I attended a conference last week (The National Capital Chapter of the March of Dimes, The Northern Virginia Perinatal Council and (ugh) Meade Johnson Nutritionals ...conference for Maternal and Infant Healthcare Providers) and a speaker addressed the issuses and his concerns about ..." near term" infants, Dr. Tonse Raju, MD is a board certified neonatologist who has been at the NIH of Childhood Health and Human Development's Pregnancy & Perinatology Branch since 2002. He really seems to have an issue with the docs who let Mom's pick their baby's birthdates at the expense of the infant. One major point...40% of brain growth occurs between 36-40 weeks. We have an increase in ADHA/Autism, ect with the possibility that this may play a part. The goals to decrease pre-term births to less than 7.6% , at the Institute, is at the present rate, not obtainable. He recently co-authored an article on "Optomizing Care and Outcomes for the Late-Pre-term (Near-Term) Infants: A summary of the Workshop Sponsored by the National Institute of Chil Health and Human Development" Tonse N.K., Raju, MD, Rosemary D Higgins, MD, Ann R. Stark, MD and Kenneth J. Leveno, MD Pediatrics Vol 118 No. 3 September 2006, pp 1207 - 1214 (doi:10.1542/peds.2006-0018) He gave his email address if there were any questions or to requests notes. [log in to unmask] Ann G. Cagigas, RN, MA, IBCLC GSA Health Unit, Room 1010 1800 F St., NW Washington, DC 20405 202-219-1228 202-501-0028 (Fax) *********************************************** Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html Mail all commands to [log in to unmask] To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or [log in to unmask]) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet or ([log in to unmask]) To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]