Vincent Simone ditches pregnant air hostess Susan Duddy

Vincent Simone, 30, one of the stars of Strictly Come Dancing has ditched his pregnant fiancée Susan Duddy for ballroom co-star Kristina Rihanoff, 31.

The Mirror reports Susan Duddy, who is due in July, has been told by Vincent that after a year together, their relationship is over. He has now started a relationship with Russian Kristina Rihanoff

Susan Duddy, 36, has told friends that she is devastated and is blaming Kristina for stealing her fiancee.

Last month, Italian Vincent Simone said fatherhood wouldn’t kill off his natural desire to flirt.

Vincent said: “A leopard can’t change its spots.”

A BBC spokeswoman said: “Vincent has nothing further to add.”

         

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Evenflo highchairs - named amongst flurry of baby product recalls in USA

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced recalls of merchandise, including cribs that can cause suffocation, high chairs with falling seats, and toys that pose a choking hazard.

Recalled products were sold around the USA at Toys R Us, Babies R Us, Wal-Mart, Kmart, Burlington Coat Factory and other stores.

Scott Wolfson, a commission spokesman said; Approximatley 643,000 Evenflo Envision high chairs and 90,000 Evenflo Majestic high chairs were recalled Thursday because plastic fasteners and metal screws can fall out and allow the seat back to fall backward or detach.

320 complaints were received about Evenflo products because of suddenly reclining seat backs or completely detaching and smaller reports of screws or fasteners falling out of the Envision chair. The company has had 16 similar reports on the Majestic chair, Wolfson said.

Wolfson also said only last week, that Fisher-Price was recalling 24,000 of its 3-in-1 high chairs after the company received reports of the seat falling backward from its frame when the booster seat release was unlatched while the child was still seated.

Fisher-Price is offering a free repair kit to parents, he said. The company received one report of a child’s skull being fractured after the seat fell back.

The Evenflo high chairs were manufactured in China; the Fisher-Price chair was made in Mexico, Wolfson said.

And on Wednesday, about 4,000 What’s Inside soft toy boxes were recalled because the head of a stuffed butterfly toy can fall off, creating a choking hazard, Wolfson said.

Finally, about 1,900 SunKids convertible cribs, built in China and imported by Commerce-based Suntech Enterprises Inc., were recalled because children could suffocate in the crib, Wolfson said.

A gap can open between the side of the crib and its mattress if the bed’s mesh is not zipped into place, and a child could suffocate if wedged in the gap, Wolfson said.

The drop side of the crib also can fail to fully latch, which could result in children falling out, he said. No incidents have been reported with the crib, Wolfson said, but a 5-month-old died in August after being trapped in a similar crib. The SunKids convertible cribs were sold in California, New York and New Jersey between Jan. 2007 and Oct. 2008.

         

Making a C-Section a more, “Natural” experience

A revolutionary new technique from Queen Charlotte’s Hospital in London attempts to turn C-Sections into an experience closer to vaginal birth the Times Online reports.

The idea was conceived by Professor Nicholas Fisk, in response to the rising numbers of Caesareans in the UK. 24 per cent of all births are now Caesarean deliveries. Over half are emergency C-sections rather than planned, and maternal age is a factor; according to the National Sentinel Caesarean Section Audit, mothers under the age of 20 have a C-section rate of just 13 per cent, compared with 33 per cent for mothers aged between 40 and 50.

A Caesarean is undoubtedly a major surgery. It is also a moment of great joy parents and this is what Professor Fisk, and two colleagues - Dr Felicity Plaat, consultant anaesthetist, and Jenny Smith, a senior midwife and author wish to emphasise.

Fisk says, “It struck me that all the effort was going into changing normal childbirth but that Caesarean section was still steeped in old surgical rituals,”

“In some cases I was horrified; the baby would be dragged out like a tumour and passed to several medical staff before the mother. It was ripe for reform.”

His team focused on three areas. First, parental involvement: dropping the drape that “divorced” the mother from her abdomen, to allow her to see her baby’s head emerge.

The second point was physiological: Fisk showed that when a Caesarean is performed slowly the baby is able to “autoresuscitate” - start breathing unaided - while still attached to the placenta, as in normal birth. The baby is “half-delivered” and a combination of the naturally contracting uterus and the baby’s vigorous wriggles allow the lungs to expel fluid in a similar way to a vaginal birth. This reduces the risk of the baby needing help to breathe; a common occurrence after a Caesarean.

Finally, Fisk wanted to see newborns handed immediately to their mother for skin-to-skin bonding. “There are now official standards for skin-to-skin bonding in childbirth, but these are almost never met with Caesareans,” he says. One obstruction is that the monitoring equipment needed for patients in surgery is routinely attached to the mother’s chest. “In a natural Caesarean we attach the ECG wires to the back of the chest so that the baby can be placed on the mother after birth,” Plaat says. The anaesthetic dose is lowered so that there is no “heaviness in the arms” to prevent holding the baby, and a clip that measures oxygen in the blood is attached to the toe.

Read More from the Times Online at http://timesonline.typepad.com/alphamummy/

         

Rachel Griffiths says being pregnant makes her nicer

Pregnancy for Rachel Griffiths has possibly turned her into the nicest star in Hollywood.

The cast of her TV show is practically begging her never to give birth. Husband Andrew Taylor hasn’t joined in the praise for pregnancy marital bliss, yet.

Currently starring in, “Brothers & Sisters,” the actress is expecting her third child. The baby will be a little brother or sister for Adelaide, 3 and Banjo, 5.

Rachel Griffiths says the pregnancy has changed her entire personality, “Apparently I’m really nice pregnant. The wardrobe department begged me never to have this baby. They said, ‘We love you pregnant; you’re so much nicer.’ Maybe I’m less hormonal.”

         

Perchlorate found in Baby formula - Rocket Fuel chemical

Rocket fuel chemical Perchlorate has been discovered in samples of powdered baby formula a US government study has found.

Scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked for the chemical, Perchlorate, in different brands of powdered baby formula.

The chemical has turned up in drinking water supplies across several cities. Most perchlorate contamination has been tied to defense and aerospace sites, although it can occur naturally.

The chemical hasn’t been shown to cause health problems, but scientists have said significant amounts of Perchlorate can affect thyroid function. Thyroid problems can impact fetal and infant brain development.

The extent of the risk is hard to assess. The government requires that formula contain iodine, which counteracts Perchlorate’s effects. The size of the infant and how much formula they consume are other factors that can influence risk.

The study itself sheds little light on how dangerous the perchlorate in baby formula is. “This wasn’t a study of health effects,” said Dr. Joshua Schier, one of the authors.

Researchers would not disclose the brands of formula they studied and the research was limited to only a few samples, so it’s hard to know if the perchlorate levels would be found in all containers of those brands, a CDC spokesman said.

The largest amounts of the chemical were in formulas derived from cow’s milk, the study said.

         

Baby given heroin substitute

A 53 year-old man and a 46 year-old woman from Cornwall in the UK have been arrested after a baby boy of 10 months old was alleged to have been given the heroin substitute Methadone.

Update…07:35 GMT, Friday, 3 April 2009
The couple have now been released on bail
…

Police were called to an address in Bugle, near Saint Austell in Cornwall after the attending ambulance service reported the incident.

The suspects are in custody at Newquay police station.

Prescribed as a liquid heroin substitute, Methadone lasts a lot longer in the body.

The baby boy is in a stable condition at the Royal Cornwall Hospital.

         

Baby seat thrown through Octomum car window

Nadya Suleman, single, unemployed and mum of 14 has reportadly had a baby’s car seat thrown through the rear window of her minivan.

Police in California say the nannies saw the seat lodged in the smashed window of the family’s 2005 Toyota Sienna when they arrived to work on Wednesday morning at Octomum’s home. Officers have no suspects.

Police say a night nanny heard a noise, looked out a window and saw a white cargo van speeding away around 3 a.m.

         

Ana Ortiz, “Ugly Betty” preparing for baby girl

Ana Ortiz the, “Ugly Betty” star is preparing for a baby girl and motherhood. She has been craving pancakes, French toast, citrus and fruits.

Her forthcoming baby shower will be hosted by Ugly Betty co-stars Vanessa Williams and America Ferrera.

Ortiz is quoted as saying she feels “phenomenal” about the impending arrival. Due in July, she he has been busy preparing and designing a room for the baby girl.

“I just met with the decorator today. I didn’t want it too frilly frou-frou, too canopy princess-y. So we’re doing a sort of eco-friendly, beautiful room. I’m not sure of the colour palette yet, but it’s going to be gorgeous.”

Vanessa Williams said to People Magazine; “A friend of mine owns Green Baby, so Ana has all the green baby products she could ever want,”

“But my gift to her was the catering. I’ve got a wonderful woman who is going to cater. I said, ‘Please allow me to do that’.”

         

Name Shake for the iPhone - Shake it Baby

For first time mothers the name of your baby is often an arduous process, “Name Shake,” for the iPhone will help save a fortune in name choosing books and provide a solid reason for the choice of name.

This is a really cool iPhone application for all parents-to-be.

Name Shake could help you find the perfect name for your new arrival. 19,000 unique names are randomised in the database shaking app.

You can refine your search by origin of name, gender, alphabetical entry or all three. Shake or flick the iPhone and presto, your baby has a name and being random, no subliminal messages from the in-laws could possibly have affected the result.

Go grab it at the iPhone app store.

         

Halle Berry prepared for another baby

Actress Halle Berry who is mum to 1-year-old Nahla Ariela said she is open to the idea of having more kids.

Halle told Ellen DeGeneres on her show that she would like another child, but says she want’s to avoid Octomum status. “I hope I don’t have like 14 more.”

Reportedly a sister or brother could be in the future for her daughter with her partner, Gabriel Aubry. “My mind says yes,” she told DeGeneres, “but the rest isn’t up to me so we’ll see.”

         

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