisive and controversial for many Americans:...
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Health
What is Cerebral palsy? Cerebral palsy (CP) is a disorder affecting a person’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture. Cerebral refers to the brain, and palsy refers to a weakness or problem using the muscles. CP is caused by damage to...
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Pregnancy
During amniocentesis, your healthcare provider takes a sample of your amniotic fluid to gather information about the health of your baby. The sample is removed using a fine needle and with the assistance of ultrasound. An amniocentesis can help...
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Baby
A neonatal intensive care unit, commonly referred to as a NICU, is a special unit in a hospital dedicated to caring for premature or ill newborns. Staff members in NICUs typically have specialized training that enables them to care for these...
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Baby
Your new baby will have many firsts: bath, feeding, and of course, dirty diaper. But what happens if a day or two goes by and your newborn doesn’t have that first bowel movement? If this happens, physicians might consider your baby for...
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Baby
Coarctation of the aorta describes a narrowing of the aorta, which is the major artery carrying blood from the heart to the body. The congenital condition constricts blood flow from the heart to the lower part of the body. About four out of every...
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Blog
November 17 marks World Prematurity Day and Bundoo is sharing the message of the March of Dimes® as it works across the globe to decrease incidences of premature births. According to the March of Dimes®, 15 million babies are born across the world...
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Baby
Children born with cleft lip and/or palate can face a variety of challenges. For their parents, that includes how and when to treat the cleft. Depending on the severity of the cleft, complications can include difficulty feeding and/or swallowing,...
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Baby
Have you noticed that your baby tilts her head while at rest? Does your little one have a hard time turning his head fully from one side to the other? If so, perhaps your baby has torticollis. Torticollis occurs when pressure is put on the large...
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Health
Scoliosis is a medical condition most commonly diagnosed in adolescence that causes a young person’s spine to become curved. While many people may have a slight curve to their spines, curves greater than 25-50 degrees often require medical...
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Health
The kidneys are a pair of small abdominal organs that are responsible for filtering waste from the blood and eliminating it through the urine. Most children are born with two kidneys, but sometimes a child is either born with a single kidney,...
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Baby
You’ve probably heard of “flat feet” and maybe even worried about it after looking at your baby’s feet, which probably look suspiciously flat. First, don’t worry. All babies are born with naturally “flat”...
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Health
Cerebral palsy (CP) is a disorder affecting a person’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture. Although CP has no cure, treatment should be focused on maximizing a child’s capabilities. In general, the sooner interventions are started,...
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Baby
A new baby’s heart begins to develop as early as week five of pregnancy (3 weeks after conception) when the tube of muscle forms that will someday be the baby’s heart. This first primitive structure doesn’t have any of the...
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Pregnancy
Opioids include prescription medications like oxycodone, morphine, and fentanyl. While these may be prescribed for treating problems like kidney stones or for recovery after surgery, in general the goal is to use these drugs for a brief period of...
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Pregnancy
Like miscarriages, elective abortions can be managed medically (with medications) or surgically. When done surgically, a procedure called a dilation and curettage (or “D&C”) is performed. Women who have experienced a miscarriage or undergone an...
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Pregnancy
Morning sickness is a side effect of pregnancy that no woman likes to experience, yet up to 85 percent of women do at some point. With this being such a common issue in pregnancy, expectant mothers should know some of the new guidelines about the...
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Pregnancy
Welcome to Week 3! It might not feel like much of anything has changed so far—perhaps the only sign you’re pregnant at all is a positive pregnancy test. But rest assured: amazing things are happening. Your baby is already developing and is...
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Blog
A new virus known as the Zika virus has started to make headlines, and with good reason: its recent spread in Brazil has been linked to a huge increase in the number of babies born with microcephaly. Because of this, the Centers for Disease Control...
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Pregnancy
A new change was approved in late 2014 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that will affect how pregnant and breastfeeding women understand the safety of the medications they take. Up until this new change, drugs fell into the following...
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Health
Newborns arrive in the world with relatively undeveloped eyesight—after all, they don’t need to see anything until they’re born. A typical newborn has about 20/200 or 20/400 vision, as well as a primitive sense of color recognition. In fact, babies...
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Pregnancy
Although pregnancy can be an exciting time for future parents, it can also cause anxiety and raise concerns. While parents-to-be can feel reassured in knowing that most babies are born healthy, they may still want additional information about the...
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Pregnancy
Approximately 35 percent of adult Americans, or 1 in 3 people, are now obese. Obesity is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or above. While we know many complications associated with obesity, being pregnant and obese has its own...
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Pregnancy
Heading into Week 6, it may seem like little has changed from last week—if you’ve been suffering morning sickness or fatigue, they are unfortunately likely still going strong (conditions like these don’t usually resolve until around Week 13). And...
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Pregnancy
When a sperm fertilizes an egg, things usually go according to plan. The sperm and egg each contribute equally to donating their chromosomes to the future developing fetus. Sometimes, however, this process can be a little mixed up and cause the...
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Pregnancy
With summer in full bloom, many people may be wondering, “Whatever happened to the Zika virus? Do I still need to worry?” Just a couple years ago, the scare of infant birth defects, including microcephaly, was a very real concern for women who were...
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Pregnancy
From changing skincare products to avoiding excess caffeine and certain types of fish, there are a lot of things to avoid while expecting. So when you need an x-ray at your dentist’s office or to view an aching shoulder or injured ankle, it’s easy...
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Pregnancy