Take precautions against the H1N1 (Swine Flu) Virus.

Today in every one mind’s only one question would be going one i.e. is there a test for H1N1?

The answer is Yes. A simple nasal swab is all that is needed; it will be sent to a laboratory to test for the virus.

Well, H1N1 is highly contagious. The viruses are spread person-to-person primarily when infected persons cough and/or sneeze. Persons may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose. You cannot get H1N1 by eating pork.

Yes. Antiviral drugs can make you feel better faster. Antiviral drugs work best if started within two days of onset of symptoms. Presently, the CDC is working on the development of a vaccine. AU Health Services are monitoring the CDC's progress.

According to them, when the vaccine is first available, the following groups will be the priority:

•pregnant women

•people who live with or care for children younger than 6 months of age

•health care and emergency services personnel
•persons between the ages of 6 months through 24 years of age, and

•people from ages 25 through 64 years who are at higher risk for H1N1 Swine Flu because of chronic health disorders or compromised immune systems.


The H1N1 Swine Flu virus is rare in healthy persons over the age of 65. For this reason, people 65 and over are not in the high risk priority group for initial receipt of the vaccination. An adequate supply of vaccine supplies is expected, so that it will be offered to the general population as additional supplies are received.

Following recommendations should be taken to all the residents in India & abroad:

•Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.

•Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.

•Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth.

•Stay home if you get sick. CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.
If you become ill and are pregnant, are very young, or have a chronic health problem you should contact your health care provider. If you develop any of the following symptoms, you should seek immediate medical care:


•A high fever

•Children and Adults: Greater than 105°F (40.5°C)

•Babies 3- to 24-months-old: 103°F (39.4°C) or higher.

•Babies up to 3 months: Rectal temperature of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher.

•Coughing that produces thick mucus

•Dehydration (feeling of dry mouth or excessive thirst)

•Worsening of an existing serious medical condition (for example: heart or lung disease, diabetes, HIV, cancer)

•New onset of confusion

•Difficult breathing or chest pain

•Bluish skin

•Stiff neck

•Inability to move an arm or leg

•New onset of seizures


Note: Precaution is better than Cure

The Ways Babies Bond

When you're a new parent, it often takes a while to understand your newborn's true capabilities and all the ways you can interact:

• Touch becomes an early language as babies respond to skin-to-skin contact. It's soothing for both you and your baby while promoting your baby's healthy growth and development.
• Eye-to-eye contact provides meaningful communication at close range.
• Babies can follow moving objects with their eyes.
• Your baby tries — early on — to imitate your facial expressions and gestures.
• Babies prefer human voices and enjoy vocalizing in their first efforts at communication. Babies often enjoy just listening to your conversations, as well as your descriptions of their activities and environments.

Bonding with your Baby.

Bonding is the intense attachment that develops between parents and their baby. It makes parents want to shower their baby with love and affection and to protect and nourish their little one. Bonding gets parents up in the middle of the night to feed their hungry baby and makes them attentive to the baby's wide range of cries.

Scientists are still learning a lot about bonding. They know that the strong ties between parents and their child provide the baby's first model for intimate relationships and foster a sense of security and positive self-esteem. And parents' responsiveness to an infant's signals can affect the child's social and cognitive development.

Why Is Bonding with Baby is Important?

Bonding is essential for a baby. Studies of newborn monkeys who were given mannequin mothers at birth showed that, even when the mannequins were made of soft material and provided formula to the baby monkeys, the babies were better socialized when they had live mothers to interact with. The baby monkeys with mannequin mothers were more likely to suffer from despair, as well as failure to thrive. Scientists suspect that lack of bonding in human babies can cause similar problems.

Most infants are ready to bond immediately. Parents, on the other hand, may have a mixture of feelings about it. Some parents feel an intense attachment within the first minutes or days after their baby's birth. For others — especially if the baby is adopted or has been placed in intensive care — it may take a bit longer.

But bonding is a process, not something that takes place within minutes and not something that has to be limited to happening within a certain time period after birth. For many parents, bonding is a byproduct of everyday care-giving. You may not even know it's happening until you observe your baby's first smile and suddenly realize that you're filled with love and joy.

What Your Newborn Looks Like?

You've been waiting for this day for months: Finally you get to meet your new baby. But like many new parents, you might not have a clear idea of what that meeting will be like.

Wondering how your baby will look and what he or she will do after arriving?

Although you may have visions of a robust bouncing baby, reality may not match that image. Many newborns are tiny, wet creatures when they first emerge. Often their heads are slightly pointed as a result of passing through the birth canal. This is only temporary — the head will take on a rounded appearance within a few days. It may surprise you that a newborn's head is so big compared with the rest of the body.

Your baby also may look scrunched up since the legs and arms have been kept bent at the knees and elbows while in the womb. After months of growing in ever-tightening close quarters, this is perfectly normal. The limbs will straighten out as your baby grows.

Look at your baby's tiny fingers and toes. You'll notice the paper-thin — and sometimes long — nails.

Your baby's skin may have one of several possible appearances, looking somewhat red, pink, or purple at first. Some babies are born with a white coating called vernix caseosa, which protects their skin from the constant exposure to amniotic fluid in the womb. The vernix is washed off with the baby's first bath. Other babies are born very wrinkled. And some, especially premature babies, have a soft, furry appearance because of lanugo, a fine hair that develops while in the womb. Lanugo usually comes off after a week or two.

Rashes, blotches, or tiny white spots also are common on newborns. These generally clear up over the first few days or weeks after birth. The doctor will examine your baby within the first 12–24 hours of birth and make sure that any rashes or spots are normal.

Remember, your baby's appearance will change dramatically over the next weeks as he or she grows. The limbs will extend, the skin tone will probably change, and the blotches will disappear.

The fact of life concerning Love.

The first and most fundamental fact of life about love is: love is something that is fundamentally wired into the human brain. There is nothing that you can do about it. You cannot turn it on and off. It is there, it is active and that’s the end of it. In fact, it is nearly impossible to separate love from human existence. Especially as a teenager, they are one and the same.

The second fact of life is that there are different kinds of love, and we need to agree on what we are talking about when we say the word "love." Here are some of the different kinds of love that you might be familiar with:

• Parental love—Parents love their children, and this sort of love, devotion and caring is different from all other types of love. When done well, parental love could be called perfect.
• Christian love—Jesus said, "Love your neighbor as yourself," and many people are able to do that. They love and care about those around them because they are fellow human beings.
• Friendship love—A deep friendship between two people often involves a level of trust, devotion, commitment and caring that is love. So two women or two men or a man and a woman who have known each other for 20 years and have been through a lot together can say they love one another. There is not a bit of romantic or sexual attraction involved.
• Material love—You might hear someone say, "I love that car!" or "I love that movie!" It is love applied to an object. In this case the word "love" can mean a range of things from "I really like it" to "I must have it" all the way up to, in extreme cases, "I will (literally) kill myself if I don’t get it." Another word for this is infatuation.
• Lustful love—To some extent lustful love is a form of material love, but it is applied to another person and tied almost completely to a sexual infatuation. So a girl might say, "I love Tom Cruise!" Or a guy might say, strictly on the basis of a girl’s looks, "I love that girl!" This is lust.
• Romantic love—When most teenagers think of "love", this is what they are talking about. It is the combination of friendship, sexual attraction and the search for someone to marry. It is the search for the one person with whom you can raise your family and spend the rest of your life.

Risky Foods During Pregnancy

Cut down fatty foods.

Avoid drinks like coffee, tea, coca colas and other drinks with caffeine. Too much caffeine may affect the growth of baby during pregnancy and at birth.

Caffeine & Pregnancy

Pregnant women who consume caffeine (from tea, cola, chocolate and some prescription drugs) even about a cup of coffee daily are at higher risk of giving birth to an underweight baby, according to the research findings published in the British Medical Journal in Novemebr 2008.

The researchers further found that pregnant women who drink two or more cups of coffee a day are at twice the risk of having a miscarriage as those women who do not take caffeine.

Advice: Reduce caffeine intake before conception and throughout pregnancy. The best advice was to limit caffeine consumption to below 100 milligrams a day, there is no lower limit for which there is no effect,

Avoid Vitamin A supplements as too much may harm your baby growing inside.

Avoid white breads and foods prepared with white flour (maida).

Avoid too much sugar and foods containing sugars.

Nutmeg spice in large quantity to pregnant women may result in miscarriage. Although there is no scientific evidence, some people believe that because pineapple and raw papaya contain enzymes, so they can induce abortion.

Avoid high-mercury sea-foods such as fish, especially Swordfish, Shark, King Mackerel and Tilefish. Raw fish and seafood may contain Listeria, a bacteria that can cause food poisoning and miscarriage or premature birth.

Avoid raw or smoked or frozen seafood such as oysters, sushi, sashimi, smoked oysters and smoked salmon. But canned seafood is safe to eat.Soft cheeses like ricotta without heating or uncooked.

Avoid raw meat such as seafood, sushi, uncooked beef, raw eggs or poultry as these may be contaminated by toxoplasmosis, coliform bacteria,and salmonella. Pre-cooked meat dishes without further heating.

Avoid Salads, readymade or pre-packed, ready-cooked cold meat including chicken.

You should not smoke.

Always consult your doctor about the safety of any drugs you take when pregnant.