Why Worries About Baby Are Bad for Baby

As sharply higher numbers of women work through pregnancy, many hear the same advice: Relax. Don’t stress out or you will harm your unborn baby.

Contrary to old beliefs, however, research shows that ordinary day-to-day job and home stress isn’t likely to cause low birth weight or other problems for most women. Traffic delays, work deadlines and other everyday hassles aren’t likely to pose a threat to unborn babies, researchers say, and pregnant women who feel they are coping well tend to do just fine.

Instead, new studies are revealing a link between a certain kind of stress and some developmental delays in the baby: worrying excessively about the pregnancy itself.

This “pregnancy-specific anxiety” was linked to lower cognitive-development scores in babies at 12 months of age, based on a study published recently in Child Development by researchers at the University of California, Irvine, echoing other research. Women who experience this kind of anxiety worry excessively about potential problems with fetal development, miscarriage or giving birth.

Researchers don’t yet understand the basis for this finding. Women may become excessively anxious about their pregnancies because they sense that something actually is amiss, which could account for the developmental delays. Or, a mother who is anxious and negative during pregnancy might tend to provide less nurturing and stimulating care after birth.

Whatever the cause, many obstetricians are urging pregnant women to stop obsessing about stress, and seek out more support from family and friends. “Most of my patients are so anxious it’s outrageous,” says Laura Riley, medical director of labor and delivery at Massachusetts General Hospital. “It’s amazing how many people will come to my office and say, ‘I’ve read that stress is very bad for pregnancy, and I’m all stressed out.”‘ She tells patients, “Now you’re all stressed-out about being stressed. This is just not helpful.”

Some obstetricians are sending expectant moms to prenatal-care groups where they can get stress relief the old-fashioned way: by talking to other pregnant women. In a program called Centering Pregnancy, about 10 expectant mothers who are all at the same stage of a healthy pregnancy receive prenatal care in a group. In periodic two-hour sessions scheduled with the same frequency as standard one-on-one prenatal checkups, the women first get private screenings for blood pressure, weight and other health indicators, then gather for discussion.

A midwife or obstetrician also often gives a brief talk on a scheduled topic, answers questions and corrects misinformation.

In the process, “you create more of a support group” for mothers, lowering their stress, says Peter Bernstein, a specialist in maternal fetal medicine at Montefiore Medical Center, New York.

An estimated 300 medical-care facilities are offering Centering Pregnancy groups, says Sharon Rising, executive director of Centering Healthcare Institute, Cheshire, Conn., a nonprofit promoting group care.

A study of 1,047 young mothers, published in 2007 in Obstetrics & Gynecology, found those who received prenatal care in a Centering Pregnancy group had one-third fewer preterm births, compared with others who received standard care.

Melisa Williams has had plenty of reasons to stress out over her first pregnancy. Several of her family members had miscarriages. She has read media stories about the hazards of stress during pregnancy, describing how “it could really take a toll on the baby,” says the New Yorker. And she has battled a lot of back pain. Co-workers at her retail store job have constantly warned her to take it easy. Assigned by her obstetrician to a Centering Pregnancy group, she says the sessions “helped me to relax.” Hearing other mothers talk with the midwife about back pain and other problems, she says, “it helped me know I wasn’t the only one going through that.”

While most pregnant women face moderate stress, a smaller slice have unrelenting, chronic strain. Women facing more difficult circumstances, such as extreme poverty, racism or serious family problems, have a higher risk of preterm birth or developmental problems. Also, research shows that going through a traumatic event, such as a natural disaster, during the first trimester also raises the risk of premature delivery or low birth weight.

In coping with all kinds of stress, family and friends can help a lot. Social support—kind words, nurturing friends and surroundings that prompt smiles and laughter—is emerging as a powerful antidote to pregnancy stress.

A 2008 Swiss study that subjected 60 pregnant women to stressors, such as a simulated job interview and a math test before a camera and an audience, found those who reported more “daily uplifts” in their lives, such as smiling, laughing and receiving compliments, were less likely to react negatively to stress. Positive social experiences seem to act as a buffer, the study found.

Researchers increasingly believe that how individual women react to stress is a major factor in its effects. A study led by researchers at Michigan State University has linked a hostile attitude in and of itself—that is, the tendency in a pregnant woman to feel angry, suspicious, cynical, tense or nervous a lot of the time—with an increased risk of preterm birth.

In the study of 2,018 women, published in 2008 in the journal Social Science & Medicine, women’s tendency toward hostility was measured by responses to a series of questions about their feelings and attitudes.

Researchers say building “stress resiliency”—a habit of staying calm and optimistic, and continuing to care well for yourself through periods of heavy stress—is a key to healthy birth outcomes. Michael Lu, an author and associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at University of California, Los Angeles, encourages women to start building resiliency against stress even before they become pregnant—forming good exercise, nutrition and sleep habits, and learning how to solve problems and face adversity without stressing out.

Learning to savor life’s joys, be grateful, and look at seemingly negative events from a positive angle, he says, can set the stage for a pregnancy immune to the hazards of stress.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303601504575153891118025102.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsTop

US – Kids learning to add colors to their diets

Two Northeast Ohio sisters are trying to bring a colorful new nutrition education program to preschool and school-age children.

Registered nurse Kris Rosenfeld of Akron and school counselor Kelly Hickey of Cleveland Heights developed and began marketing the Eat a Rainbow Make Your Body Smile program through their startup company, Soof-Soof LLC.

The program integrates nutrition and health education while teaching children to take care of their bodies and the planet.

”The model that we came up with is designed to be a self-monitored approach to good nutrition,” Rosenfeld said. ”The approach is a simple, flexible and affordable teaching model that tries to nurture a healthy self while cultivating a greater sense of environmental awareness.”

Rosenfeld said the typical way of trying to teach young children to eat healthy by following the food pyramid and reading food labels doesn’t seem to be working.

The sisters got the idea for their initiative after developing a modified ”eating rainbow” to use with their own children.

The two challenged their children to eat at least five servings a day from their modified food rainbow: red, yellow, orange, green and pur
plish-blue.

”Just knowing the five colors of the tweaked rainbow provided a very basic, visible cue that was very easily associated with fruits and vegetables,” Rosenfeld said.

PSI: Partners for Success and Innovation recently contracted with Soof-Soof to begin offering the Eat a Rainbow Make Your Body Smile program to area schools.

PSI is a Twinsburg-based company that provides educational support and health services to 465 schools throughout Ohio.

”PSI feels strongly about the need for nutrition education as part of preparing today’s students for a healthy future and this program supports the initiative,” said Karen McKelvey, PSI’s coordinator of prevention/intervention services and special projects.

Along with an educational curriculum, the sisters recently added healthy children’s cooking classes to the program’s options. The two developed their own kid-friendly recipes using healthy items, such as fruits, vegetables and grains.

Each eight-week session focuses on food safety and preparation, as well as hands-on opportunities to cook healthy foods that go along with the eating rainbow.

The hope is that kids will be better eaters if they play a role in preparing the food.

”Nothing ever included getting them in the kitchen,” Rosenfeld said. ”I love seeing how excited they are when they talk about what they made and what they tried.”

On a recent afternoon, Rosenfeld led an after-school cooking class with about a dozen children ages 4 to 8 at Old Trail School in Bath Township.

Children made red foods — Awesome Homemade Applesauce and Whole Grain Apple Waffles. (An accompanying box has the recipes.)

Six-year-old Joella Nagy concentrated carefully as Rosenfeld helped her chop an apple to make the applesauce.

Joella’s favorite part of the class?

”We get to eat the food after we make it,” she said with a grin.

http://www.ohio.com/business/89490702.html

US – Childhood Obesity Is a Social Justice Issue, Too

My teaching career began in a suburban high school where the lunchroom was a happy place. Posters advertising fruits, vegetables, and exercise covered the walls, and every day the kids could choose from a hot meal or the salad bar. The line for the salad bar was often longer than the pizza line. Few of the kids were overweight, even fewer were obese.

I spent the next two years teaching at an inner-city high school where, as my friend Sarah put it, “half the girls in my Algebra class are too obese to fit in their desks.” The cafeteria served hot meals, but fruits and vegetables were few and far between. Posters advertising cookies and pizza covered the walls. Instead of a salad bar, there was a slushy machine.

Michelle Obama’s recent decision to make childhood obesity her personal cause struck me deeply. Childhood obesity isn’t just a public health issue, it’s a social justice issue. It disproportionately affects the poor and minorities. It’s also one of those rare cases where the major domestic challenges of our time — education, health care, poverty — intersect, and where small changes can have a big impact.

Consider this: a study published this month in Health Affairs found that children from poor families are twice as likely to be obese as children from well-off families (45% vs. 22%). Minority children are far more likely to be obese than white children (41% of black and Hispanic children vs. 27% of white non-Hispanic children are obese). Regardless of race and class, kids who grow up in neighborhoods with rundown housing are more likely to be obese than those in neighborhoods with less decay (36% vs. 31%).

Poverty and minority status don’t just cause childhood obesity, though. The biggest problem with childhood obesity is that it doesn’t end when the kids grow up. Obesity can lead to a host of medical conditions throughout the lifespan — diabetes, hypertension, asthma, gallstones — and even to poverty itself. That’s right: obese children are more likely to become impoverished adults, spawning a vicious cycle in which poverty begets obesity, in turn leading to further poverty.

How do we break this cycle? The first step is to make healthy food more affordable and available. Not only did my inner-city students have limited options at school, many of them came from neighborhoods where there were literally no grocery stores that sold fresh produce. If kids can’t get fruits and vegetables at home or at school, they’re not likely to find them elsewhere.

Another step is education. Researchers at NIH and the University of Pittsburgh found that parental education has more impact on children’s’ eating habits than household income. In other words, if you go to college, your children are less likely to be obese regardless of how much money you make.

Targeted nutritional education can also help. School-based programs to combat obesity show promise — a recent initiative in the Philadelphia public schools reduced the number of overweight students by 50%, but unfortunately had little effect on obesity. We’re learning how to mitigate the problem, but we don’t yet know how to solve it.

Our First Lady is right to tackle this issue head-on. As our nation works to combat childhood obesity, we must focus especially on low-income and minority communities. We need to ensure that healthy foods are available and affordable, and that all parents understand the consequences of their children’s diets. Those of us working for educational justice need to create schools where salad bars, not slushies, are the norm.

Finally, the results from school-based programs show that we need to do more research on what works, especially in communities where many parents haven’t completed high school or college. Our children’s future depends on it — so too, by the way, does our national health care bill.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-tipler/childhood-obesity-is-a-so_b_518083.html

The Science of Infant Sleep – The First 6 Weeks

For nearly all parents, the first six weeks after their babies are born seem to be the longest and toughest in their lives. Struggling to understand their babies’ needs, parents are awakened at random intervals day after day and night after endless night. It is no wonder that sleep is the most common topic discussed during early visits to the pediatrician. Parents want know when their babies will sleep through the night. In this first installment of our new series on the science of infant sleep, we’ll take a look at the research related to why infants sleep the way they do at different ages and what, if anything, parents can do to help their babies sleep a little more.

Before we start, it is important for parents to know that we are not likely to provide “the answers” to parents’ sleep concerns. Instead, we’ll bring you up to speed with the latest information from the ever growing body of research related to infant sleep. We’re taking a developmental approach as we did with the series on the development of language. We’ll start with the prenatal period through the first 6 weeks.

How Do Babies Sleep Before They Are Born?

Since ultrasound technologies have become so advanced, researchers know far more than ever before about babies’ prenatal behaviors. Distinct sleep states are likely to appear during the last trimester of pregnancy with “active sleep” (lighter sleep with rapid eye movements) being dominant. As any mother knows, fetal sleep cycles do not necessarily to coincide with their moms’ sleep cycles. Many moms nearing delivery will tell you that their babies’ movements wake them up at night.

What Controls Newborn Sleep Patterns?

In older children and adults, sleep cycles are controlled by specific areas in our brains based on circadian rhythms sensitive to light/dark cycles and by other mechanisms that increase the need for sleep after longer periods of being awake. These controls make us more likely to sleep during the night but also allow us to sleep during the day if we’ve gone too long without sleep. Another control system influences how long we remain in different types of sleep. Newborns, who are just as happy to sleep during the day as at night, do not seem to develop effective circadian rhythms until they are around 6 weeks old or later. They also are unable to stay awake for long periods of time. Parents of newborns think that their babies wake and sleep randomly, and for the most part, that’s true.

Light Sleep, Dreaming, and Brain Development

Newborns sleep very differently from adults. They fall asleep dreaming and may keep dreaming for 20 or 30 minutes. We fall asleep into a “quiet” state of sleep and dream more later in the night and close to morning. Because dreaming happens in a lighter state of sleep, newborns are much more likely to wake up in response to noises, changes in temperature, and movement. When they are dreaming, newborns can make quite a few little noises and their eyes, facial muscles, arms, and legs will move a lot. Some babies may wake themselves up by their own movements. That’s why swaddling, which restricts babies’ movements, can help newborns sleep a little better. As babies get older, they don’t move around quite as much when they sleep and swaddling is no longer necessary.

The brain activity related to dreaming is important for babies’ development. Babies brains develop in part because of brain activity in response to stimulation. While babies are awake, they get stimulation from what they see, hear, feel, and taste. While they are asleep and dreaming, babies’ brains are active, allowing for brain development to continue even when babies can’t stay awake for very long. As babies get older and are able to stay awake for longer periods of time, they spend less time dreaming. During quiet sleep, babies move very little and they are harder to wake.

How Can Parents Help Their Newborns Sleep Longer?

Newborns spend a great deal of time in a lighter state of sleep, waking relatively easily. This is important for babies development and makes the baby likely to wake to feed, to stay warm, and to move as needed. Newborns are not much influenced by light and dark cycles and need to feed frequently. All this means that newborns are going to wake up…a lot…and there isn’t much that parents can do about it. But, there are a few things that can make this exhausting time just a bit easier.

Swaddling can help newborns sleep a little longer because they are less likely to wake themselves up

Breastfeeding mothers should avoid caffeine because newborns take much longer to process caffeine than adults do

Holding newborns who have fallen asleep until after their bodies and eyes stop moving will help babies stay asleep when they are put down. Babies in quiet sleep are much less likely to wake easily

Parents should pay attention to their newborns’ noises to learn when they are still asleep and just making noises versus when they are waking up for feeding or other care

Even using all of these tips, parents of newborns will find that their babies will wake frequently. The very best preparation is to arrange to get some help from family and friends to get you through this tough time. Fortunately, things change quickly and more sleep is just around the corner.

http://www.secretsofbabybehavior.com/2010/03/science-of-infant-sleep-part-i-first-6.html

Susceptibility to Autism Tied to Genes

Researchers have discovered two genes for brain proteins that seem to be linked to autism disorders.

“To our knowledge, this is one of the most comprehensive genetic analyses of association between these important genes in brain connections and ASD [autism spectrum disorder] risk,” said Anthony Monaco, of the Wellcome Trust Center for Human Genetics at the University of Oxford in England, in a statement.

Monaco and an international team of researchers studied genes from 661 families.

The genes in question encode proteins that are connected to brain development. One appears to influence the development of the nervous system, and the other is linked to the organization of connections between synapses.

Variations in the genes appeared to increase susceptibility to ASD, the researchers said.

The study was published March 25 in the journal Molecular Autism.

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/637475.html

China – Bodies of 21 infants, foetuses dumped in river

Staff at a hospital in eastern China have been suspended after the bodies of at least 21 infants and foetuses were found discarded in a river, state media reported on Tuesday.

At least eight bodies had tags indicating they were from the hospital of Jining Medical College in Shandong province, Xinhua news agency reported.

Authorities were quoted by the Beijing News saying the corpses could have been those of aborted foetuses or babies who had died of illness. They were found on the outskirts of the city of Jining.

Abortion is common in China, where at least 13 million births are terminated every year, due in part to the nation’s so-called “one-child policy” which limits most urban couples to just one offspring.

The family-planning rules are widely blamed for fuelling abortions of female foetuses in China, where boys are traditionally favoured.

A local health official said an investigation had been launched.

“The hospital medical staff involved have been suspended from their work during the investigation,” Zhong Haitao, a spokesman at the Jining Health Bureau, was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

The report did not specify how many staff members had been suspended.

One of the bodies had been bundled into a plastic bag marked “hospital waste”, the Beijing News said.

Zhong declined to comment when contacted by Agence France-Presse.

Reports of poor treatment of patients – both living and dead – in China’s underfunded hospitals are not uncommon.

Last June, a hospital in central China’s Hubei province was found to have dumped the bodies of two adults and six aborted foetuses at a construction site after failing to locate relatives of the dead, state media reported.

A bag containing severed human limbs was also discovered in the case, in the city of Xiangfan.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/bodies-of-21-infants-foetuses-dumped-in-river-20100331-rbvz.html

UK – Daycare Trust finds childcare tops election focus for mothers

More than two-thirds of mothers will choose to vote for the political party that promises to protect childcare funding, a Daycare Trust survey has found.

Tax credits and free childcare places were of primary concern, with more than 60 per cent of the 2,500 mothers surveyed saying that a policy to reduce or remove these perks would deter them from voting for a particular party.

More than half of respondents also said they would be less likely to vote for parties who posed a threat to the survival of Sure Start children’s centres.

Daycare Trust chief executive Alison Garnham said: “Our survey shows that any party hoping for success at this election must prove they are serious about giving families the support they need, and set out a clear commitment to invest in childcare.”

The charity has launched a six-point manifesto to highlight the issues most important to mothers. The manifesto is calling on the next government to:

• Aim to spend 1 per cent of GDP on early childhood education and care so that all children get the best start in life
• Extend free places to ensure that all children benefit from early childhood education and care
• Extend parental leave and make workplaces family friendly
• Fill the gaps in provision and guarantee extended schools
• Make childcare affordable for all parents
• Celebrate Sure Start children’s centres and extend the range of services on offer

Children’s Secretary Ed Balls said Labour would deliver on these recommendations. “Our election pledges put families and fairness first. We will raise tax credits for families with young children, protect investment in universal Sure Start children’s centres and extend free nursery places to 15 hours a week for all three- and four-year-olds.”

http://www.cypnow.co.uk/news/ByDiscipline/Childcare-and-Early-Years/993317/Daycare-Trust-finds-childcare-tops-election-focus-mothers/

UK – Violence ‘worsening in primaries’

Behaviour and physical violence is getting worse in primary schools, a survey suggests.

Some 48% of primary teachers reported pupils being physically aggressive, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers poll of more than 1,000 teachers says.

This compared to a fifth of secondary school teachers.

General Secretary Dr Mary Bousted said behaviour was worsening in primaries, but the government said it had made clear its expectations on behaviour.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families said that according to Ofsted, pupil behaviour is good or outstanding in 95% of primary schools.

The findings of the ATL survey of teachers, lecturers, support staff and school leaders in schools and colleges across the UK are being presented at the association’s annual conference in Manchester.

It found nearly 90% of staff had dealt with low level disruption such as talking and not paying attention (89%), but over 50% had reported verbal attacks, and nearly 40% intimidation.

Some 83% of staff had reported physical aggression such as pushing and shoving, while 48% had reported the use of fists and 42% the use of legs.

Sixty four staff had reported having been physically harmed by a student.

Over a quarter of school and college staff have had to deal with physical violence from a student, and just over a third had been confronted by an aggressive parent or guardian, the survey said.

ATL general secretary Mary Bousted told Today: “We think at primary schools behaviour is definitely getting worse.”

Nearly half of those questioned believed that behaviour in the classroom had become worse over the past two years, while 60% thought it had worsened over the past five.

Child benefit penalty

She said her members were proposing parents whose children repeatedly misbehaved should be given parenting classes, which she assumed would be compulsory.

If this did not work, they should lose some of their child benefit, members will say.

Carrie Longton, one of the founders of the Mumsnet website, said: “They [parents] feel really strongly that removing benefit doesn’t have any realistic chance of making things any better.

But Dr Bousted said research in other countries had shown this was not the most important indicator in explaining bad behaviour.

She said she had found, from her time as a teacher, that she had never got to meet the parents she had wanted to meet the most.

“They were simply absent from their children’s lives,” she said.

“We must say that there are certain standards we need you to adhere to to bring up your children.”

Better discipline

Staff in state schools reported higher levels of disrespect, verbal abuse, physical attacks and intimidation than those in private schools.

Schools Minister Vernon Coaker said: “Good behaviour and an atmosphere of respect should be the norm in all schools.

“We have given head teachers clear legal powers to enforce discipline which means they can get tough on poor behaviour without fear of being taken to court, including using reasonable force to control or restrain pupils.

“We want behaviour to be good in every school and later this week Ed Balls will announce the next steps on improving behaviour.”

Tory leader David Cameron said the rules needed to be changed to enable teachers to instil discipline, order and good values in schools.

He said teachers needed to be freed from the constraints hampering their ability to stop pupils misbehaving.

“Home-school contracts” should be signed by both children and parents to improve classroom behaviour, he added.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/8592578.stm

UK – Nurseries fear for their future

State nursery schools are considered by many to be the cream of the education system. But funding changes could put many of them at risk

Changes to nursery funding threaten the future of many state nurseries. Photograph: Frank Baron

Fran Munby is seriously worried. And with good reason, to judge from the budget cuts that are facing the nursery school she runs. St Thomas Children’s Centre Nursery, which Ofsted says provides an “outstanding” education to 80 children in one of the most deprived areas of Birmingham, is staring at an estimated £156,000 reduction to its £450,000 annual income within a year.

Under changes to the way education for the under-fives is organised, the school may no longer be able to offer full-time nursery places for its three- and four-year-olds from next year, replacing this with part-time provision. Munby fears that, with the budget cuts, her school and a neighbouring nursery will be in a battle for their futures in the coming years.

“This is really sad. And some nursery schools are not going to survive because of this,” she says.

St Thomas is one of thousands of early-years providers in England that are at the centre of a protracted and fiendishly complicated dispute about impending government changes to the way education for the under-fives is funded.

And while some see ministers’ intentions as good, there are widespread fears that the little-understood upshot will be cuts, which will mean that some of Britain’s best-regarded education providers, its state nursery schools, will close. Some even warn that these schools as a whole, more than half of which are rated outstanding by Ofsted and many of which serve tough inner-city communities, may cease to exist within five to 10 years.

St Thomas’s predicament is the result of several changes being introduced this year and next by the government, the most significant of which is the move to a “single funding formula” for all early-years education and childcare providers.

Announced in 2007, the idea is to simplify the mechanism for allocating state cash across the maintained and private sectors that make up England’s diverse system of educating and caring for the under-fives.

Parents currently have a huge range of options. In the independent sector, where most provision is found, pre-school playgroups or daycare centres are run by private, profit-making or voluntary non-profit groups. Some independent schools operate nursery classes for paying parents. Childminders offer early-years care from their own homes.

In the state sector, nearly 7,000 primary and junior schools run nursery classes for three- and four-year-olds, while there are 450 nursery schools, catering only for children of this age. Finally, Sure Start children’s centres offer health, parenting and employment support alongside early childhood services for families in deprived areas.

For more than a decade, independent providers have received some state funding, as all three- and four-year-olds have been entitled to 12.5 hours a week of free, government-funded childcare, at any accredited provider.

The new formula, originally scheduled to be introduced next month, would see all provision, state or private, funded according to overarching rules set by each local authority. And here is where the difficulties have begun.

Last year, as the details of local authority plans emerged, some state nurseries started warning that the formula would cut tens of thousands of pounds from their budgets. Traditionally, nursery schools, many of which serve inner-city areas, have been much better-resourced than many of their counterparts in the private, voluntary and independent (PVI) sector. State nurseries must have qualified teachers and pay support staff nationally-agreed rates, which is not always the case in independent settings.

Although local authorities’ new funding formulae were supposed to take this into account by adding extra cash to reflect the “quality” of each provider, state nurseries complained they were still losing out.

State nursery schools and classes have also traditionally been funded according to the number of places they offer to local children, whether or not these are filled throughout the year. In contrast, PVI settings have been paid according to the number of children they actually admit. Under the new system, the PVI model will be adopted, meaning that state settings that have empty places for even part of the year will lose money.

The situation is complicated further by the government extending, from this September, the number of hours of free childcare available to all three- and four-year-olds from 12.5 to 15 a week. This is presenting logistical and financial challenges.

Dawn Primarolo, the children’s minister, says: “We have listened to concerns from some local authorities and providers and decided to postpone implementation of the formula for a year. We are continuing to work with local authorities to make sure they are fully ready to implement by April 2011. We are clear that the new formula is not designed to disadvantage maintained nurseries. Maintained nurseries play an essential role in providing high-quality childcare.”

However, inquiries by Education Guardian have found little evidence that the delay is leading to profound changes in authorities’ funding positions, meaning that state nurseries remain in trouble.

Last week, the children, schools and families select committee registered its concerns. Barry Sheerman, its chair, said: “It would be irresponsible to put at risk the exceptional standard of care evident in so many maintained nurseries.”

Education Guardian inquiries have revealed that:

• In Warwickshire, the county council is consulting on three options for its seven nursery schools, four of which are rated “outstanding” by Ofsted. Two of the three options would see the schools closing in their current form.

• In Birmingham and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, full-time free state nursery provision is poised to be reduced to part-time.

• Sheffield city council told the select committee last autumn that its three nursery schools were facing “significantly less funding” under the new formula. Their budgets will be protected in 2010-11, but the council will only say that it is investigating how to “boost [their] long-term viability” after that.

• In Oxfordshire, a paper published last autumn said that 71% of state-funded nursery providers would lose money under the formula. Maggie Smith, the council’s strategic lead for early years, said it was not clear how this situation could change in the coming year.

The formula’s introduction was triggered in part by concerns raised by the PVI sector that the funding they received to provide the 12.5 hours a week of free entitlement did not cover their costs. With little evidence that overall funding is rising significantly, state nurseries worry that cash has been transferred from the state to the private sector.

The head of a school in one London authority, whose heads have been told that funding for PVI providers is being increased, said the change would subsidise middle-class parents using selective private education in one of the capital’s richest areas, at the expense of children using her nursery class in one of its poorest. This, she said, was “immoral”.

The Oxfordshire document appears to bear out fears about the effects of the formula. It estimates that all 331 Oxfordshire private settings will gain from the changes, but, for all but five, this would amount to less than £5,000 each. These benefits would in effect be paid for by state provision, with two nursery schools set to lose between £60,000 and £70,000 and two primary school nursery classes losing between £40,000 and £60,000 each.

This may represent the national picture, with many PVI providers not particularly happy, either. Claire Schofield, a director of the National Day Nurseries Association, says: “Even where the single funding formula process is working well, we are not seeing a real difference to the kind of funding private and voluntary day nurseries receive.”

At a meeting of state nursery campaigners in parliament earlier this month hosted by the Liberal Democrat children’s spokesperson, Annette Brooke, several teachers were close to tears. One head, unwilling to give her name for fear of the reaction from her local authority, said: “I do not think there will be any more nursery education in the next five years if it continues like this.”

An inner-London nursery class visited by this newspaper offers a vibrant learning space for its full-time pupils, who arrive through its doors with little English but are matching national averages in reading and writing by the time they reach five. But the head, who was told by council officials not to speak out with local elections looming, is one of several across the authority who worries for the future of her class under the new formula.

Fran Munby says: “Those of us who have worked in nursery schools throughout our lives believe passionately in them: we are not doing this for profit, but to support children with some of the biggest needs. It would be so sad if nursery schools disappeared. It is not going to happen in the next year, but it could do over the next few years unless the funding is there.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/mar/30/nursery-education-funding

US – Business leaders across state should support early learning programs

While our state’s 2010 budget does not increase investments in quality child care and pre-kindergarten programs, the Legislature has passed three bills that strengthen and improve the state’s early learning policies and guarantee that all at-risk children will eventually have access to high-quality early learning programs that will prepare them for success in school.

At a time when other states are cutting these programs, this is good news for hundreds of local businesses, as well as for parents, teachers and children. As a businessman, I understand that a well-educated work force is the engine that drives economic success. That’s why I have focused my energy on supporting K-12 and higher education as a volunteer and contributor to Yelm Dollars for Scholars, as well as by serving on the board of trustees of the WSU Foundation.

I have come to learn that early childhood education plays a critical role in preparing children to succeed in school, graduate and ultimately become the skilled employees businesses need. To remain competitive in the global marketplace, businesses need employees with 21st century skills — not just reading and math skills, but the ability to be communicators, collaborators and critical thinkers. Research confirms that highquality early learning is key to the development of those skills, with a return on investment that cannot be matched by almost any other public investment: up to $16 for every $1 invested.
Clearly, investing in early learning is a smart, long-term investment and that’s a major reason why I believe the business community should support early education. But there is a compelling and more immediate reason why business leaders should rally behind the Legislature’s efforts to improve early learning programs now. The early care and education sector is a very viable economic sector in Washington state, and investments in that sector will provide relief today to businesses throughout the state. In fact, new research by the national business group America’s Edge concludes that investment in quality early learning will provide a surprisingly big boost to the local economy.

The research shows that for every $1 invested in early care and education, nearly $2 is generated in additional sales of local goods and services. And the research shows that nearly all of these dollars generated in Washington would stay in Washington — maximizing the benefits for local businesses and communities. In turn, the increased spending on local goods and services will create jobs in our state, not only in the early care and education sector, but also in businesses that serve that sector.

In addition, quality child care and prekindergarten programs boost businesses’ bottom lines by helping to reduce employee absenteeism and turnover in the current work force. According to a study by Cornell University, absenteeism caused by working parents missing work due to child care problems cost U.S. businesses $3 billion every year.

Early learning programs will reduce that absenteeism, which will not only save local businesses money, but will increase work-force productivity because parents can focus more on their jobs and not on child care arrangements. Moreover, expanding these programs also would attract new skilled workers and businesses to our state in the same way as does a quality K-12 education system.

These short-term results for businesses’ bottom lines — coupled with the long-term gains — are impressive. Given the severe pressure on our state budget, it makes sense to invest our limited funds in programs that will help jump-start our economy and provide the greatest return on investment. Washington state policy makers should prioritize investments in early education as real economic development that will inject thousands of additional dollars into local businesses, while also creating much needed jobs. I’m convinced that focusing on education and care for our youngest children is a crucial piece of the puzzle for the economic revitalization of our state.

That is why I strongly urge the governor to sign the legislation on early learning recently approved by our state Legislature.

Larry Schorno is a retired livestock exporter from Yelm.

Read more: http://www.theolympian.com/2010/03/29/1188470/business-leaders-across-state.html#ixzz0jcAPSSg2

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