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Stanford Students Created a $300 version of a $20K Incubator For Babies in the Developing World

embrace warmer

Each year, more than 1 million babies die on their birth day.

About 20 million premature and low birth weight babies are born worldwide each year with 4 million dying within the first 4 weeks of life, according to the World Health Organization.  This amounts to 450 babies that die each hour and a substantial number of those that die are born in the developing world where there are not enough incubators which cost about $20,000.

Also, many babies are born in rural areas far from hospitals with adequate facilities to care for a premature newborn. A lot of the babies really just need warmth an incubator provides during those first crucial months.  Some babies are born with so little fat and many are unable to control their own body temperatures.

About 6 years ago, four Stanford University students were challenged in a class project to design a portable life-saving incubator that cost less than $300. The group, led by then female student, Jane Chen traveled to India, where the caregiver to patient ration is 1:2,000, to research and perfect their design.

And they did it, creating the Embrace Infant Warmer.

incubator and embrace

“Incubators are vital because the internal organs of premature babies are not fully developed at birth,” Chen wrote in a 2010 piece on CNN.com. Chen is now the co-founder and CEO of Embrace Innovations, a social enterprise that aims to help the 20 million premature and low birth weight babies born every year, through a low cost infant warmer.

She explained the concept and design of Embrace:

Embrace Infant Warmers are non-electric, miniature sleeping bags that use a removable wax insert, which can be heated safely using hot water. The product is easy to sanitize and can be heated over and over again.

The product has been designed specifically for resource-constrained settings. It looks like a small sleeping bag, which incorporates a wax-like phase change material in a plastic pouch that melts at body temperature (98.6 F) to keep the baby at a constant temperature.

The PCM pouch can be heated with either a short burst of electricity or by placing it in boiling water. Once melted, it can maintain a constant temperature for up to eight hours, after which it can be reheated.

In addition to being low cost, the product does not require a constant supply of electricity, complements existing practices such as skin-to-skin care and is extremely safe and intuitive to use.

After creating a prototype, the team launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to produce their first round of Warmers used in India.  Today, Embrace ships the warmers to local clinics and other areas in the developing worldwide.  Costing less than 1% of a traditional incubator, the Embrace Infant Warmer  has helped over 150,000 babies to date.

The goal is to save the lives of 20 Million babies and they are well on their way. Embrace is not stopping there. This May, it launched another campaign and are creating a line of affordable healthcare technologies for women and children around the world.

 



This invention looks like a tiny sleeping bag and it s helped save 150 000 babies.
Good stuff!

 

Review: SmartyPants Prenatal Gummy Vitamins Are Yummy And Good For You (WIN $70 WORTH)

SmartyPants All in One PreNatal Gummy Vitamins   SmartyPants Vitamins

This review of these eco-conscious prenatal vitamins couldn’t wait for Eco-Friday!

SmartyPants gummy vitamins for adults and kids just released its prenatal version this Spring. And as my 10-year old son who sneaked a few when my back was turned can attest to ….they are deelish.

And they’re good for you.  Each gummy is packed with all the mineral and nutrients a pregnant woman needs: Vitamin C, D, E, B3, B6, folate, B12, and pantothenic acid; along with extra mom-to-be goodness: Vitamin D, B12, the omega-3 fatty acids EPA,  DHA and the MK-7 form of vitamin K2, which is particularly hard to get through diet.

What you won’t find: GMOs. Artificial colors. Artificial flavor or Artificial sweeteners. The only thing that would make them better is if they released a Sugar-Free version next for moms-to-be who have gestational diabetes and are watching their sugar intake.

smartypants vitamins review

This Kid is Totally Like my 10-year old! ha!

Other than that, these vitamins look to be a great alternative to the large horse-pill vitamins I had to take when I was last pregnant over 7 years ago. Our reviewer,  my 7-year old daughter’s expecting 2nd grade teacher, who checked out our review sample (Valued at $34.95 retail)  said she is enjoying them.

The other awesome part is you get to take 6 daily. Yum!

SmartyPants Vitamins — All in One Gummy Vitamins for Kids and Adults with Omega 3 Fish Oil2

Founded by serial entrepreneurial parents, Courtney and Gordon, SmartyPants also has an altruistic mission. It has a on one-for-one nutrient grant to Vitamin Angels for every bottle sold. So far, it has donated more than one million life-saving nutrient grants to women and children worldwide who suffer from undernutrition.

The makers of SmartyPants are giving one lucky Bellyitch reader a TWO- MONTHS SUPPLY!! Woot! That’s a Value of over $70 retail!! You get 360 Gummies to take home. Awesome Sauce!

Now thru next Friday, October 30 – It could be a pre-Halloween gift to the winner. Open to US ONLY.  Many ways to Enter. None Mandatory. Enter Below:

Bellyitch/SmartyPants 2-Months Supply of Pre-Natal Gummies Giveaway

#BackToTheFutureDay: Which of These 25 Past TV Moms would You Bring Back to the Future?

TV Moms of Past BellyitchBlog.com

In honor of today, Back To The Future Day (the day that Michael J. Fox‘s character Marty McFly travels to the future in the 1989 movie  Back to The Future II: October 21, 2015), we’re taking a trip down the past ourselves and visiting famous and popular TV moms.

Which of these would you Bring Back from the Past to the Future (Today) to give you advice that you’d take to help you raise your children?

Click the first image to be taken to the slide show:

10 Facts About First Born Children

first born facts

Yet another scientific research study was released recently stating that first born children are usually smarter than their younger siblings.

This tickles me pink being a first born myself. I am a big believer in birth order playing a role in the development and personality of a child.

These are 10 facts from our friends at Nanny.net about the effect of birth order on the eldest children, some of which may shed new light on behavioral quirks and personality traits of your firstborn.

  1. They’re More Reliable – First born children are often expected to look after younger siblings and take on a greater role of responsibility than children born into the family after them, and as a result they often grow into more reliable and dependable adults.
  2. They Tend to Be Higher Achievers – Almost half of all United States presidents have, to date, been first born in their families. In contrast, only four have been last born children. High achievers tend to be eldest children, who place a higher value on achievement and success than their younger siblings.
  3. They’re Natural Leaders – When a child is born first, she’s generally something of an authority figure over her younger siblings. That dominance often becomes a hardwired personality trait, which leaves them more likely to find themselves in positions of leadership in the adult world.
  4. They’re More Likely to be Perfectionists – Unlike younger siblings, who tend to have a more relaxed approach to life, first born children are more likely to be perfectionists, often setting almost impossibly high goals for themselves.
  5. They’re Not as Likely to Rebel – Alfred Adler, the father of the birth order psychology movement, asserted that older children often feel “dethroned” by new babies in the household and, as such, may be more likely to actively seek the approval of their parents and the other adults in their lives. In many cases, this drive to please continues throughout adulthood and they’re less likely to be rebellious as teenagers.
  6. They Benefit from Teaching Younger Siblings – When firstborns teach their younger siblings new skills or information, they’re benefiting from what’s known as “the tutor effect.” That’s one of the reasons why firstborn kids tend to be higher academic achievers and to pursue intellectual careers as adults.
  7. They Care More About What People Think of Them – Free-spirited people who aren’t concerned with what society as a whole or even the people closest to them think about their choices tend to be younger siblings, as firstborns generally have a very real drive to be people pleasers.
  8. They Value Organization and Order – Firstborns are more likely to be list-makers, organizers and to bring order to their surroundings than their more haphazard, disorganized counterparts who are lower in birth order.
  9. They’re Self-Motivated – Because of their desire to please and determination to succeed, older kids tend to be more self-motivated than their younger siblings and to require less encouragement to work towards the goals they’ve set for themselves.
  10. They’re Individuals – There are more studies on the subject of birth order than one could shake a stick at, but one thing that holds true across the board is that there’s more at play than simple birth order when it comes to determining a child’s personality. Genetics, for instance, will have some role in the habits and methods of a person’s behavior, as will environment and other important factors. Knowing a bit about the typical firstborn pattern is helpful, but be careful not to box your child in with expectations that may not hold true in her particular case.

 

Buzzfeed’s Disney Princess Breastfeeding Illustrations are Weirding Out Its Readers

disney princess buzzfeed

What happens when a Buzzfeed illustrator places illustrations of Disney Princesses and insert them nursing babies in modern public places in an attempt to normalize breastfeeding?

You get a brilliant montage that is also a great think piece! Don’t pay attention to the majority of their readers in the comment section who say they are weirded out by the images.

Will it actually normalize breastfeeding in public? Maybe not. Will it illicit dialogue about it? Yes it will. That’s a win in our book!

Check out the full images at Buzzfeed HERE!

h/t IamNotTheBabySitter

photos: Buzzfeed, Thinkstock and Loryn Brantz

 

New Law Would Ban Surrogacy in India, Disrupt a Multi-Billion Dollar Industry

surrogacy pregnancy in india bellyitchblog.com

Lawmakers in India are equating rampant surrogacy tourism in India with human trafficking and proposing a law to ban foreign parents, disrupting a multi-billion dollar industry that lures India’s poorest women to rent their womb

Recall in 2011, we reported how India had become a hub for surrogacy pregnancy because of lax regulations, the ease of the adoption process and the relatively low cost of getting a baby there. Three years later, Indian legislators are cracking down and working on a law to ban foreign parents from coming to India for purposes of surrogacy.

The Health Ministry and National Commission for Women (NCW) in India proposed new legislation to ban Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), Persons of Indian Origins (PIOs) and foreigners from having children through surrogacy in India. The ban will also include foreigners of Indian-descent.

NCW Chairperson Lalita Kumaramangalam told the site Manoramo Online that unregulated surrogacy is leading to human trafficking.

“Most of the surrogate mothers are poor women,” Kumaramangalam said. “They face several hardships during the process. These include ambiguous contracts, health concerns, exploitation by middle men or hospital authorities, lack of enforceability of contract by mothers due to their socio-economic vulnerability.”

Indeed, surrogacy in India has become a multi-billion dollar industry and growing 17 to 20% annually, she added. The NCW noted that  30,000 illegal fertility clinics are operating in the country with majority of them being located in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Delhi.

NCW did ask that there be exemptions for single women.

“This is very unfair to single women whether they are widow or divorced,” Kumaramangalam said. “It is in a way restricting their reproductive rights.

The original bill, called Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation), was actually first drafted in 2010, before surrogacy in India ballooned, and was revised in 2013. The final bill will be presented November 15 for vote after a public comment period lapses.

“We don’t want to become hub of surrogacy in the world,”Kumaramangalam  concluded. “There are a huge number of women who are trapped into this. The increasing amount of unregulated surrogacy happening in India is causing various problems for mother and the child.”

Watch video: Surrogacy: The tale of a ‘birth mother’

This is Happening: People Dressing Their Babies as Bernie Sanders

babiesforbernie

This is happening: People are dressing their babies as Senator Bernie Sanders who is a Democratic candidate for  US President and it’s hilarious.

Current Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-proscribed socialist and a bombastic figure, has a huge backing by Progressives in the Democratic Party which includes moms too.

One mom, Ashira Siegel,  couldn’t attend a Sanders really because she has a newborn son. To show her support, alternatively, she posted a photo of said baby with his fist up in the air on a Sanders supporter group called Geeks for Bernie, she told CNN yesterday.

bernie sanders baby ashira

Sen. Bernie Sanders supporter Ashira Siegel’s new born son was photoshopped to look like Bernie. – CNN

A member from that forum offered to Photoshop in some eye glasses and white hair on her photo and tweet it out with the hashtag #BabiesForBernie!

And it took off! By the end of the day dozens of parents of babies had followed suit and dressed their infants and toddlers as the elder statesman known for shouted exclamations and down-to-earth manner.

Check out more photos at our partners at PopSugar!

h/t CNN

Here is My Secret to a Fresh Face in Just 5-Minutes (TIPS)

make up in a rush

Whether you’re expecting, a new mom or a veteran mom, there are many times when you may find yourself without time to put on make up, but need to look fresh. First impressions are important and so you want to put your best face forward all the time. I have friends who feel naked without make up and take over an hour to apply makeup before any outing.

Many of us hurried moms, however, don’t necessarily have all that time. I love professional make up for special outings but it isn’t always financially feasible and most times, I have 15 to 20 minutes to get myself together before heading out.

Here is my secret to a natural look in about 5 minutes tops.

jj ghatt bellyitchblog.com

First, apply a gloss in a light pink, nude or other natural soft tone. If you’re heading to an evening event, you can go with a darker hue like plum or crimson.

Next, add liquid eye liner to the bottom of your upper lid and a light stroke for the under lid, but not too much because you don’t want to look too vampy. You want just enough to bring out your eyes. Liquid is better in a pinch because you don’t have to fret if your eye pencil isn’t sharpened.

I recently figured out that light blush can make anyone look cheery and fresh-faced. To figure out where to apply blush, make a big smile big and brush  the apple of your cheeks. Just a touch.

Put on a couple layers of mascara for upper and lower lashes. Add a shimmery gold eye shadow to your lids.  Then finish off with a light dusting of bronzer to set the look. If you have portable make up set spray, you can fix the look with a few pumps so it can last longer without needing a touch up.

And you’re good!  If you don’t have these make up products, I’ve curated a collection below or use them as an inspiration or for reference when you head to your make up counter or drug store.

 

Good luck moms — xoxo JJ, Bellyitch editor-in-chief

jj ghatt bellyitchblog.com

These are the Healthy Fats You Should Be Eating While Nursing

food-plate-toast-restaurant-large

When you are breastfeeding, you are told all the things you shouldn’t eat. Common wisdom says the milk you produce will be reflected from your diet which could then impact your newborn’s digestion. It is said nursing women should avoid gassy foods, for example.

But what about the foods you should be eating?

Breastfeeding is a great way to also burn off calories and unpeel some pregnancy weight gain. And while you’re doing it, there are some healthy fats you should eat. What a great gift from nature, huh?

Check out Boost Baby's Brain Power: Healthy Fats to Eat While Nursing

by Tend Editor at Mode

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