Thumbs down to the military. OK, I have to say that I am generally a VERY big supporter of our troops. So I guess I was just really disappointed to read how terrible their maternity benefits are. Women have only 6 weeks of maternity until they are back to duty. And within 4 months they can be deployed far away from their infants. Shocking to me. How can these moms breastfeed their infants?

The military relies heavily on women to meet their voluntary quotas. Without this, the “d” word (draft) starts to be whispered - something that I am pretty sure no one wants. What I don’t get is why there can’t be some kind of a compromise that allows women to be with their infants during that critical bonding period while still actively contributing to the military. The military needs to come up with some creative ways to accommodate this situation so that they can continue to encourage women to sign up.

Stress can contribute to cervical cancer. Most sexually active women will get HPV at some time in their lives. And most of them will fight it off without it turning to cancer. Doctors are trying to figure out why that small percentage of others aren’t fighting it off. They have found a link to stress and its impact to the immune system. They are not saying that stress causes cancer, but that immunosuppressed women have a higher risk, and stress is one factor that can play a part. This could also be another good reason to get vaccinated against HPV.

This year’s flu season is a bad one. Doctors are now predicting that the flu vaccine will only work on about 40% of the flu viruses out there (instead of 70-90% in “good” years). So please don’t only rely on that shot to stay healthy. As Mel just posted, be smart about washing your hands, eating well and staying warm. Try to keep the flu away from yourself and your children!