Midweek News of Interest for Late-in-Life Moms

My news blog is usually limited to Monday. But there's alot of newsworthy items this week, so I opted for a midweek post.

News to know:

Babies from frozen embryos are just as healthy
Babies conceived in test tubes might be just as healthy as those conceived naturally, according to researchers.
In-vitro fertilization (IVF) and the freezing of embryos did not significantly increase the babies' chances of medical problems, according to two studies presented at a meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.

Doctors offer $200 IVF in Africa
Doctors plan to offer a cheap in-vitro fertilization procedure across Africa, where more than 30 percent of women on the continent are unable to have children, experts say. Women often are ostracized as witches or social outcasts if they cannot have children, according to an official with a task force at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology looking into infertility in developing countries.
The cheap version of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) costs less than $200. Standard IVF treatments in the West cost up to $10,000. The success rate would also be lower because fewer eggs would be produced by using the cheaper drugs.

Parents of twins more prone to mental issues
Parents of twins are more likely to have mental health problems than those of single-born babies, researchers said. Finnish experts found that the parents of twins had more depression, anxiety and other problems than parents of single-born babies.

Baby's first smile gives mom's brain a buzz
Scientists at the Baylor College of Medicine say that seeing your own child smile actually activates the pleasure receptors in the brain typically associated with food, sex — and drug addiction.
Researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging to scan the mothers' brain reactions to photographs of their own 5-month to 10-month-old babies and those of others in three emotional states: happy, neutral and sad. Seeing their own happy babies sent blood rushing to the moms’ brain regions associated with dopamine, a neurotransmitter that plays an important role in addiction. The spike rewarded the mothers with a neural kick prompting them to want to care for their babies, according to the study.