I have to say, as a mother with two kids who arrived by c-section, these stories always make me feel a tiny bit deficient as a mom. (Which is not to say there is anything wrong with those of us who need a bit of surgical encouragement to bring babies into the world, just saying.)

An unnamed Tasmanian woman has made the news after she went into labor wrapping some last-minute gifts under the tree on Christmas Eve. Paramedics were dispatched to the woman’s home, where they arrived to find the patient in the early stages of labor. But for some reason, according to news accounts, the responders were unable to transport her to the hospital to give birth, and instead, the baby was delivered at home- and, quite like in a romantic comedy of some description, under the tree itself. ABC quotes Bruce Connor of the Tasmanian Ambulance Service:

“I would assume the patient was in labour to a point where delivery was imminent and rather than being able to move to the ambulance to proceed to hospital, they had to deliver the baby at the house,” he said.

(It was not clear if Hugh Grant was milling about the scene, making milquetoast jokes and charmingly impeding the labor process.) Connor adds a detail that will probably amuse men and irritate the pants off women:

“To deliver one at 12:06am on Christmas Day is a special event for us, especially under the Christmas tree at home and I believe that the intensive care paramedic was wearing a pair of antlers at the time.”

Have you ever been in labor? How much would this make you want to punch someone in the face?

[Image: Shutterstock]

Aussie Woman Gives Birth Under Christmas Tree While Wrapping Presents on Christmas Eve is a post from: The Inquisitr

This baby knows what she wants, and it’s the soothing, dulcet tones of Christopher Wallace or nothing.

[Video] Crying Baby Soothed Only by Biggie Smalls is a post from: The Inquisitr

Supplies of donated breast milk are running low, with the demand for breast milk higher than ever. That’s according to the eleven milk banks scattered around the U.S.

Mother’s Milk Bank in San Jose is one such venue, and its head Pauline Sakamoto says kids in need are losing out:

“In the 12 years I’ve been executive director, I’ve never been short. We’ve had to cut back on some of the hospital orders just so we can service more. We had to cut back on some outpatient kids because we didn’t have that supply. I’ve never had to do that, and I hate to do that.”

Mother’s Milk Bank works from a trailer behind Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, and gave out 420,000 ounces of breast milk to hospitals and families in need during 2010. However, that figure rises between 15 and 18 percent each year, and now supplies are getting squeezed for the first time in the bank’s 37-year history.

The likes of Mother’s Milk Bank supply a crucial service, providing milk for babies at high risk, such as those born prematurely. Such children require human milk as they struggle to digest foreign substitutes, such as formula. Says Sakamoto:

“The problem that we’re facing is that we have a lot of kids that need milk. The preterm infant rate is not going down, and doctors are prescribing it more prolifically. And the milk’s just not coming in.”

Furthermore, the banks are stretched already. Mother’s Milk Bank has to provide for for hospitals and families in Washington, Oregon, Hawaii, Maryland, Idaho and Wyoming, as no milk banks exist in those places.

Donated Breast Milk Supplies Running Low is a post from: The Inquisitr

Look at this picture, and you will want to bring home a kitten, a baby or both by the end of the evening.

Literally the Cutest Thing Ever is a post from: The Inquisitr

Check this- this baby does not understand why the touch screen on this issue of Marie Claire is so sluggish.

[via]

[Video] Strange Paper iPad Confuses Baby is a post from: The Inquisitr

Alyssa Milano has appeared with her newborn son Milo in the latest issue of Us Weekly. The actress and husband David Bugliari welcomed Milo into the world on August 31st. In the pictures, Milano looks happy and glowing in the pics, while Milo looks … tired. I’m with Milo.

“Everything is going so well,” Milano gushed to the magazine. “David told me, ‘It’s like you were dropped off from Planet Mom!’ I said, ‘No, he’s such a great baby, he’s just making me look good!’”

Milo weighed a healthy 7 lbs. at birth, and was 19 inches long. His gender was revealed by Milano in a tweet back in March.

The 38-year-old Milano, best known for her roles in sitcom Who’s the Boss? and for an eight-year stint on supernatural series Charmed, started dating talent agent Bugliari in 2007. They were married in August 2009, and she sounds seriously loved up:

“There is nothing like seeing the man you love with your child. The other day David was carrying him in a BabyBjorn while making work phone calls! It was so sweet and beautiful.”

More recently, Milano appeared in the comedy Hall Pass, a comedy directed by the Farrelly brothers. Previously, she has also appeared in the original Melrose Place and My Name Is Earl. And fun fact: she inspired the face of Ariel in Disney’s animated film The Little Mermaid.

Alyssa Milano Shows Off New Son is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Inquisitr

Having been around the web for as long as I have you come across some really stupid arguments as government and old media companies fight piracy on the web but this one from the British Transport Police has to be the stupidest and craziest argument I have seen yet.

It all starts with that billboard you see in the image above which says the following:

“A bomb won’t go off here because weeks before the criminal pirating films was caught by monitoring his internet history. Pirating films funds terrorism and organized crime. Report it today.
Confidential Anti-Terrorist Hotline
Call 0800 789 321″

In other words if you are a pirate or support piracy or just against governments being able monitor your internet usage then you are all for killing babies.

Up until this point the fight against piracy has been centered around the idea that piracy supports terrorists but this new angle has to be not only offensive but incredibly idiotic.

via Techdirt

Some of the craziest logic for fighting piracy is a post from: The Inquisitr

While it’s slightly nerve-wracking to watch this baby obviously so enamored with this baby cat, it’s also the cutest thing you will probably see all week. Maybe all month.

[via TDW]

[Cutest Video Ever] Baby Hugs Kitten, Adorably is a post from: The Inquisitr

[via]

Units of Bad Ass Measurement is a post from: The Inquisitr

The U.S. has gone to the dogs, quite literally. A new report has found that 43 million households in America have dogs, while only 38 million homes currently have at least one child under the age of 18.

Based on those numbers, 95% of counties from 2000 to 2010 witnessed a general decrease in the number of new children born into their communities.

The effects of those number drops are more pronounced in rural areas where young people have left their rural homes behind for urban areas.

One demographer told USA Today:

“Another place would be the yuppie county in the central city, where gentrification has occurred and there are young 20-somethings who don’t have any children.”

Because of those drops in certain areas parents are finding it harder to scout out the type of services their children need and want such as schools, daycare facilities and toy stores.

At this time there appears to be no factors that will push America back into a baby boom, a fact that could put a strain on the U.S. economy ages and less children and grandchildren are available to pay and care for the elderly.

It looks like 2.5 children and a home with a white picket fence is no longer the American dream.

Baby Bust? American’s Having Fewer Children, Facilities Suffering is a post from: The Inquisitr

The number of women who opt to give birth at home is at the highest level it has been since 1990, climbing 20% between 2004 and 2008.

The results were published Friday online in Birth, and drew data from birth certificates filed in each of the fifty states. Certain regions, such as Western states, had higher increases, while areas such as the Southeast were less affected by the trend. In 2004, 0.56% of births occurred at home, or 23,150. By 2008, 0.67%, or 28,357 births were homebirths.

The study, authored in part by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistician Marian F. MacDorman, cited a vague heightened interest in Caucasian women as the defining factor accountable for 94% of the increase. Per the Los Angeles Times, that increase in interest may be partially due to larger representation in the media of the practice as well as discouragement from the medical establishment:

The increase in home births may be related to the popularity of movies like 2008′s “The Business of Being Born,” executive produced by actress Ricki Lake, or TV shows such as TLC’s “A Baby Story” that have followed women as they give birth at home in bed or in a bathtub.  But the relationship may not be a simple one.  The 2004-2008 increase actually began before many of the articles and movies about home births became popular, the authors noted, adding that the trend coincided with several statements of physician opposition to the practice of home births.

The study also indicated that more women chose certified midwives over other midwives in the years studied.

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More American women skipping maternity ward in favor of home births is a post from: The Inquisitr

One of the tenets of feeding newborns is that bottle-feeding carries an inherent risk of acclimatizing an infant to easy feedings- babies introduced to both bottle and breast are said to favor the former due to the ease of draining a bottle dry.

A recent study suggests that continuing the bottle may have longer lasting consequences for babies, as the behavior is linked with obesity in older babies, toddlers and into school age. The study, published in the American Journal of Pediatrics, followed nearly 7,000 children born in 2001. What it found is that when other factors were controlled for, a significant portion of kids who refused to give up the bottle were classified as obese by the age of 5:

Temple University’s Dr. Robert Whitaker said, “Children who were still using a bottle at 24 months were approximately 30 percent more likely to be obese at 5 and a half years, even after accounting for other factors such as mother’s weight, the child’s birth weight and feeding practices during infancy.”

The study’s authors believe that extended bottle use encourages infants to consume a higher number of calories than they might if restricted to a sippy cup, and recommend weaning from the bottle at around the child’s first birthday.

‘Prolonged’ bottle feeding linked with obesity in toddlers is a post from: The Inquisitr

Fussy babies may be less likely to shake off their “fussiness” as they age, according to a study in the April 20th issue of Archives of Disease in Childhood.

Excessive crying, sleeping or feeding difficulties could be markers of a propensity to develop Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or “externalizing problems” such as tantrums or aggressive behavior. According to the study, the higher instances of regulatory problems were, the more likely children were to present with the behavioral issues later on. The studies authors highlighted early intervention to address the issues in infants and children:

“Our findings highlight the need for prospective follow-up studies of regulatory disturbed infants and require reliable assessments of crying, sleeping or feeding problems… The evidence from this systematic review suggests that those with persisting regulatory problems in families with other problems may require early interventions to minimize or prevent the long-term consequences of infant regulatory problems.”

Between 1987 and 2006, the study measured more than 16,000 children, 1,935 of whom had regulatory problems.

[Image]

Baby fussiness linked to ADHD, behavioral problems is a post from: The Inquisitr

I’ve seen all sorts of crazy promotions from game publishers in my time, but this might take the biscuit. On November 11th this year, Bethesda Softworks will be releasing RPG The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, sequel to the much-loved Oblivion. It’s probably going to be really good.

If, by some miraculous coincidence, you are also expecting the birth of your child that day, then Bethesda has a little offer for you: call your child ‘Dovahkiin’ (meaning ‘Dragonborn’ in the game’s fictional language), and you’ll get free Steam downloads of Bethesda games for the rest of your life and … other mystery prizes.

With any luck, those unrevealed prizes include enough hard cash to fund your widely mocked child’s shrink from early teenhood. More details here.

[Bethesda Blog, via Big Download]

Bethesda offering prize to parents who name their baby ‘Dragonborn’ is a post from: The Inquisitr

Researchers have found a link in formula fed infants between starting solid foods before four months of age and obesity, according to a study published this week in the medical journal Pediatrics.

Although 75% of new mothers initially breastfeed their children, only a third are still breastfeeding at the three-month mark. Infants who were exclusively breast-fed did not exhibit the same rates of obesity, but infants who were fed formula displayed a sixfold rise in obesity when solids were introduced before the baby reached four months. An author of the study says these findings bolster the AAP’s suggestion that solids be introduced after that point:

“Our study results suggest that adhering to the current American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines of waiting till 4 months to introduce solids has the potential to reduce the risk of obesity later on,” explained study author Dr. Susanna Y. Huh, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Children’s Hospital Boston.

The study was part of a larger study of infants and their mothers called Project Viva. At the conclusion of this portion of the study, 7% of the 847 infants studied who were breastfed were found to be obese, and 13% of the formula-fed babies were over the 95th percentile for infant weight.

Study links early solid food start in formula-fed infants with obesity is a post from: The Inquisitr

I realize that kids dressing up for Halloween is something we expect and for the most part is pretty harmless because it usually involves costumes picked by the kids; but it seems when it comes to geeks and their babies all bets are off.

Not only can you tell that the geek genes are being passed along but you also know that some of these kids will have scarred memories of Halloween for the rest of their lives, not tom mention never using their Facebook in their resumes.

via Fresh Pics

8 Nerd babies whose Halloween memories are scarred forever is a post from: The Inquisitr

Most folks are more than happy just getting the typical baby pictures but the same can’t be said for advertising copywriter Adele from Helsinki, Finland as she spend time with her new baby creating her maternity leave hobby blog.

The project is called Mila’s Daydreams and are images of her daughter Mila in different poses as she naps.

via My Modern Metropolis

6 “Aww isn’t that cute” baby pics is a post from: The Inquisitr

Seen pretty much everywhere, often captioned “Fuck off… I’m watering a shoe.”

Death glare baby is watering a shoe… problem? is a post from: The Inquisitr

A US study of 350,000 home births and 200,000 hospital deliveries suggests that infants born at home have twice the mortality rate of those born in hospitals in the US and Europe.

Although the risk of death is still low at .02%, researchers believe that the risks of giving birth at home have been previously underestimated due to inaccurately recorded data:

The researchers argued that the safety of home births may have previously been overplayed by the fact that when there are complications and a woman is rushed to hospital, any adverse outcome is recorded as a hospital birth.

Home deliveries did prove to have a more rapid recovery time for mothers, fewer cases of hemmoraging, fewer cases of tearing and a reduced rate of infections. But researchers do say the benefits come with the added risk:

“Women choosing home birth, particularly low-risk individuals who had given birth previously, are in large part successful in achieving their goal of delivering with less morbidity and medical intervention than experienced during hospital-based childbirth,” said lead author Dr Joseph Wax from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Maine Medical Center.

“Of significant concern, these apparent benefits are associated with a doubling of the neonatal mortality rate overall and a near tripling among infants born without congenital defects.”

Among the infants in the study that died during a home birth, the most common factors involved were respiratory troubles and failed attempts at resuscitation.

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Childbirth at home doubles risk of infant death, study says is a post from: The Inquisitr

… can’t even read their own t-shirts.

[via Neatorama]

Stupid babies… is a post from: The Inquisitr