Any alcohol consumption during pregnancy puts infants at risk for multiple risks.

A prospective study conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Diego has found that for each additional drink of alcohol a day on average, during the early months of pregnancy, there were significant increases in the risks for microcephaly (abnormally small brains) reduced birth weight and length. Any alcohol consumption, especially during the second half of the the first trimester raised the risk of fetal alcohol syndrome significantly.

PositiveTip: Women of childbearing age should avoid all alcohol consumption.

Women of childbearing years need a healthy diet!

A prepregancy healthy dietary pattern in addition to folic acid supplementation could be a key to reducing neural tube and other birth defects. When Stanford University researchers controlled for supplement use they found a high quality diet that included fruits, vegetables and whole grains was associated with a 51% lower risk of anencephaly, 34% lower risk of cleft lip and 26% lower risk of cleft palate when compared with the poorest diets.

PositiveTip: Dads, encourage Mom to each a health diet before pregnancy if you want to minimize birth defect risks.

Even a weekly drink during pregnancy increases childhood aggressiveness.

Children exposed to alcohol in the womb were 3.2 times more likely to exhibit aggressive behavior problems by 6 years old than children with no fetal alcohol exposure. Even as little as 1 drink per week increased risk and greater use increased childhood behavioral problems even more. The authors warned that a mother should be informed there is "no safe level” of alcohol use during pregnancy.

PositiveTip: If you are even considering the possibility of pregnancy, don't drink alcoholic beverages.

Adverse neonatal withdrawals can occur when pregnant mothers take antipsychotics.

The FDA has announced new labeling of all antipsychotic medications warning about their use during pregnancy. Newborns whose mothers were treated with this class of mediation during the third trimester of pregnancy sometimes experienced withdrawal symptoms shortly after birth to one month later. Severeity varied, but some infants needed intensive care.

PositiveTip: Caution in taking medications is always in order, especially during pregnancy.

The equivalent of a single drink produces irreversible brain death in unborn mice.

Research strongly suggests that avoidance of alcohol in pregnancy is important for the well-being of the off-spring. For example, a single drink triggered the death of 20,000 neurons per infant brains of mice. The blood alcohol levels associated with this nerve death correlate with that achieved by humans in social drinking. Thus a mother with moderate drinking habitrs might expose her unborn child to multiple occasions of irreversible brain cell death.

PositiveTip: Pregnant women should avoid all alcohol exposures for the good of their unborn.

Super-obese women have substantially higher rates of preeclampsia than normal-weight women.

The prevalence of super-obesity (when the BMI [body-mass index] is more than 50 kg/m2) is rising sharply in the United States.

An analysis of more than 854,000 live births in Missouri reveals that super-obese women experienced 4.7 times the rate of preeclampsia compared with normal-weight women. Women in the super-obese category who gained the most weight during pregnancy had 13.4 times the risk of preeclampsia than their normal-weight peers.

PositiveTip: Weight-control is an essential ingredient to having a healthy pregnancy with minimal complications.

Study shows that diet and exercise prevent excess weight gain in pregnancy.

A simple, individualized nutrition plan (2000 kcal/day) combined with a walking program of more than 10,000 steps per day during the second and third trimesters in overweight or obese women kept weight gain within norms. More than half of the women had attained their pre-pregnancy weight within two months of delivery. This kind of plan would help normal weight as well as overweight women avoid excess weight gain during pregnancy and weight retention after delivery as well.

PositiveTip: Regular exercise and a nutritious diet will help keep weight gains within norms and prevent post-delivery weight retention.

Almost two thirds of teen pregnancies occur during the after-school hours!

Nearly to two-thirds of teenage pregnancies occur during the after-school hours of 3-6 PM in the girls own home. About 80% of adolescent violent crimes occur during the hours of 3-8 PM in the afternoon – again, during those risky after-school hours. What are your kids doing after school? And, what are the neighbor’s kids doing during those same hours. The more kids are left alone the higher the chances are that they will make bad decisions.

PositiveTip:The single most important thing parents can do to prevent risk is to keep kids busy with adults who have high values.