Monday Link List: May 17

I skipped last week because I had little to show for it, bhaving been busy elsewhere. But here's this week's entry, and a shout and a wave to my new followers.  I am very excited to have you here! Enjoy.

Health

• Vaccine Ingredient from Informed Choice - I admit, vaccines haven't been very high on my research priority list just yet.  But, here's a table of the ingredients of the common infant/childhood cocktail of vaccines for your perusal.

Birth

• "C-section rate highest in China, reasons mixed" from Xinhuanet.com - "Mixed" but dominated by money.  In my mind, this goes hand-in-hand with the One Child policy to form a devastating anti-woman, anti-child conspiracy on the part of the "establishment" in China. What a loss for a population of families that will largely never have a chance to know anything else.
  

Breastfeeding

• "Breast-fed babies know when to say when" from WomensHealth.com - Americans possibly learning to overconsume from birth?  Shocking concept! /sarcasm Yes, I'm as guilty of the gluttony as anyone.  Just saying, maybe we can do better for future generations by rethinking the bottle.
  
• "World War II is responsible for the decline in breastfeeding in the U.S." - at If Breastfeeding Offends You.. - Being the Good Eats geek I am, I enjoy learning the history of food. Our country changed so much after WWI and WWII both, but especially the latter.  I hadn't considered this as one of the direct effects before.

Child development

• "Sleeping through the Night" by Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph. D. - Breastfeeding and infant sleep patterns as they're physiologically meant to be, and how ignoring them can contribute to SIDS.

Other

• "US low score on world motherhood rankings" from Yahoo! News -  Yay.  We're twenty-eighth.  Go us.  We rock.  However, regardless of our low-compared-to-other-wealthy-nations status, this really highlights how bad things are in less developed nations, for mothers and children, and ultimately how blessed we still are.  Women and children are so much worse off elsewhere, which leads me to...
  
• Save the Children - They've been getting a lot of press and exposure lately (including the above article) so I looked them up. They get an "A" rating from CharityWatch.org and I sure can't argue with the idea of saving 4 million newborns (and more) every year.  I'll be exploring further and I hope you will, too.
• "Should You Use Sunscreen" from Food Renegade -  Another topic I'm split on, personally.  Growing up, I rarely used sunscreen unless it was forced on me, and I'd ed up with tan lines clear to December.  As a teen, I'd spend the majority of my summer hanging out at  stable, in and out of the sun all day.  I'd burn badly once, maybe twice per year, but I'm not sure I'd credit my diet, a base tan, or dumb luck.  An intriguing concept though, and worth the read. All told, Vitamin D3 = good. 
• "Generally Relative" from Order of the Stick - And to end this post, we have this little gem of geekery.  "Wow! You have pretty cool armor for a midwife!" It still makes me burst into giggles!  Only very tangentially related to (harhar) my normal topics, but, well, have a GREAT week, and remember to smile!