Yasmin's baby talk/myopia

Yasmin's babbling never fails to make me smile.

"Ooo...so cute."

Yeap...Yasmin is beginning to learn to talk.She seems to understand us but still trying hard to imitate the sounds.But each passing day,I could hear that she's making each word that she've learn clearer.

It's really amusing when she says "boy" for ball or "nanak" for nenek.All children around her age are "baby".And when she wants milk,its "shushu".

She tickles me when she hold out her hand and says "come",asking me to follow her.Her favourite word for the day would be "Elmo",her favourite Sesame Street character.And when Elmo's show ends,she says "no more".

She's yapping alright.

Here's another good information about breastfeeding in a local context:

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/
163173/1/.html

Breastfeeding can reduce risk of myopia in children by half: doctors

If you were breastfed as a baby, chances are you're less likely to be
short-sighted.

Singapore doctors have found that breastfeeding reduces the risk of
myopia in children by almost half.

The study - a first in the world - has been published in the
prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association.

Associate Professor Saw Seang Mei, Dept of Community, Occupational
and Family Medicine, NUS, said: "We also found that the degree of
myopia was different. If the child was breastfed previously, the
degree of myopia was 50 degrees less severe compared to a child who's
not breastfed."

In 2004, a team of doctors and scientists conducted an analysis of
risk factors for myopia on 797 children aged 10 to 12 years.

They found that 69 percent of short-sighted children were not
breastfed, higher than the 62 percent of myopic children who were.

And with more than two-thirds of 12-year-olds in Singapore being
short-sighted, doctors say the protection that breastfeeding has
against myopia is significant.

Dr Chong Yap Seng, Consultant, Dept of Obstetrics and Gynaecology,
NUH, said: "We can't say for sure which substance is responsible.
Conveniently we can point to DHA (docosahexaenic acid) which is
present naturally in human milk as a substance that's associated with
better eye and brain development in children. However I think we
can't say that's the agent. There're many, many things in breastmilk
still being discovered everyday."

Dr Donald Tan, Deputy Director, Singapore National Eye Centre, said:
"We think this new finding is very exciting. Already we have ways of
reducing myopic progression. For example, we have atropine eye drops
which can reduce the progression of myopia. But this is the first
time we are able to show that by intervening at a very early stage,
we are able to stop myopia even from coming on from the very start."

"And the best thing is that this is an environmental type of
intervention which has got no risk, unlike eye drops. So we're now
able to do something in the environment which can affect how your
children become myopic or not myopic."

Dr Chong and Dr Tan are co-authors of the research paper on
"Association between Breastfeeding and Likelihood of Myopia in
Children".

So while mothers can't change their genes, they could reduce the risk
of myopia in their children by breastfeeding.

Currently, only one in five mothers are still breastfeeding when
their babies are 6 months old.

And doctors say this study would give them another reason to continue
breastfeeding for long-term health benefits.

The team of scientists says they intend to take the study findings to
the Health Promotion Board to get them to include "myopia protection"
on the list of benefits from breastfeeding in their public education.

Associate Professor Saw said: "This is a small initial but very
important study. We plan to launch a larger study that examines at
least 2,000 babies, and follow up with them for up to 10 years, to
prospectively ask them about breastfeeding habits, including the
duration and types of breastfeeding and we'll follow them up to
examine for myopia in later life." - CNA /ch

Hopefully,Yasmin won't be like me,having myopia.