Boo-Boo

It is essential to let babies and small children to eat with their hands! In fact using cutlery and being too intent on 'keeping things clean' at this stage is harmful for the child's development. This stage is very short, and the time of 'clean' eating with manners will come very soon. But in the first two to three years of life being messy is the best thing for your child! By all means give them a spoon and use another spoon to feed them, but the food should be in front of the children, their hands should be in the food, and they should be deeply involved in consuming the food themselves. When the child is being fed by somebody else and not allowed to be fully involved in the process, the brain does not develop the way it should (because it receives a limited sensory input). It must be a voluntary experience for the child, an act they are deeply involved in, for their brains to develop new receptors and wake up new centres.

This developmental stage will affect the way their whole life will unfold, because it shapes their emotional profiles and their personalities! If you invest into this developmental stage at a very early stage the rewards will be great for your children for the rest of their lives! Children who are allowed to develop a healthy relationship with food usually have positive and sunny personalities.

In order for the child to develop normal senses in relation to food the child needs natural healthy foods full of flavour and taste - rich and satisfying. The food needs to be homemade from fresh natural ingredients.

from a great article http://www.doctor-natasha.com/one-mans-meat-another-mans-poison.php

One Man's Meat is Another Man's Poison Dr Natasha We are all different; every one of us is a unique individual. So, 'one size fits all' never works. That is why we have such a bewildering number of various diets being proposed: high carbohydrate / low carbohydrate, high fat / low fat, high protein / low protein, all raw / all cooked, etc. etc.; and...

Take back your rights, pregnant women!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jrrvggy2ozc

A Message for Women: Taking Back Your Pregnancy Rights | Renee Coover | TEDxOakParkWomen It has been almost 40 years since passage of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, but despite the laws in place to protect pregnant women and mothers, pregnancy...

Myth vs. Fact @ Birth
check this out
http://birthingthefuture.org/birth-misconceptions-myth-vs-fact/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5V723E9wvE

Home or Hospital? Holding the Space for Human Birth: Saraswathi Vedam at TEDxAmherstCollege In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TED...

Yes. Very well said. 5 minute ted talk about birth. Let women labor in peace.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytJyT9oDEm4

Why it matters how we are born | Bettina Breunig | TEDxTUHHSalon This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. As a midwife, Bettina has developed a very natural view of life and...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/health-begins-before-birth-the-womb-as-the-cradle_us_58067662e4b08ddf9ece112a

Health Begins Before Birth: The Womb As The Cradle of Life Introduction by Kathleen Man Gyllenhaal: A few years ago, when I was researching the effects of the environment on the developing fetus for my documentar...

Hi everyone,
check out my new blog about birth!
http://www.reclaimbirthnow.com/single-post/2016/10/04/Am-I-a-hero-Or-are-you

Am I a Hero? Or Are You? | childbirth classes, prenatal yoga princeton N When I share that I had a home birth, I get funny looks. It usually goes like this: "Wow, you're so brave, I could never do that, I don't like pain" or "it was ...

This is the most helpful book I've read about sleep. Inspiring and easy to apply
The Happy Sleeper
https://smile.amazon.com/Happy-Sleeper-Science-Backed-Helping-Sleep-Newborn/dp/0399166025/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474998955&sr=8-1&keywords=the+happy+sleeper

The Happy Sleeper: The Science-Backed Guide to Helping Your Baby Get a Good Night's Sleep-Newborn t o School Age Many parents feel pressured to “train” babies and young children to sleep but kids don’t need to be trained to sleep, they’re built to sleep. Sleep issues arise when parents (with the best of intentions) over-help or “helicopter parent” at night—overshado...

Brilliant, Magda Gerber's wisdom is timeless
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miA4rDQ2am8

Respectfully Yours Magda Gerber's Approach to Professional Infant Toddler Care Respectfully Yours Magda Gerber's Approach to Professional Infant Toddler Care

Interesting http://microbirth.com/
“Microbirth” is a new 60 minute documentary investigating the latest scientific research about the microscopic events happening during childbirth. These events could have life-long consequences for the health of our children and potentially could even impact mankind.

MICROBIRTH Movie Official Trailer http://microbirth.com - Official trailer for 60 minute award-winning documentary MICROBIRTH, exploring the origins of the microbiome, the trillions of bacter...

Why Midwives are Making a Comeback in the U.S. Why a growing number of U.S. mothers are turning to midwives, rather than physicians, for prenatal care, labor, and delivery

What we learn in the womb
http://www.ted.com/talks/annie_murphy_paul_what_we_learn_before_we_re_born?language=en

What we learn before we're born Pop quiz: When does learning begin? Answer: Before we are born. Science writer Annie Murphy Paul talks through new research that shows how much we learn in the womb -- from the lilt of our native language to our soon-to-be-favorite foods.

On the importance of the 4th trimester and rest after birth
http://www.sentinelsource.com/parent_express/pregnancy_babies/the-importance-of-postpartum-rest/article_ce3d9194-f011-11e3-8a97-0019bb2963f4.html

Now this looks like a great book

http://www.amazon.com/Balanced-Barefoot-Unrestricted-Confident-Children/dp/1626253730/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456243145&sr=8-1&keywords=balanced+and+barefoot

Balanced and Barefoot: How Unrestricted Outdoor Play Makes for Strong, Confident, and Capable... In this important book, a pediatric occupational therapist and founder of TimberNook shows how outdoor play and unstructured freedom of movement are vital for children’s cognitive development and growth, and offers tons of fun, engaging ways to help ensure that kids grow into healthy, balan...

ARE MORNINGS A NIGHTMARE IN YOUR HOUSE? There is a reason for that. It is one of the most common challenges parents of young children (and older and teens) raise with me. Meltdowns, sassy talk, refusals to get dressed, distracted to the point of always being late. Sound like your life these days? I had it in my house years ago, too. I found solutions. And in the latest Toddlerland Newsletter I share with you WHY it happens and WHAT to do (so you don't lost your mind and don't have to be late):
http://bit.ly/219JV7v

What are YOUR successful strategies for getting out of the house?

on fear of birth in our culture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9LO1Vb54yk

Reducing fear of birth in U.S. culture: Ina May Gaskin at TEDxSacramento Ina May Gaskin, MA, CPM, PhD (Hon), is founder and director of the Farm Midwifery Center in Tennessee. The 41-year-old midwifery service is noted for its wom...

Peace indeed begins at birth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeT2KSb14qg

TEDxUbud - Robin Lim - Peace Begins at Birth Recorded at TEDxUbud on May 6th, 2011, at Gaya Fusion. About TEDx, x = independently organized event In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a progra...

40 to 60% of the baby's blood supply and the stem cells move into the baby from the placenta last. Hence the importance of delayed cord clamping!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwvRUrn0p90

Delayed Cutting of the Umbilical Cord--Robin Lim, C.P.M, t2 If the placenta is left attached to the umbilical cord (and baby) after birth for a while, it keeps transferring stem cells, nutrients, antibodies, and "extr...

The Milky Way, great documentary about breastfeeding and much more...
http://www.amazon.com/The-Milky-Way-Jennifer-Davidson/dp/B00X5G0J66/ref=pd_rhf_eebr_p_img_13?ie=UTF8&refRID=1G6XGNSRQWD29SWZETF5

Watch The Milky Way () online - Amazon Video The Milky Way is a documentary exposé about breastfeeding in the United States. It will make every viewer rethink how we treat mothers. The film will empower women to trust their body, their baby, and themselves in their unique journey.

So if it's better not to say "good job" or "share" what do you say to your toddler? Find out here
http://www.janetlansbury.com/2012/02/parent-do-overs-7-confidence-building-responses/

Parent Do-Overs - 7 Confidence Building Responses If parenting were film acting, we’d always be brilliant because we’d have plenty of “takes” to perfect our responses (not to mention make-up, hair styling and

Wonderful movie about a home birth midwife
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JZHPJ7I/ref=cm_sw_su_dp

Watch Midwife () online - Amazon Video

ith C-section rates dangerously over 30% in America, are midwives the solution? In recent years, the idea of a “collaborative care” practice where doctors and midwives manage women’s care together has begun to gain traction. Research has demonstrated that collaborative care models produce better outcomes for mother and baby, including fewer C-sections. This moving and urgent film provides an intimate lens into how midwives across the country work within and better the hospital system, redefining how the US looks at the birthing process.

http://www.themamasherpas.com/ -the-film

Home

A recent summary of the safety of ultrasound in human studies, published in May 2002 in the prestigious US journal Epidemiology concluded "....there may be a relation between prenatal ultrasound exposure and adverse outcome. Some of the reported effects include growth restriction, delayed speech, dyslexia, and non-right-handedness associated with ultrasound exposure. Continued research is needed to evaluate the potential adverse effects of ultrasound exposure during pregnancy. These studies should measure the acoustic output, exposure time, number of exposures per subject, and the timing during the pregnancy when exposure(s) occurred" (Marinac-Dabic 2002).

Ultrasounds have become routine in the US, but it's not that way in other countries. Here are some reasons why

http://www.motherandchildhealth.com/Prenatal/sarah/ultrasound.html

Articles by Sarah J Buckley, MD: Ultrasound Scans in Pregnancy: Cause for Concern Although ultrasound may sometimes be useful when specific problems are suspected, my conclusion is that it is at best ineffective and at worse dangerous when used as a screening 'tool' for every pregnant woman and her baby.

The rites created by the medicalized birthing system in hospitals take away women's power over their bodies, naturally designed to bring life into the world. Society, intimidated by women's ability to give birth, has designed obstetrical rituals that are far more complex than natural childbirth itself in order to deliver what is from nature into culture. "In this way," she writes, "society symbolically demonstrates ownership of its product."
http://www.amazon.com/Birth-as-American-Rite-Passage/dp/0520229320

Birth as an American Rite of Passage Why do so many American women allow themselves to become enmeshed in the standardized routines of technocratic childbirth--routines that can be insensitive, unnecessary, and even unhealthy? Anthropologist Robbie Davis-Floyd first addressed these questions in the 1992 edition. Her new preface to t...

Fantastic podcast for anyone who is pregnant or works with pregnant women.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/taking-back-birth/id657606528

Taking Back Birth by IndieBirth.com on iTunes Download past episodes or subscribe to future episodes of Taking Back Birth by IndieBirth.com for free.

Midwife Explains The Spiritual Side Of Birth Marianne Littlejohn helps show women that their birthing experience doesn't have to be as traumatic as they feared.

“We have a secret in our culture, it’s not that birth is painful, it’s that women are strong.”
Laura Stavoe Harm

In the Netherlands, a third of births are home births

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2015/04/07/how-pregnancy-and-birth-overseas-is-oh-so-different-than-in-the-u-s/

How pregnancy and birth overseas is so different than in the U.S. I live in the Netherlands. The fact that I managed to negotiate delivering my baby in a birthing center rather than on the occasionally-Swiffered floor of my live/workspace already felt like major victory.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/by-age-5-children-have-a-sense-of-self-esteem-that-rivals-adults-study-says/2015/11/06/72e39f2a-83f7-11e5-9afb-0c971f713d0c_story.html

By age 5, children have a sense of self-esteem that rivals adults, study says