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If the concept of the family bed conjures up images of aging hippies nursing pre-teenagers while sleeping on all-hemp, tie-dyed mattress in incense-filled vegan communes, you are probably not alone. Even I, who practice the family bed in my own home, find it exotic when I manage to meet another normal-looking mother who admits to using the family bed. I can’t help but ask, “Why?” I am always curious to know what makes other people in our society choose to sleep with their children. In the United States, where independence is one of the founding virtues of our country, the idea of everyone in the household not having their own room or at least their own bed is definitively outside of the mainstream.

When I was pregnant with my first child, I spent a lot of time researching different methods of parenting. The ideas that appealed to me the most came from the ‘natural family living’ and ‘attachment parenting’ genres. Without having an actual child, it was hard to imagine how these theoretical concepts would play out in real life. But I knew that I was interested in parenting in a way that would optimize my ability to build a strong, loving attachment with my children. (continue reading…)

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Traveling with small children is like taking a shower, fully naked, in front of a room full of strangers. All your defects are fully exposed and open for mass criticism. It is hard enough to keep small children entertained and out of trouble in your own home with buckets of toys, books and games. But try keeping them not only entertained, but quiet and seated, for three whole hours, while dozens of people watch you, sneering and rolling their eyes at any misstep or infraction.

I will never forget the time I traveled by myself for the first time with my six-month-old son Nino. The plane was overbooked and not a single seat was empty. I was seated next to a young couple who might have been nice and made pleasant small talk with me if I hadn’t been traveling with an infant. But from the minute I rolled up with my baby, they were rolling their eyes at each other and acting like I had brought a bucket of toxic garbage into their row. (continue reading…)

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I would love to tell you that nursing is all ponies and rainbows. But it isn’t. Don’t get me wrong. I am a huge breastfeeding advocate, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to lie to you. Breastfeeding can be hard work, just like the rest of parenting. When people say that nursing is natural, they don’t mean easy. They mean natural in the sense of hemorrhoids and labor pains and PMS. All these things are natural too, but you won’t find them in a Hallmark card.

When my second son Diego was born, I was sure I was going to have a magical and uncomplicated breastfeeding experience. I had faced and overcome so many difficulties with my first son Nino including nipple blisters, latch issues, positioning problems, thrush, recurrent mastitis and alien body-snatching that I was convinced we had dealt with every possible problem imaginable. (continue reading…)

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When I first became a mom, I felt very self-conscious about nursing in public. Nursing a newborn is tricky. For one thing, your boobs are enormous. Even if you had small ones before, after your milk comes in your breasts are unbelievably gigantic. Additionally, your baby is tiny and has a floppy head. Trying to get your floppy, rag doll baby to open his mouth wide enough to fit your voluminous, rock solid breast inside sometimes feels like performing a circus act, to say the least.

When you are first learning to nurse a newborn, you must do all kinds of jiggling and wiggling and wriggling with your completely exposed breast while you try and tantalize your infant into opening his mouth wide enough to shove your nipple inside. This process usually took me at least five full minutes. Possibly longer. It was way too embarrassing for me to do this without feeling like I was giving an unintended peep show to whoever happened to be nearby. Unfortunately, if the baby is covered, or if your breast is covered, it is impossible to see what you are doing, and therefore impossible to get your baby latched on. (continue reading…)

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By Anita Khalek from NaturalNews.com

Originally published October 3, 2007

A major contributor to complications during pregnancy and postpartum periods, pre-eclampsia is a disorder characterized by sudden weight gain, fluid retention, high blood pressure, and swelling in the second and third trimesters. Other symptoms, including vision changes and headaches, may not always appear in rapidly advancing cases. Pre-eclampsia affects 5-8% of all pregnancies and is the cause of 15% of premature births.

 Although there is currently no cure in conventional medicine, a physician typically would monitor the patient closely to manage the symptoms and protect the unborn baby. In some cases where pre-eclampsia is quite advanced, labor is induced to avoid major complications and to save the lives of the unborn child and mother.

In a study from the University of Pittsburgh School of the Health Sciences, the occurrence of pre-eclampsia was noted as being five times higher in women whose Vitamin D measured low during early pregnancy. Researchers also stressed that even slightly low Vitamin D measurements in pregnant women may double the likelihood of having the disorder. Even with prenatal vitamins, pregnant women remain at a high risk for the deficiency. (continue reading…)

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By Dr. Emily A Kane from NaturalNews.com

A study published in the October 2007 issue of Pediatrics shows a strong correlation with low total cholesterol in pregnant women and the health and size of their babies.

Women with serum cholesterol less than 151 were nearly 3 times more likely to have pre-term, low-birth-weight babies, and twice as likely to bear microcephalic babies. That means babies with tiny heads; a condition not compatible with life. (continue reading…)

If you look at the children around you these days, it seems that all sorts of allergies have increased — asthma, eczema, food allergies — and it’s hard not to be paranoid. Especially when you’re the mother of an infant, it’s easy to overexamine every little bump in their development. You might suspect that crankiness, vomiting, or rashes might be an allergy. But how much should you worry?

A study by the University of Portsmouth in England has shown that mothers, predictably, worry too much and that surprisingly, rates of food allergies and intolerances are not on the rise. (continue reading…)