INDfamily

THE MOTHER LOAD: Hot cars, late bell times and fat ladies

by Amanda Bedgood

Newsy bits for the whole fam

Out of the hot seat

Each summer we hear the horror stories of children left in car seats and this mom always wonders why no tech savvy momma has invented a deterrent of the electronic variety to stop these deaths. Now someone finally has.

Automotive designer Dennis Aneiros has created a a system that alerts parents if a child is left behind.

"Hardwired into the car's electrical & alarm system, it can activate the vehicles honking, lights, alarm system, and even the air conditioning system to cool down a child who is overheating. The ANEIROS team also plans to develop direct smart phone connection for future models, which will allow the system to send mobile notifications to users smartphone."

Sounds super smart to us. But, don't jump on Amazon yet to buy one. It may be awhile before the system is on the market. The team began a crowd funding campaign this week to raise $500,000 to complete the system's final engineering, tooling and manufacturing. The team has 30 days to raise the funds through Indie Go Go and you can go right here to check it out.

Late start

High schoolers who start the school day later do better. This late sleeper could've told you that. Instead we'll give you a real study with real stats to prove it.

The project, commissioned by the CDC for three years, showed five Minnesota high schools proved what many have long suspected - students' grades and health dramatically improved after administrators pushed back the first period bell.

"Specifically, the study found improved attendance, standardized test scores and academic performance in math, English, science and social studies. It also noted decreased tardiness, substance abuse, symptoms of depression, and consumption of caffeinated drinks."

Sounds like maybe all our days should start a bit later.

Fat chance

Obesity and fertility, pregnancy and weight gainĀ - the touchiest of topics - are just the sort of conversations one doctor's group is urging physicians to brave with their patients.

"The latest news about the negative effects of our nation's obesity epidemic on everything from fertility to pregnancy and maternal mortality recently prompted the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) to urge doctors to talk with patients about the benefits of slimming down before trying to conceive. It's part of an ongoing push to make chats about women's "reproductive lifespan" as routine as an annual pap smear."

But, discussing the subject, even by doctors, has historically been verging on taboo. The article points out that just as docs shy away from telling women their eggs are getting old, many are less than enthusiastic about pointing out obesity as a hindrance to becoming a mother.

About one-third of women in this country are obese and most face no difficulties conceiving. However, evidence shows that "obesity raises a woman's risk of gestational diabetes, hypertension, premature delivery, miscarriage, and stillbirth. A mother's chance of having to undergo a caesarian section is 34% if her BMI is over 30, and 47% if her BMI is over 35-compared to 21% for women with a BMI under 30, according to one study. There's even evidence that babies born to obese women have a greater chance of suffering neural defects than those whose mothers are normal weight, and will be at greater risk of being obese themselves."