Hair Care During Pregnancy

The experiences women have with their hair during pregnancy vary widely. Some women have the most beautiful, thickest and easiest to manage hair of their lives during pregnancy. Others aren't quite so lucky. In general, the hair does get thicker. This is due to pregnancy hormones. However, for some women, thicker does not mean easier to manage.

The hair may be frizzy or fly away, rather than sleek and smooth, as you would see in shampoo commercials. This is a frustrating problem for many women. There are a few things you can do to make your hair easier to manage, if this is a problem.

Use a good shampoo and conditioner made to handle frizz or fly aways. A deep conditioner or hot oil treatment may also help, if the hair is dry. Apply the conditioner and wear a plastic cap. The body heat helps the conditioner work on the hair. A serum made to control frizz can be used during styling to make the hair easier to manage.

A hair cut is another way of dealing with frizz. A layered cut helps the hair lay better. In addition, a cut will make the hair easier and faster to style. This is a definite plus after the baby is born. If you don't want to cut your hair, you can wear it up. Alternate between pony tails, braids and other up dos to keep it interesting.

For other women, the hair may seem lifeless or oilier than before the pregnancy. This is also common just after the baby is born, when your body is going through hormonal changes again. Wash the hair more frequently and use a shampoo and cream rinse made for oily hair. Some women find that a shorter hair cut makes it easier to wash and style the hair more often. It will also be easier when you are caring for a new baby.

A Simple Blood Test Could Detect Down's Syndrome in Expectant Mother

A simple, risk-free blood test that can detect Down's syndrome from the blood of pregnant women has raised the prospect of screening being routinely available to every expectant mother.

Researchers in Hong Kong have developed a way of identifying genetic markers, which show whether an unborn child has the chromosomal disorder, without relying on risky amniocentesis techniques.

The experimental procedure has been shown to diagnose 90 per cent of Down's syndrome cases in a small trial, while also correctly identifying 97 per cent of foetuses that do not have the condition.

Scientists hope that if the procedure can be refined and its accuracy improved, it could replace more invasive testing techniques within three to five years.

The most common prenatal test for Down's syndrome involves amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling (CVS) in which a sample of the fluid surrounding the foetus is collected and analysed.

Both procedures are invasive and and carries a one per cent risk of miscarriage. As a result, it is only usually carried out if there is a high enough risk of a disorder - in older mothers, for example.

The Non-Invasive Prenatal Diagnosis (NIPD) test would do away with these risks, but at the same time, would create an ethical dilemma for many couples following a positive result. There are fears that the new approach could ultimately lead to a greater number of abortions.

Nigel Carter, of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, near Cambridge, whose team is working on the technique, said: "As well as your ultra-sound scan, you would have a few millilitres of blood taken for your Down's test."

"It's the sort of procedure that could move from being offered only to mothers at risk, to become a more normal screening procedure," Times Online quoted Carter, as saying.
Down's syndrome occurs when three copies of chromosome 21 are inherited instead of the usual two, causing learning difficulties, often accompanied by serious cardiac defects and a high risk of early-onset dementia.