I recently joined the YouTube generation—I guess that makes me a late adopter. I don’t have a Mac, iPhone, or iPod. I typically wait until my kids—the early adopters—try it and like it. I call it trickle down modernization.

But YouTube is one venture I’m glad I pursued. As a former labor and birth nurse and childbirth educator, I know how hard it is to find the perfect video. Truth be told, it doesn’t exist, but a recent video titled Early Initiation of Breastfeeding – Indonesia is as close to perfect as any I’ve seen in recent years.

Funded by the United States Agency…

read more

Here’s something that may really surprise you: As much as we may want our babies to sleep through the night, our own subconscious emotions sometimes hold us back from encouraging change in our babies’ sleeping habits. You yourself may be the very obstacle preventing a change in a routine that disrupts your life. So let’s figure out if anything is standing in your way.

Examine Your Own Needs and Goals
Today’s society leads us to believe that “normal babies” sleep through the night from about two months; my research indicates that this is more the exception than the rule. The number of families…

read more

New research has the American Meat Institute (AMI) on edge after researchers reported a possible link between reduced male fertility and their mother’s high beef consumption during pregnancy.

According to the study, which was conducted at the University of Rochester and published online in the Human Reproduction journal, the link may boil down to the growth hormones and other chemicals used in beef.

Researchers found that male subjects born between 1949 and 1983 whose mothers consumed more than seven beef meals per week had a sperm count that was 24 percent lower than those whose mother’s ate less beef. It was also more likely for…

read more

Did you know that more than half a million babies are born prematurely every year? Or that those born too soon—before 27 weeks gestation—are more likely to suffer lifelong disabilities if they are strong enough to survive?

And did you know that, while there is no magic wand to wave, you still can do something to help babies and their families?

March to it
The March of Dimes has changed the name of its annual nationwide fundraising walk benefiting babies from March of Dimes WalkAmerica to a very simple and direct March for Babies.

And I’ll admit that anything with the word “Baby” makes my…

read more

I know I am not the only mother who feels like the most evil being in the world when I help the nurses hold my baby still for the vaccinations that come with her well baby checkup appointments.“I’m sorry, sweetie,” I say, as I hold her close to calm her when it’s all over. “Mamma’s so sorry. But this is to help you stay healthy.”

A little pain for more security against such diseases and illnesses as measles, mumps, chickenpox, and the flu? Many parents say the trade-off is worth it.

But there are also a growing number of parents who have…

read more

Have you heard about the next hot thing in reality TV? NBC’s The Baby Borrowers follows five teen couples who believe they are ready to be parents. The show requires them to grow up—fast. Each couple is set up in a home in a suburban cul de sac. The female must wear an “empathy belly” as the couple attends prenatal classes. Then each couple is given a baby—yes, a real, live, breathing infant—between the ages of 6 and 11 months. For three solid days, each couple must “parent” the baby.

I have no quarrel with reality TV. I don’t care what consenting…

read more

QUESTION: I know that it’s normal to have the “baby blues” right after you have a baby, but my son is six weeks old. I thought everything would be wonderful by now and I would be so in love with my baby. I thought mothering would come easily. It’s not that way at all! I can’t sleep, even when he’s sleeping. I feel hollow inside, like the real me is gone. Sometimes I cry for hours; other times, I feel angry enough to explode. Life feels like an endless amusement park ride, and sometimes I just want to get off. Why…

read more

Data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample show that 56 percent of newborn boys were circumcised in 2005—a rate that hasn’t changed for 10 years. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) performed an analysis of hospital-based circumcisions in 2005. Its findings can be found in a report entitled Circumcision Performed in U.S. Community Hospitals, 2005.

Only 31 percent of newborn boys born in Western hospitals were circumcised in 2005, compared to 75 percent in the Midwest, 65 percent in the Northeast, and 56 percent in the South. Immigration from Latin America, where circumcision is uncommon, and lack of insurance coverage were…

read more

Once again research has shown that it’s hard to beat Mother Nature’s strategic plan when it comes to breastfeeding and lactation. In October 2007 the World Health Organization (WHO) published a report on long-term health implications of breastfeeding and mother’s milk for the child. That same month the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute of Cancer Research included the apparent role of breastfeeding and lactation in the prevention of certain types of cancers for women, and added a caveat about the role breastfeeding may play in cancer prevention for the formerly breastfed child. I wrote about this for baby gooroo® in…

read more

November 2005, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued a policy statement on The Changing Concept of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Among the AAP recommendations was one calling for “a separate but proximate sleep environment.”

“Although bed-sharing rates are increasing in the United State for a number of reasons, including facilitation of breastfeeding, the task force concludes that the evidence is growing that bed-sharing, as practiced in the United Stares and other Western countries, is more hazardous than the infant sleeping on a separate sleep surface.”

In contrast, on 1 March 2008 the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM) released its revised clinical protocol—Guideline on…

read more

I remember when I was lying in my hospital bed after the birth of my fourth child, Coleton. I had endured a full day of labor and a difficult delivery (who says the fourth one comes easily?), and I was tired beyond explanation. After the relief of seeing my precious new child came an uncontrollable feeling to close my eyes and sleep. As my husband cradled newborn Coleton, I drifted off; my parting thoughts were, “I can’t do this. I don’t have the energy. How will I ever take care of a baby?” Luckily for me, a few hours of…

read more

It is with a sad heart that I update this earlier story about the United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) new set of standards. You may recall that, with these standards, the FSA aims to “mak[e] sure the nutritional value of any formula satisfies the nutritional requirements of the infant.” The new standards also sought to bring the industry’s labeling and advertising in line with European codes.

To recap, the new standards:

• Allow only a small number of health and nutrition claims on formula packaging (i.e., lactose only, lactose free, added long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCP), reduced risk of allergy to milk…

read more