Nausea and Vomiting in pregnancy, ‘Up Baby IO’

Research has suggested that “women who suffer morning sickness during pregnancy may be more likely to have a child with a high IQ”, The Daily Telegraph reported. It said that doctors believe babies’ development could be aided by the same hormones that make expectant mothers suffer nausea and vomiting. A study of mothers and children, the newspaper reported, found that children of mothers who experienced morning sickness were more likely to do better in intelligence tests.

The study is based on examined the effect of morning sickness on a child’s long-term neurodevelopment (the development of things like intelligence, behavior, memory and attention) and what affect a drug for treating vomiting in pregnancy had on this.

One of its conclusions was that the severity of sickness is a significant predictor of higher IQ scores in children. Despite these claims, however, this would need to be proven in further research. In addition, the researchers’ theory that hormones might be involved would need to be tested in a study that actually measures these hormones.

Where did the story come from?

Dr Irena Nulman and colleagues from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada carried out this research. The study was supported by Duchesnay, a pharmaceutical company that markets Diclectin, the drug tested in this study, and vitamin

A medical research was carried out to determine the effects of mother’s nausea and vomiting during pregnancy (NVP), and the effect of drug Diclectin on the Child’s long term neurological development.

DIclectin, a drug which contains 10mg doxyylamine and vitamin B6 is the only approved drug for the treatment NVP word world but unavailable in the UK.

According to the study which was done in Canada, participants were recruited from the Toronto Motherisk NVP telephone hotline. This is an information and counseling service for women and healthcare professionals that offers advice on NVP and treatment safety.

Expectant mothers who called up were asked about the medication they took, their alcohol and tobacco intake and any other illnesses or complications of pregnancy they had experienced. They were also asked about the severity and duration of nausea and vomiting leading up to week 20 of their pregnancy. Weekly follow-up by phone documented the treatment (number of Diclectin tablets) and clinical presentation of NVP. The researchers also asked the mothers’ doctors for additional information. Women were interviewed six to nine months after childbirth about the delivery of their child and their child’s developmental milestones READ MORE.