Natural Family News

In a soon-to-be-published book by Margot Sunderland, director of education at the Centre for Child Mental Health in London, cosleeping is recommended for children up to age 5. In an article published in the Times Online she cites various physiological and neurodevelopmental benefits for the practice and encourages parents to abandon the idea of putting their children to bed in separate rooms, especially when left to cry. At least science is finally catching up with what some of us knew all along.

SearchMothers.com, an interactive online monthly magazine, which focuses on motherhood, spotlights the issue of nursing in public this month.

Lumberton, NJ (PRWEB) April 7, 2006 — Interactive online monthly, SearchMothers.com, which offers community message boards, resources, and insightful articles for single mothers, spotlights the topic of ‘mothers nursing their babies in public’.

The April 2006 issue features an editorial by Chris Mulford, RN, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, (IBCLC) and Co-coordinator, Women & Work Task Force, World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA). “Attitudes Can Change:
Supporting Mothers and Their Babies in Public Nursing” is an important commentary aimed at pregnant and nursing mothers. Ms. Mulford is an active breastfeeding advocate, who has liasoned with various U.S. organizations to bring this breastfeeding issue to the forefront. She is also a La Leche League, Leader Reserve (LR).

Other articles this month include “Breastfeeding in Public”, “Helping Kids with Divorce”, “The Financially Challenging Single Life”, “Easter Egg Decorating”, “How to teach your Baby Sign Language”, “Stop the Diaper Changing Battles”, “Taking a Road Trip with Your Baby”, and more. The site also offers a free, interactive Pregnancy Calendar for soon-to-be mothers.

SearchMothers.com contains original and syndicated articles in departmental topics such as Custodial Mothering, Parenting, Pregnancy, Relationships, Healthy Living, Work and Career, and Childcare. Additionally, visitors can find an assortment of regulars such as the community Message Board Area and interactive tools; Editor’s Picks for the Month, polls, pre-screened links, and RSS feeds to relevant Mother’s news. The site also offers a searchable web directory. Search functionality looks at the pre-screened links in the directory, which are to quality-content websites, podcasts, research and other online resources.

Submitting your website, podcast, blog, or RSS feed to SearchMothers.com is free and easy. All sites and/or feeds are reviewed. The suggested site’s content needs to relate to and/or benefit mothers and their family to be listed.
SearchMothers.com regularly publishes reader contributions. Readers can simply email their submission or idea to the Editor for publication consideration. Submissions from all readers are welcome.

About SearchMothers.com
SearchMothers.com provides reliable and useful online resources for all types of mothers. It is an independent online monthly magazine, and known as a trusted resource for single mothers and mothers-to-be.

You may have noticed we have a new advertiser. I highly recommend visiting their site. They have really cute items for sale. My husband’s favorite is a t-shirt that says “I make milk. What’s your superpower?” I like a lot of the homebirth and attachment parenting items. Just click on the link to head over there and find out if there’s something there you like.

A recent study shows that toddlers as young as 18 months will help others out of empathy, rather than a desire for praise.

Presumably, they are more likely to exhibit this behavior if they’ve been exposed to it in their lives, but I had some questions after reading the study. I wonder what different backgrounds the children came from. Is this something genetically encoded or something that is behavioral, in nature? Would children raised with attachment parenting be more likely to show this empathy? If they’re less likely or no more likely, what, if anything would that say about attachment parenting?

What do you think?

The Canadian equivalent of the American Academy of Pediatricians is planning to soften their stance on co-sleeping. Citing the realities that parents will co-sleep whether it’s “allowed” or not, the Canadian Pediatric Society hopes that by softening their stance, they can at least offer advice on co-sleeping safely. It’s a start. Will the AAP follow suit? Don’t hold your breath.

A news station in the BBC has caused quite a stir online with their piece on “Extraordinary Breastfeeding”. Great Britain apparently has lousy breastfeeding rates overall, but this piece focused on mums who practice extended – and sometimes *really* extended – breastfeeding. Get any group of moms together, ask them at what age a child should be weaned by, and you will get a wide variety of answers. There are comments from moms on the news piece above that state that breastfeeding beyond 6 months of age is abuse. Others feel like 2-3 years should be the limit. Still others say 5 or older. Who’s right? The probable answer is no one. I don’t think that anyone can list a hard and fast rule about when a child should wean. Anthropologists seem to be in agreement that historically children were breastfed well into their third year and beyond. Ultimately when to wean is a very personal decision, and one that I believe should be left for individual families to work out on their own.

A recent news piece is rehashing the pros and cons of cosleeping. It does a relatively decent job of presenting both sides, though it does appear to lean towards the “cosleeping is dangerous” camp. They do mention some of cosleeping’s benefits, and make some recommendations of how to do so safely. However, they fail to mention the problems with the CPSC’s study and their findings, and all but one of the listed dangers of cosleeping are related to unsafe cosleeping practices, not cosleeping itself. It’s like saying that crib sleeping is dangerous because the crib slats could be too far apart and cause entrapment of the baby’s head. The problem there isn’t inherently crib sleeping – it’s the design of the crib. Beds that are too soft, big gaps between headboards and footboards, etc. are hazards that can be eliminated. If you’re interested in a more scientific view and in depth discussion of sleep practices, I would recommend you check out Dr. James McKenna’s Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame.

While web surfing today, I came across an interesting website. It seems that someone in Australia has come up with a diaper you can flush, and they’re calling it a gDiaper. It’s sort of a cloth/disposable combination; there’s an outer waterproof cover, and then a flushable snap-in liner. The idea is that you avoid adding to the landfills (supposedly you can even compost the things) but don’t have to deal with washing diapers either. It’s intriguing, but I’m not sure that I’m a fan of the super absorbent stuffing, which is the same stuff they put in disposable diapers. You can check them out here.

Okay, ladies and gentlemen, look out your window for the flying pigs. Richard Ferber, creator of “Ferberization”, has admitted in the newest edition of his book that his technique is not suitable for all babies and that children can develop healthy sleep habits sleeping in their parents’ bed.

Hurray for the co-sleepers! While I have never cared what Dr. Ferber might think about my co-sleeping, this news has “given permission” to many parents who felt drawn to co-sleeping but were embarassed or shamed to admit it.

So, with this news, I am anxiously awaiting the news that the Ezzos have recommended feeding on demand. I won’t hold my breath.

You can read a full article about co-sleepers and Ferber here.

When Lori Rueger was declined a Victoria’s Secret dressing room to nurse her daughter, she became one of many breastfeeding moms who have become politically active. Her intent was simply to nurse her baby privately and discreetly, but when she was informed that Victoria’s Secret has a policy against allowing women to nurse in their stores, her story became one of the many examples South Carolina “lactivists” cite to support the state’s need for legislation to support breastfeeding moms. You can read more about breastfeeding activism here.

**Victoria’s Secret maintains that their company policy allows breastfeeding and that this was simply a misunderstanding.

The newest AAP recommendations for SIDS include placing the baby’s crib in the parents’ room and encouraging pacifier use. This is supposed to keep the baby from sleeping too deeply. I wonder if my child using *me* as a pacifier all night accomplishes the same thing. Of course, the AAP would never encourage me to sleep with my child in my bed. In fact, that’s a big no-no, but at least they’re now recommending sleeping in the same room. You can read more about the recommendation here.

So, far this lecture tour is not coming anywhere near me, but I so wish that it was. What a great idea! Leave it to Whole Foods and Mothering to start promoting the organic lifestyle to Moms before they give birth. I would have loved a Whole Baby kit, instead of the formula-endorsed bags we were given at the hospital. The lecture tour will educate mothers about nutrition, including information on how to make your own baby food. You can read more about the Whole Baby program here.