Former Blue Lady: Australian television personality Jessica Rowe shared that she was ashamed to admit that she struggled with postpartum depression after giving birth to her daughter, even though she has long been an advocate for those with mental health issues (her mother battled bipolar disorder). Her difficulties in acknowledging her depression stemmed in part from the fact that she underwent four IVF attempts before becoming pregnant. “I felt ashamed. How could I feel like this when I finally had this beautiful treasure?” She went public with her struggle when she named a mental health initiative as the charity she’ll support as a contestant on the Aussie version of Dancing with the Stars.

The Implications of Pregnancy Acceptance: A study out of the University of Missouri - Columbia finds that a mother’s feelings about being pregnant have a strong impact on her relationship with her baby later on, and on that child’s healthy attachment. Mothers who had trouble with pregnancy acceptance also were more likely to later find motherhood burdensome. The study focused on 173 young, black mothers. “Making services, such as childcare, available to low-income mothers is a major way we can help relieve stress that can negatively affect children. Overall, mothers want what is best for their children,” notes the lead researcher.

Working Moms and Kiddie Fat? Researchers out of the Institute of Child Health in London tracked 13,000 children to age three and found that preschoolers of more affluent parents were more likely to be overweight, the more so if the mother works. The researchers called the study a wake-up call for the middle class, speculating: “Long hours of maternal employment, rather than lack of money, may impede young children’s access to healthy foods and physical activity.”

Borat Baby! Sacha Baron Cohen, aka Borat, Ali G, and a host of other identities, will soon add a new role to his repertoire: Dad. He and his longtime girlfriend, Australian actress Isla Fischer, confirmed that they are expecting a baby this winter.

Obesity Clues? A new study published in the Medical Journal of Australia finds that overweight, single mothers are more likely to have children with weight problems. Parenting style, which has been implicated in the past, does not appear to be a factor, the study concludes. The researchers hope this finding will allow for better targeting of obesity prevention efforts.

Home Fertility Test: Fertell, a “his and her” at-home fertility screening kit, is now available to consumers. The test has two parts - one to test the number of motile sperm in a man’s semen sample, and another to measure a woman’s level of follicle stimulating hormone (determined via a urine sample stick), which is thought to be indicative of egg quality.

College Athletics and Pregnancy: The NCAA’s committee on women in sports plans to spend time during its July meeting reviewing its guidelines on female athletes and pregnancy, particularly with regard to scholarships.  A recent news story of a Memphis track athlete who lost her scholarship when she became pregnant - and of other anonymous women who chose to have abortions rather than lose their college funding - has brought attention to the subject. Relatively few Division I schools in the NCAA have written policies on pregnant athletes.

Parental leave for dads, too: Under new British government proposals, when paid maternity leave is extended to twelve months in 2009, couples may decide for the dad to take the second six months of paid leave to care for the new baby as mom returns to work.

Hold Off on that Date? Sociologists out of Johns Hopkins caution that the more household transitions children go through (via divorce, remarriage, etc.), the more likely they are to have behavioral problems. Multiple transitions within a family were associated with increases in vandalism, theft and truancy. The study found a stronger association between transitions and acting out with white children than with black children, perhaps because the black children were more likely to have extended family nearby to provide some stability.

Sigh: A new study featured in the current issue of Science magazine finds that elementary school classrooms in the U.S. are on the whole not providing high-quality teaching and learning opportunities for children. There is little small-group instruction, and most time is spent by the students in passive learning activities. Oddly enough, having an advanced degree, years of experience, or a “highly qualified” rating by state and federal guidelines appears to have little to do with the quality of the instructional environment teachers create in their classrooms.

Royal Baby: Via Celebrity Baby Blog, the King of Morocco and his wife, Princess Salma, recently posed with their new baby Princess Lalla Khadija and son Prince Moulay Hassan.

Number Four: Angelina Jolie could be a mom again by the end of the month. Apparently, she’s been cleared to adopt a 3 1/2 year old Vietnamese boy. The little one is described as a soccer fan and a little shy. He was abandoned at a hospital and was taken to an orphanage when his parents couldn’t be located.

PPD and Baby Bonding: A program called Keys to Caregiving helps women with postpartum depression develop the tools they need to read and respond to their babies’ cues. Unlike other postpartum depression interventions, this does not focus solely on helping the mother feel better, but rather on preventing developmental problems that can occur with infants who have unresponsive mothers.

Preventing Sexual Abuse: A study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine found that adult men who were raised in single parent households were more likely to have been sexually abused as children than their peers. Low-income kids are most at risk because of poorer quality childcare. It may be that children in single-parent households, who may have less access to their custodial parent because of work concerns, tend to look for other adults to bond with.  Predators are good at spotting these needy kids and exploit them.  The researchers indicate that more interventions and better childcare options need to be made available to single parents to assist them in protecting their children.

Stress and Pregnancy:  A study out of Imperial College London finds that maternal stress during pregnancy can be harmful to the developing baby’s brain.  High levels of the stress hormone cortisol crossing into the placenta leave a baby at risk for future development of ADHD, and babies exposed to the highest levels of cortisol test lower for IQ than their peers.

Single Adoptive Moms:  Sharon Stone, mom to three adopted children, two of whom joined her family after she split with her husband, has some advice for single women thinking of adopting:  I’d urge anyone who is even considering it to go ahead and make their own family, instead of sitting around dreaming and hoping that their Prince Charming is going to come and give them children…What’s the point? Make it happen for yourself. If your Prince Charming does come, then he’s going to walk in and say, ‘Oh, just what I’ve been looking for, a family waiting for me.’ We can do that these days.

How nice…

The guest blogger for On Balance this week shares the tribulations of single-parent dating - how to navigate Match.com, where to find nice single, Jewish men, how much to tell her daughter, when to schedule coffee dates.

Right off, she gets slammed by a commenter:

Rachel sounds like she still doesn’t get it. After being irresponsible in the first place by getting pregnant by her bipolar, alcoholic boyfriend, she’s still too focused on being single and “getting the guy.” …Her daughter is two, for goodness sake! Rachel needs to wait much longer before she starts dating again.

Funny, this commenter chose the handle “Getyourdates right”.  How about “Getyourfacts straight” - the blogger clearly stated that her daughter is five, not two.  Is that long enough to wait?  How can she contact you to find out?

A few comments down:

“The day the stigma disappeared from out of wedlock birth was sad day for this country.”

Lesson learned:  Best to beat a retreat from the world, Hester Prynne-style, if you carry a baby to term out of wedlock.  Had this woman terminated her pregnancy, she would have been fit for decent company.

OK, OK, I admit this gal doesn’t sound like the sharpest knife in the drawer (how did she hook up with her bipolar, alcoholic baby-daddy, whom she is glad to be rid of “in hindsight”, in the first place?).  But in the anonymous world of the blogshpere, it sure does seem as though there are a lot of folks who have lived blameless lives.  Good for them, I suppose.

Posted by MommaSteph