Celebrity mothers are not realistic. These days in the tabloids, much is said about how quickly celeb moms lose the baby weight. Resist temptation to be jealous. Most of us don’t make our living by being camera ready at all moments. Nor do we have private chefs, full time personal trainers and nannies to take our babies while we workout hours on end per day. The Today show is showing how some celeb moms got quickly back into shape. It seems that although some were a bit extreme, they all were pretty healthy about doing it.

What do I recommend? Taking the time to enjoy your newborn - being a mommy is tough enough without the additional stress of how you look. Take care of yourself and your infant, and when you have it together enough to concentrate on losing weight, join us over at the Health & Fitness board for lots of support and ideas on how “real” moms can get back into shape!

Dyslexia is different in different cultures. Studies suggest that there is a genetic link with dyslexia and that it is caused by a genetic mutilation. Further research suggests that different genes cause dyslexia in different cultures. They have been studying the differences between Chinese and English speaking children - starting from how the children learn the language.

English speaking children learn by first listening to sounds and them associating them with the words. Chinese speaking children learn their language quite differently, by first memorizing hundreds of symbols. This takes different areas of the brain to do, and leads to the conclusion that different genetic mutilations cause the similar disease in all. In understanding this, they can further develop treatment to the cultural differences.

Dyslexia is very common, affecting millions of people worldwide. Estimates project that 8-13% of the population is somehow impacted.

Overweight mom equals overweight kids? Doctors in England are trying to figure out why women who are overweight tend to have overweight children. They have found that there is no metabolic programming in young children - so moms are not passing that down directly to their kids.

They studied thousands of families in 1991-1992, and their conclusion was that if children are obese, it is more likely that the mother is obese than the father. Doctors, being unable to conclude that it is metabolic driven, are considering whether other factors could impact. Her are my thoughts - what about obese mothers passing unhealthy eating habits to their children? Arguably, moms are more “in charge” of food than dads are, and they tend to be around children more hours during the day to teach them unhealthy snacking habits, etc. I wonder…

1 in 4 teen girls has an STD. Shocking. No parents wants to think this is accurate (especially myself with a 12 year old knocking on the door of puberty!) But that is what it is. So, to me, it is time to face reality and not keep our parental heads buried in the sand to what is going on in teens’ lives.

I know that sex education — and how to raise your child in general — is an individual thing, but many parents are relying on sex-ed to teach their children. These programs are not effective. So please take your child’s sexual learning into your own hands and ensure they are well informed about not only what is happening to their bodies, but to their emotions and mind as well. And please don’t skip the chapter on condoms and safe sex. Now is a good time to get them to regular checkups, even if they are not sexually active- it is a good safe habit to start. Don’t let your child be one of the 25%.

Tiny reader! I saw this and it really amazed me. A 17 month old girl who can read. Actually read and not memorize/mimic. It appears she has a gift, and mom and dad have been good at stimulating her and helping to develop this. Wow!

Interesting ADHD-bullying link. Studies show that children with ADHD are four times more likely to be bullies in school. Even more interesting is that children with ADHD symptoms were ten times more likely to have been the target of bullying prior to the symptoms appearing. Problems with bullying are ever increasing in the schools, and this Swedish study only further highlights the importance of observing children’s behavior - not only the educators, but the parents involvement is critical. Some schools are making efforts to improve the situation by providing support and education to both the bullies and the bullied.

Think twice about buying your child a pet turtle. Even though they are seem to be a good pet for kids (and parents who don’t want to deal with the mess and noise of other housepets as dogs, cats, hamsters, etc), you should think twice about buying one for your child. Turtles are known to spread salmonella, and last year 103 people were infected from pet turtles. You might not be aware, but these turtles have actually been outlawed in the US since 1975, but they are still commonly found for sale in pet shops, online, and other places.

How to get rid of those dreaded stretch marks. A lot of us moms have them one place or another. Many aren’t that noticeable - but if you look closely those silver lines are there. We wear them as badges of honor celebrating the miracle of a woman’s ability to give birth. But let’s face it - if we could do something to prevent or get rid of them we would.

There are some things you can do to avoid them or lessen their appearance:

Use Retin-A cream to keep the body moisturized any time it goes through a weight change, especially hormonal (pregnancy) driven. (Editor’s note: Be sure to talk to your doctor before using, though, as the jury is still out as to whether or not Retin-A is safe during pregnancy.)

Exercise to reduce your stress level and help keep those hormones under control.

Drink your water and eat healthy to keep your body hydrated.

If all else fails, there are laser treatments currently available that will help.

Elective C-sections gain popularity. It seems as though this is a topic that a women usually have a very passionate stance about - one way or the other. Some wonder why in the world a woman would actually elect to have a C-section over a vaginal birth, others consider it a perfectly acceptable way to give birth and wonder why everyone else, stranger or not, feels free to weigh in (and often criticize) their personal decision to have this elective surgery.

The safest way to give birth is an uncomplicated vaginal delivery. The problem is, that is an impossible thing to predict in advance. More and more women these days are electing to have a C-section, even first time mothers with no previous birthing experience. Doctors are not sure why this is gaining in popularity. As the rate of elective C-sections has increased, so has the rate of maternal mortality. At least it has in 2003 and 2004, data from 2005 and onwards is not yet available. But it has not been proven that the maternal mortality rate is linked to the increase in C-sections.

Doctors and researchers would really like to figure this out and have a factual basis to the question “which one is safer”, however structuring how to research this as an unbiased test proves very difficult - it basically would amount to a large group of women agreeing to being randomly chosen to give birth either vaginally or by C-section.

My bet is that this will remain the topic of heated discussion for years to come - research will not change women’s passion regarding this. In the end, it is the woman’s body and her individual choice as to her birthing plan. So please be supportive of your friends and loved ones no matter what they decide!

A girls self-esteem impacts her chances of obesity. A study shows that girls who consider themselves to be “popular” gain less weight as they grow up then those who consider themselves “unpopular”. What is interesting is that researchers now see that a girl’s perceived social status is not just something she can grow out of as she grows up, it can as well have future health impacts. On a somewhat related note, studies have shown that obese girls also more likely to avoid going to college. Having a tween daughter myself, I am always hopeful that she will not grow up to be one of those uber-popular girls a-la the “Mean Girls” movie. But I do hope to instill in her a healthy dose of self-esteem, and I hope that her teen years aren’t too dramatic. Time will tell…

Is she or isn’t she? She IS! Nicole Kidman’s publicist just announced that the actress and her husband, Keith Urban, are expecting their first child later this year. See, I told ya so! *wink*

Time to buy the kiddos holiday gifts: Cyber Monday is upon us! Shop.org said that 72% of online retailers are planning a special promotion today. Participating retailers include Target, Apple Store, and eToys.

Or not: University of Minnesota researchers have found an inverse relationship between materialism and self-esteem. “When self-esteem drops as children enter adolescence, materialism peaks. Then by late adolescence, when self-esteem rebounds, their materialism drops.” Researchers suggest that encouraging a sense of self-worth among young people can reduce an emphasis on material goods.

Need to catch a villain? Find a baby: six-month-old babies were found to be able to determine who’s naughty and nice. Researchers demonstrated play where some shapes were assigned either helpful or harmful characteristics; babies later preferred to play with those shapes appearing to be friendly.

Yet another reason not to light up: A biological explanation has been found to demonstrate why a mother smoking before and after pregnancy might reduce her daughter’s fertility by as much as two-thirds.

(Yes, I hear you laughing.)

A new study found that moms who regularly slept for five hours or less when their babies were six months old were much more likely to still be packing the baby pounds when the babies turned a year old. Three times more likely, in fact.

“We’ve known for some time that sleep deprivation is associated with weight gain and obesity in the general population, but this study shows that getting enough sleep — even just two hours more — may be as important as a healthy diet and exercise for new mothers to return to their pre-pregnancy weight,” said Erica Gunderson of Kaiser Permanente, which runs hospitals and clinics in California.

Wouldn’t we all sleep more (and better) if we had the opportunity to do so? With a new baby, that’s just not always possible - particularly if there are other children in the household.

At least they thought of that:

“With the results of this study, new mothers must be wondering, ‘How can I get more sleep for both me and my baby?’ Our team is working on new studies to answer this important question,” said Dr. Matthew Gillman of Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.

I’m not going to hold my breath on that one, gentlemen.

Posted by Sunshine.

If your girls are looking a little sad, don’t blame breastfeeding. A new study indicates that nursing is not the culprit for less than perky breasts:

Researchers at a University of Kentucky plastic surgery clinic examined 93 patients who had experienced at least one pregnancy and had an average age of 39.

Fifty-four women had breastfed at least one child, for an average of nine months. There was no significant difference in breast sagging between these women and the 39 moms who did not breastfeed.

But other factors did increase the likelihood of sagging. They include age, obesity, more pregnancies, larger pre-pregnancy cup size and smoking. Dr. Brian Rinker and colleagues reported the study at a meeting last week of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

“These findings support the assertion of pediatricians and lactation specialists that breastfeeding does not adversely affect breast shape,” researchers wrote.

Why would pregnancy be a culprit? Pregnancy causes the breasts to become bigger, and post-partum, breasts don’t tend to return to their original shapes.

One possible weakness of the study is it might not represent a good cross-section of the post-partum population, as the women involved were all seeking breast implants, lifts, or both.

If you’re interested, here’s how the experts rate breast sagginess:

Breast sagging (technically called ptosis) was measured on a 0-to-3 scale, with 0 representing no sagging (nipple is higher than the skin fold beneath the breast) and 3 representing extreme sagging (nipple points straight down).

I’d quibble with how they determine “no sagging”. I’m definitely still above the skin fold, but not nearly as spry as I once was. I think they need a bigger scale.

Posted by MommaSteph.

Before I had kids, I had a decent figure - not model-esque by any stretch of the imagination, but I looked OK. Now the mirror tells more of a comedy/horror story than a romantic tale, and I’ll admit that I’ve toyed with the notion of plastic surgery (after we win the lottery) to get my old body back.

I know I’m not alone, because there’s a plastic surgery package (typically called the “mommy makeover”) just for women like me.

Aimed at mothers, it usually involves a trifecta: a breast lift with or without breast implants, a tummy tuck and some liposuction. The procedures are intended to hoist slackened skin as well as reduce stretch marks and pregnancy fat.

You mean my boobs will go back to where they should be and gain perkiness, my tummy sag will tighten, and this spare tire will shrink? Sounds like a deal! Last year, over 325,000 of these surgeries were performed on mothers across the nation - and not just on mothers of young children. Empty nesters are reclaiming their pre-pregnancy bodies, too.

Critics of the triple procedure point fingers at the cosmetic surgery industry as trying to ostracize the mother’s figure.

Many women struggle with the impact of aging and pregnancy on their bodies. But the marketing of the “mommy makeover” seeks to pathologize the postpartum body, characterizing pregnancy and childbirth as maladies with disfiguring aftereffects that can be repaired with the help of scalpels and cannulae.

“The message is that, after having children, women’s bodies change for the worse,” said Diana Zuckerman, the president of the National Research Center for Women and Families, a nonprofit group in Washington. If marketing could turn the postpregnancy body “into a socially unacceptable thing, think of how big your audience would be and how many surgeries you could sell them,” she said.

So…is the post-partum body something to be “fixed,” or should mothers be offended by the notion that they might consider changing their figures in order to feel more beautiful?

I say that if you are satisfied with your body, more power to you. If not, and you have the wherewithal to change that, go for it. Me, I’m going to wear my stretch marks with pride…and buy a lottery ticket now and then.

Posted by Sunshine.