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As the new school term starts, the revelation that hundreds of children suffer from eating disorders has put teachers on alert.

On Gemma Jones’s ninth birthday, she and her family piled into their car and travelled the 80 miles from their Surrey home town to London for the day. The occasion, however, was far from celebratory. Having lost weight drastically in the previous few weeks, the schoolgirl had just been diagnosed with anorexia nervosa by her local hospital.
“The doctors recognised their lack of specialist experience in treating young children with anorexia and sent her to Great Ormond Street Hospital, which has one of the few specialist services for under-13s,” recalls Gemma’s father, Alan.
At Great Ormond Street, Gemma was told she had a day’s grace to start eating, or be admitted as an inpatient. Back home that night, she spent the evening lying in front of the TV, gaunt and hollow-eyed, refusing dish after dish that her parents pleaded with her to eat. Her distraught family felt they had no option but to drive her back to London.

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I have been described as many things in my life. But my Italian father’s wry (and not completely serious) observation has stuck: ‘If you were a car, you’d be a write-off.’ Nice. But he was right. At 12 years old I had my first bout of psoriasis.

The skin all over my body would become red, itchy, flaky and inflamed – on five occasions it has been so painful and unsightly that I was hospitalised for several weeks at a time.

They would coat me in goop until the skin healed. Then, aged 26, I was diagnosed with thyroid disease. It’s a condition that causes my hormone levels to fluctuate wildly. Without daily medication, I would balloon in weight and feel exhausted and miserable. To top it all, when I was 30, I had an operation to remove a cyst – a fluid-filled sac – that had developed in one of my ovaries. To date, I’ve had the procedure repeated five times. You see? A write-off.

My burning desire has always been to create a loving family, complete with a soul mate and children. But, sadly, thanks to my myriad health problems, which are closely linked to the reproductive hormone oestrogen, over the years doctors have told me that children were highly unlikely. Maybe this is why I’ve worked so hard.

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The time of year a baby is born can shape what profession they will embark on in later life, a new study has suggested.

Being born in a certain month appears to indicate the statistical likelihood of what job a person will end up with, the study by the Office for National Statistics found.
Researchers have uncovered that the month in which babies are born could also affect everything from intelligence to length of life.
A child born December is more likely to become a dentist while someone whose birthday falls in January will tend to a debt collector, they found.
A February birth appears to increase the chances of being an artist while March babies appear to go on to become pilots
Meanwhile, April and May are said to have a fairly even spread of professions, births in the summer months mean a much lower chance of becoming a high-earning football player, doctor or dentist.

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How mother broke the overweight cycle

A mother whose overweight daughter had to borrow her size 32 clothes says she sent her to fat camp so she would not have the same miserable childhood she had.

Marissa Robson has spent most of her life being overweight and as a child was reclusive and shy. But when she saw how her daughter Leah Robson-Strange, then aged 11 and weighing close to 14st, was following in her footsteps, she took drastic action to help her lose the pounds.

Miserable and suffering from behavioural problems, Leah was called a ‘freak’ at school and cruel classmates used to push her into small spaces to see if she would fit.

Realising how unhappy she was, Marissa set out on a long battle to get Leah to a £4,000-a-time fat camp and over the next three years watched as her daughter blossomed from an uncomfortable pre-teen into a confident young girl.

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Cabinet minister Liam Fox has said he would support efforts to reduce the “far too high” number of abortions.

Amid tensions within the coalition over a backbench bid to change the law on counselling for women considering a termination, Dr Fox said he would back anything that made people “think twice”.

Tory MP Nadine Dorries is rallying support for an amendment to the Health and Social Care Bill which would prevent abortion providers giving advice to pregnant women.

The move would stop organisations such as Marie Stopes and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service providing counselling. Ms Dorries says that, because they receive money for carrying out abortions, they have a vested interest.

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Charities launch nationwide education drives to encourage use of life-saving skills

Lives are being put at risk because people are avoiding learning first aid for fear of getting it wrong, a leading charity warns today.

A British Red Cross poll of more than 2,000 adults across the UK found that nearly two-thirds of respondents thought people avoid learning first aid because of the responsibility it carries.

The survey also showed that only 3 per cent of people would like to learn first aid if they had two hours of free time. However, 81 per cent of those questioned thought everyone should know basic first aid.

The findings come ahead of World First Aid Day on Saturday, when the British Red Cross will launch a free online resource designed to be the simplest way to learn basic life-saving skills. Everyday First Aid allows users to learn at their own pace through videos, real-life scenarios and downloadable content.

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Don’t mess with a woman who breast-feeds her children – for she’s likely to turn into a ‘mother bear’.

Scientists believe those who nurse their babies are fearlessly protective of their offspring in a similar manner to female grizzlies.

They have more courage and are better at defending themselves than those who give their babies formula milk – or who do not have a child. In what is thought to be the first study of its kind on humans, researchers have shown that breast-feeding helps dampen a woman’s fear by lowering her blood pressure and changing levels of hormones.

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Acne is a very common skin condition which it is tempting to characterise as purely a teenage affliction.

However, it can last into the late twenties or even thirties and become a serious and embarrassing problem affecting relationships, confidence and the mental health of sufferers.

Yet a recent review of research into treatments for acne found lots of gaps in information, particularly when comparing how well different products work.

Online acne support groups are full of people feeling depressed, lonely and enduring sleepless nights before they find the right treatment and get rid of the terrible spots that characterise this chronic skin condition.

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A young woman diagnosed with cervical cancer has undergone pioneering keyhole surgery to remove her tumours without robbing her of the chance to have children in the future.

Julie Johnston, 25, was diagnosed in June after an abnormal smear test.

To treat cervical cancer, surgeons typically have to carry out a hysterectomy and remove the entire womb, meaning the woman will no longer be able to have children. But in one of the first cases of its kind, Miss Johnston underwent a procedure called total laparoscopic radical trachelectomy.

The surgery, which normally takes just over six hours, only removes parts of the cervix infected with the tumours.

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A young father died on Christmas Day after doctors repeatedly mistook a fatal bowel infection for a groin strain.

Malcolm Drake, 23, died from blood poisoning after visiting doctors six times with the same complaint.

On the final occasion, he was unable to walk when he visited a locum GP – but was still sent home. Three days later he was found dead by his fiancée at their home.

Yesterday his family were awarded a six-figure payout from the NHS after hospital bosses admitted failings.

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A mother has hailed her daughter a lifesaver after the youngster inadvertently helped her detect breast cancer.

When Amelia Jones was just 15-months-old, she elbowed her mother Jill accidentally in the side of her left breast.

When Mrs Jones, 41, rubbed at her breast to ease the pain she felt a lump there that she hadn’t felt before. Tests showed it was breast cancer and she underwent an immediate operation to remove the lump.

In an attempt to beat the disease, Mrs Jones had a mastectomy operation, chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment.

After making a full recovery, she now credits Amelia, now four, with saving her life that day.

Mrs Jones, a former cabin crew attendant, who lives in Cricklade, Wiltshire, with husband Martin, 47, an airline pilot, said: ‘I feel so lucky to have Amelia.

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Seven-year-old with skin so delicate it falls it off at the slightest knock

This is the brave seven-year-old girl who is determined to live life to the full despite the fact a rare condition means her skin is as delicate as a butterfly’s wings and falls off at the slightest knock.

Hollie Shaw loves to rollerskate with her friends, play computer games with her brother and recently fulfilled her dream of learning how to horse ride.

This is despite the rare genetic condition which means her skin blisters at the slightest touch and can shear off entirely if she slips or falls.

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Their distinctive chimes used to be a familiar sound. But more regulation has pushed the industry close to meltdown

For decades, their chugging and chiming has signalled the start of summer and feeding time for generations of children armed with small change and sweet tooths. Now, Britain’s ice cream vans are stalling their way into a winter of discontent and towards an uncertain future in which they face becoming as endangered as milk floats.

Meltdown for the country’s estimated 5,000 ice cream vans started with the rise of the domestic freezer in the Fifties but has been compounded more recently by new EU rules introducing lower emission limits. These mean that many older ice cream vans face costly conversions or face being taken off the road.

In London, meanwhile, tighter emissions standards will come into force from January next year. Some ice cream vans will be able to fit a filter, but the charge for those that don’t will be £100 a day.

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A cancer-stricken grandfather given just 12 months to live has undergone a breakthrough treatment which killed his tumours – in just two days.

Brian Brooks, 72, received the devastating prognosis after a random bowel screening test showed his colon and liver was riddled with cancer.

With nothing to lose, the father-of-two from Ely, Cambridgeshire, put himself forward for a trial therapy for liver cancer called Foxfire, spearheaded by Cancer Research UK’s Bobby Moore Fund.

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Mexico plans to administer the vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV), which can cause cervical cancer, to all girls beginning next year, the country’s health ministry said Tuesday.

Beginning in 2012, the HPV vaccine will be part of the normal course of shots given to all girls at the age of nine, Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said.

Cervical cancer kills about 4,200 women in Mexico each year.

The minister said while deaths from cervical cancer had fallen 47 percent in the country over the past two decades, there was still 13.4 cases for every 100,000 women last year.

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Parents should put pressure on schools which have a low rating of food hygiene standards, says a consumer watchdog.

Consumer Focus Wales said as schools prepared to reopen next week, latest figures show 48 education premises had low Food Standard Agency ratings.

It has called for more transparency about why a low rating is given for food hygiene and urged parents to demand improvements where necessary.

Councils said the issues were being tackled.

Consumer Focus Wales revealed the figures ahead of youngsters returning to school after the summer break.

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Women who have abortions are at risk of severe mental health problems, new research has found.

The study showed that those who undergo abortion face nearly double the risk of mental health difficulties compared with others and that one in ten of all mental health problems was a result of an abortion.
The findings come as Tory MP Nadine Dorries, backed by Labour’s Frank Field, has put down an amendment to a Health Bill which requires women seeking abortion to see an independent counsellor first.
Currently organisations which provide abortions offer counselling, but critics say the advice given can often be biased.

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Alan Murchison, CEO and executive chef, the 10 in 8 restaurant group

Having four children, I understand the challenges in feeding kids without spending hours in the kitchen. You have to get a balance of “treats” and healthy food into a lunchbox. The most important thing is to get a mix of simple sugars for that quick energy fix and complex carbohydrates such as bread and pasta for slow energy release.

Dried fruits are great for lunchboxes, an easy store-cupboard ingredient that can quite happily knock about in a school bag with no problems. Favourites in our house include dried banana chips, apple, mango, apricots. You could bulk up their lunchbox with a good-quality unsweetened yoghurt and mix in some dried pineapple chunks.

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Italy is famed for its healthy Mediterranean diet, but alarming new figures show that it has a higher proportion of overweight children than anywhere in Europe.

While the rest of the world is encouraged to copy the traditional Italian menu by swapping junk food for fruit and vegetables, it seems Italians are forgetting the lessons they taught everyone else.

Traditional home-made meals and snacks are losing out to low-cost, calorie-packed fast food. Coupled with less physical activity, the results are evident with ever more “ciccioni” – fat children – on every street corner.

Dr Antonello del Vecchio, a practising doctor and spokesman for Slow Food, the international movement born 20 years ago, said: “Italians are eating less and less of the Italian diet and more and more fast food,” he said. “For a long while, unlike northern Europe, we resisted, but now it’s here and we’re seeing the results.

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Pregnant women with heart disease face a 100-fold increased risk of death, with the danger for offspring multiplied by ten, according to figures released Tuesday at a medical congress in Paris.

Analysing data on 1,300 women gathered since 2008 from 28 countries across Europe, researchers reported 13 maternal deaths – one percent of the cohort – among expectant women with pre-existing heart conditions.

In healthy women, the average rate of maternal mortality in Europe is about one in 10,000.

Of the 1,300 women, 869 had congenital heart disease, 333 were vascular heart patients, 79 had cardiomyopathy and 24 suffered from ischaemic heart disease.

Cardiomyopathy causes the heart muscle to become thicker and more rigid than normal, while ischaemic heart disease is characterized by reduced blood supply to the heart.

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A revolutionary operation will give new hope to children dying of kidney failure.

The procedure means youngsters waiting for a transplant can receive a life-saving organ from a donor regardless of blood compatibility.

A medical team at Evelina Children’s Hospital has become the first in Europe to successfully complete the breakthrough operation on a child.

Consultant transplant surgeon Nizam Mamode, who led the team, said the operation – ABO-incompatible kidney transplantation – could save the lives of thousands of children.

He said: “For most children with chronic renal failure, a kidney transplant is the only long-term treatment which offers them a near-normal life, and for some it can be life-saving. However there is a limited pool of living donors for small children.

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Hannah Harpin is one of only 30 people worldwide known to suffer from Hay-Wells syndrome

For most families, playing on a sunny beach is the perfect day out.

But for parents Wendy Shires and Richard Harpin, they know that a hot day could kill their eight-year-old daughter.

Hannah Harpin, of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, suffers from genetic disorder Ectodermal Dysplasia, which prevents her sweat glands from working.

The Lower Hopton Junior and Infant School pupil is one of eight people in the UK and 30 worldwide known to suffer from Hay-Wells syndrome, a type of Ectodermal Dysplasia.

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Weight had spiralled to 21 stone after diets failed

An overweight primary school teacher has lost almost eight stone after she was hypnotised into believing doctors had fitted her with a gastric band.

Kim Robinshaw, 31, whose weight had spiralled to 21 stone was sent into a trance by a slimming expert after other dieting attempts failed to work.

When she woke up Kim believed she had undergone surgery to have the band fitted and she started shedding the pounds.

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Special celebration for baby who ‘died’ for an hour after his heart stopped

A baby whose heart and lung functions almost stopped for an hour when he was just weeks old has celebrated his first birthday.

Born seven weeks premature, little Alfie Davies stopped breathing in his incubator when he was just 21 days old.

Doctors operated to repair his paralysed diaphragm but, the very next day, the tiny tot suffered a cardiac arrest.

His breathing and heart function stopped for almost an hour while medics fought to bring him back from the brink of death.

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A boy of 11 has been treated in hospital after contracting a sexual disease, a shocking survey has found.

He is the youngest among a group of children under 16 who have been treated for sexually transmitted infections in UK hospitals.

The figures have revealed that almost 1,000 under-16s have been diagnosed with venereal diseases such as herpes, chlamydia and gonorrhoea in the past three years.

The number of youngsters seeking treatment was revealed by a freedom of information request, that also listed two 12-year-old boys among those infected.

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The vocabulary of babies who are bilingual remains flexible as they grow up and boosts their speaking ability as toddlers, a university study has found.

Babies and children have a great ability to learn a second language but that begins to fade as early as their first birthdays.

Now researchers at the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences are investigating the brain mechanisms that contribute to infants’ prowess at learning languages, with the hope that the findings could boost bilingualism in adults, too.

In the research, the scientists report that the brains of babies raised in bilingual households show a longer period of being flexible to different languages, especially if they hear a lot of language at home.

The researchers also show that the relative amount of each language – English and Spanish – babies were exposed to affected their vocabulary as toddlers.

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Eczema is the biggest skin disease facing Britain’s children, experts say.

A survey of 123 dermatologists carried out by the British Skin Foundation found that 88 per cent believed childhood eczema had increased over the past three years to reach a “problematic scale”.
It comes after an international study found that levels of the condition in Britain, which leaves young sufferers with dry and itchy rashes, are among the highest in the world and that being breastfed does not provide protection as previously thought.

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A six-year-old boy has been suspended from lessons for having his hair too long – which he is growing to help child cancer patients.

Teachers at the Blanco Independent School District, in San Antonio, ordered Gareth Shand to leave his lessons because of his hair and the fact he has a diamond earring.

They said he was in breach of the school’s dress code and has been made to sit in the head-teacher’s office until he abides by the school rules. His mother Kandi Shand told Kens5.com her son was growing his hair long so he can donate it to Locks of Love, a charity which provides hair pieces for young cancer patients, in a few months.

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As sisters they already had an unbreakable bond, but after nine-year-old Lauren Withers gave her five-year-old sibling lifesaving bone marrow –the pair are closer than ever.

Tiny Emily Wither was given just six months to live after doctors discovered she had a rare condition and would die without a bone marrow transplant.

After doctors discounted Emily’s parents Jo, 34, and her husband Mark, 41, big sister Lauren said she was determined to help. Emily started to become exhausted and lethargic in April last year. Her mother took her to the GP where he diagnosed her with a bad cold, but she didn’t get any better.

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Pregnant women considering an abortion will be offered independent counselling under Government plans to be announced next week.

MPs will debate proposals to prevent organisations that carry out terminations – such as Marie Stopes and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service – offering pre-abortion counselling. Tory MP Nadine Dorries, who backs such a ban, said the independent advice would not be compulsory but an option. She said her aim was not to achieve fewer abortions but that could be the consequence, which would be “good”.

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Manufacturers of sugary drinks should be banned from marketing their products to children, a report has said.

The study by the Children’s Food Campaign looked at the advertising and marketing of soft drinks in the UK in June and July this year. It wants to see tougher rules brought in to stop manufacturers marketing drinks towards children and a “watershed” brought in for TV advertising of sweet drinks.

The report criticised manufacturers for prominently using fruit on packaging and in advertising when the products themselves contain little fruit. Still Vimto, which contains 5% juice, and Capri Sun, which has 12%, both came under fire for this.

The report said: “It is disingenuous for any manufacturer to argue that a marketing campaign that misrepresents the product and misleads consumers is excusable because its fruit content is listed on an ingredients panel. We believe this is equivalent to a contract’s ‘small print’ and is not an acceptable get-out clause.”

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This month it was reported that the first British man to have his heart replaced with a plastic version was home safe and well.

Matthew Green, 40, who was suffering from a disease of the heart muscle, had the transplant at Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire. He can now lead a normal, active life – although he must carry a battery pack with him at all times to power the heart.

But for some patients, a ground-breaking medical discovery, made by accident, could eradicate the need for any form of heart transplant – welcome news for the 10,000 Britons currently waiting for one.

Eighteen months ago, Asif Hasan, consultant cardiac surgeon at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, was making a last-ditch attempt to save a young girl’s life. She needed a heart transplant but was too weak to undergo the procedure.

So he and his team performed stopgap surgery to salvage what little of her heart was still working and implanted an electric pump to keep it beating while they waited for her to gain strength for surgery.

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The popular children’s drink Fruit Shoot can contain no fruit at all, while many have a content of just 5 per cent, health campaigners say.

And to make matters worse, many are loaded with added sugar.

A report shows misleading marketing of soft drinks plays on health concerns, but consumers have to scour the small print to find the fruit content. It found Ribena squash promotes its vitamin C content without making clear that 90 per cent of the vitamin content is artificially added to the drink because it contains such a small amount of fruit juice.

Fruit Shoot Hydro doesn’t contain any fruit at all, while Still Vimto and Ribena have only 5 per cent fruit and contain more added sugar than fruit.

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Fury over NHS charging up to £6 for baby scan photos

Hospitals have been accused of cashing in on expectant mothers with charges of over a fiver for pictures of their babies in the womb.

Ante-natal wards up and down the country regularly insist proud parents pay a mandatory donation in exchange for the tiny print outs of unborn foetuses.

Posts on online pregnancy forums have revealed a postcode lottery in ultrasound photo charges, which have jumped from a nominal couple of pounds to up to £6 in some areas.

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Concerns that mothers on low incomes may lose out are matched by questions about the NCT’s firm belief in natural childbirth

Signing up for NCT antenatal classes ranks alongside buying a Bugaboo pram and joining Mumsnet for many middle-class pregnant women.

New figures show that there has been a boom in the number of women paying around £200 to attend a course of private NCT sessions – a jump from 25,000 in 2005/6 to 40,000 in 2010/11 – while the provision of free NHS classes in austerity Britain is increasingly patchy.

Despite a discount scheme from the NCT for the poorest families, a two-tier antenatal system is emerging, where less well-off women have little access to the advice and support so crucial for first-time mothers. Along with the scrapping of the health in pregnancy grant and child trust funds and changes to child tax credits and the Sure Start maternity grant, it is yet another area where mothers on low incomes are losing out under the coalition’s cuts programme.

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Graham Norton offers advice to a young readers whose friends have started smoking, leaving him to feel left out.

Dear Graham
Having recently joined Facebook I discovered that among my partner’s half-dozen or so friends were two ex-girlfriends. Though the relationships were fairly short-lived (both a couple of years) in the early Noughties, they were the most serious of his life at that point. He was left badly hurt by both.
I felt angry and hurt to see them there, I think because I feel men in particular find it difficult to move on from painful relationships. I asked him to remove them from his Facebook, which he did. He says I did not have a logical reason for this, he just wants to be friends and that I am behind the times. He says people should be able to stay friends with their exs and he didn’t hide anything.
We are both in our late forties and it is the most serious relationship for both of us and I know he loves me. I am quite insecure (and gullible), am I being unreasonable?

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Police, Ofsted and children’s services have launched a joint investigation into the welfare of children at two privately owned nurseries.

Parents with children at Little Joes Day Nursery and Heworth House Day Nursery, both in York, have been informed about the inquiry.

The investigation relates to the running of the organisations and the quality of care provided – there is “no suggestion” that any sexual abuse has taken place.

A joint statement from Ofsted, City of York Safeguarding Children Board, City of York Council and North Yorkshire Police confirmed they were carrying out joint inquiries into Little Joes, on Fishergate, and Heworth House, on Melrosegate.

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Giving vitamin A supplements to children under the age of five in developing countries could save 600,000 lives a year, researchers claim.

Writing in the British Medical Journal, UK and Pakistani experts assessed 43 studies involving 200,000 children, and found deaths were cut by 24% if children were given the vitamin.

And they say taking it would also cut rates of measles and diarrhoea.

The body needs vitamin A for the visual and immune systems to work properly.

It is found in foods including cheese, eggs, liver and oily fish.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that, around the world, 190 million children under the age of five may have a vitamin A deficiency.

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When mother-of-four Mandy Davies gave birth three years ago, she took the understandable decision with her husband to stop having children due to money constraints and her age.

So it was something of a shock when 42-year-old Mandy discovered she was expecting for a fifth time – a year after she was sterilised.

The assistant care manager had undergone a procedure to stop her becoming pregnant and put stomach pains experienced last Christmas down to a heavy period. When Mandy and husband David, 52, then found she was pregnant for a fifth time, she admitted she was ‘devastated at first’ and that it took ‘quite a few weeks to come round to the idea’.

Mandy, who despite being sterilised gave birth to daughter Layla last Friday, said: ‘I kept asking how could it have happened?’

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Parents increase their child’s risk of coronary heart disease through their genes and not through the family’s diet or lifestyle, a new study shows.

Children born to parents with CHD are 40 to 60 per cent more likely to develop the condition themselves, but growing up in an unhealthy household is of little importance.
Although children of people who suffer from the condition were already known to be at increased risk, it was not previously clear whether this was due to genetics or because children of unhealthy parents adopt similar lifestyles.
But a study of more than 80,000 men and women who were adopted as children showed that susceptibility to the disease is transmitted in the womb and not in the home.

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Breastfeeding may not protect children against developing eczema, a study suggests.

Scientists found babies who were exclusively breastfed for four months or longer were just as likely to develop eczema as those weaned earlier.

The UK is joined by European countries in recommending prolonged breastfeeding as a means of reducing the risk of childhood eczema.

Although the researchers are not disputing the other health benefits breast milk offers, they say that there is only a ‘small protective effect’ against severe eczema among babies breastfed for less than four months in developed countries.

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A three-year-old girl born with a bright red ”clown” birthmark on her nose can finally hold her head up high after undergoing a life changing operation to remove it.

Connie Lloyd was just one day old when her proud parents Zara and Tom, both 24, spotted a tiny red dot on her nose.

Over the next month the raised red circle grew to a diameter of 4cm and completely covered her tiny button nose.

Connie’s worried parents took her to their GP and were referred to a skin specialist who diagnosed the youngster with haemangioma – a benign tumour.

After years of name calling Zara and Tom found a surgeon who could remove Connie’s growth and she is now looking forward to starting pre-school in two weeks time.

Proud mum Zara admitted she often hid Connie to avoid ”horrible” remarks and revealed she has been ”amazed” by the results of the operation.

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Men also suffer from ‘baby fever’, the desperate desire to be a parent

A new study has revealed that men – as well as women – suffer from ‘baby fever’, the overwhelming desire to have children.

The emotional and physical phenomenon is usually associated with women, who can be subject to sudden and extreme maternal urges.

Gary Brase, associate professor of psychology at Kansas State University, and his wife Sandra, a project co-ordinator with the university’s College of Education, have spent nearly 10 years researching baby fever.

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Kelly Bates has had 18 children. She has had no twins, no C-sections and 14 drug-free births and has spent more of her adult life pregnant than not.

But, even with the unimaginable logistics of raising a family that could field two sports teams, the 44-year-old mother from Lake City, Tennessee, is praying for two more baby boys.

Kelly told ABC News’ Nightline: ‘It feels more normal to me to be pregnant than not be pregnant. I’m happy holding a baby.’ The roll call so far stands at: Zach, 22, Michaella, 21, Erin, 20, Lawson, 19, Nathan, 18, Alyssa, 16, Tori, 15, Trace, 14, Carlin, 13, Josie, 12, Katie, 10, Jackson, nine, Warden, eight, Isaiah, six, Addallee, five, Ellie, four, Callie, two, and, last but not least, Judson, who is just 11-months-old.

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Children must be prescribed ‘dramatically’ fewer antibiotics because the drugs may contribute to superbugs, allergies, diabetes and obesity, a leading academic has claimed.

While antibiotics have helped us live longer, they are also killing off bacteria which fight disease.

It is the latest salvo in the debate on antibiotic overuse, following a series of studies linking them to increased risks of various diseases. This time U.S. microbiology expert Martin Blaser said his research, to be published later this year, suggests our ‘good bacteria’ never fully recover from a course of antibiotics.

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Agony of adorable twin’s dream to dance like her sister

Side-by-side these adorable twins look identical.

One of them, however, is wearing leg splints and can barely walk without a frame.

That’s because Isabella Platt suffers from a debilitating form of cerebral palsy. All she wants is ‘new’ pair of legs so she can do what she loves most – dance with her sister Gabriella.

But Isabella is having to fight for them – because she can’t get the operation she needs on the NHS.

The fun-loving four-year-old was born with the condition and needs a frame to stand upright.

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“I’m not fat, I’m pregnant!” Actually, some women may be both but there are currently no UK guidelines to help midwives and women define how much is too much when it comes to weight gain during pregnancy.

In this week’s Scrubbing Up, Bridget Benelam from the British Nutrition Foundation says there needs to be clear advice on weight control for pregnant women.

Nearly half of women of childbearing age are overweight or obese in the UK and this means there are increasing numbers of obese pregnant women. But spotting those mothers whose bumps are due to fat as well as baby is difficult, not least because there are no UK guidelines on how much weight women should gain during pregnancy.

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British doctors say there is now conclusive evidence that they have found a genetic cure for children born with severely compromised immune systems.

They say gene therapy programmes developed at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London are now proven to give children with ‘boy in the bubble’ sydrome, and a related condition, near normal lives.
Rhys Evans, now 10, was the first to be given the treatment, which involves manipulating a single faulty gene, back in 2001. Since then another nine British children with boy in the bubble syndrome have received it.
In an academic paper published on Wednesday, doctors at the specialist children’s hospital said all 10 had benefited from it, enabling them to go to school and socialise normally with other children.
Half have been able to stop taking boosters of immunoglobins, antibodies which help fight infections.

Source: TELEGRAPH>> Read full article and comment

Our experts answer your questions on how best to look after a child with bad allegies and the new Dukan diet.

Q My son, aged 12, has severe reactions to many allergens – bee stings, nuts, pollen etc. I don’t like the idea of wrapping him in cotton wool; at home I can keep an eye out for risks without making him feel coddled.
He’s due to be going on a French exchange this month and I’m nervous about giving the host family the responsibility. What’s your advice?
A DR DAN RUTHERFORD WRITES:
The most severe type of allergic reaction, anaphylaxis, in which the affected person may collapse and have difficulty breathing, is an alarming event for anyone, including medical staff, to witness. You have had no choice but to learn about and deal with your son’s problem, it could be a daunting thought for a family with no experience.

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Regular sweet snacks increase threat 33%

Snacking on biscuits and cakes increased the risk of developing a tumour by 42 per cent.

Snacking regularly on biscuits, buns or cakes can significantly increase a woman’s chances of developing womb cancer, a study shows.

Women who gave themselves such a treat two to three times a week were 33 per cent more likely to suffer the disease than those who rarely raided the biscuit tin.

Among those indulging more than three times a week, the risk of falling ill with a tumour jumped by 42 per cent.

However, their overall chances were still low as the odds of the average woman in the study developing the disease during the 18-plus years of the research were just over 1 per cent.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment