Pre-term infants should be massaged with sunflower oil.

Here's some information that may be useful to those
of you who will give birth to pre-term infants; babies
who are born before the entire 9-month gestation period.

In his June, 2005, newsletter, Doctor David Williams,
one of my few heroes, says that "pre-term infants are
always at a high risk of developing life-threatening
infections because their skin doesn't yet possess the
protective biofilm called vernix." In developing
countries, pre-term babies have a mortality rate of
50 percent or higher.

Here's the good news. Doctor Williams cites a recent
study in Bangladesh which involved 497 pre-term infants. Those babies who were massaged daily with
sunflower oil, saw their risk of developing an infection drop dramtically.

"Infants whose skin was masssaged with sunflower oil
were 41 percent less likely to develop infections, and
the risk decreased to 56 percent if the treatment
began within 24 hours of birth."

I pray that all of you will give birth to full-term
children. But tuck this information away, just in case.
You might want to pass it along to friends who are
pregnant. I'm an old bachelor, but I'd be tempted
to massage my baby, pre-term or full-term, with
sunflower oil, as a kind of insurance policy. I use
it on my old skin every other day, and my body loves
it!

Blessings,

Owen