"I've become more tolerant of my children, my grandchildren's behavior, than I was before I heard about ACEs. I tend to talk with them not talk at them which is what I did with my daughters."

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#ParentingwithPEACE

AP Month 2020 is Parenting with PEACE, with a focus on parenting with positive childhood experiences and how powerful they can be. It's important to understand adverse childhood experiences (ACES), for perspective, so we share this API Attached Family interview of Jane Stevens of the ACES Connection Network by Rita Brhel. #APMonth2020 #ParentingwithPEACE

This short 8-minute video was developed as an introductory tool for parents to learn about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Three individuals share their perspective of learning about ACEs, reflect on their own childhood and parenting, and provide hopeful insight for reducing childhood trauma and building resilience in children. 

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#ParentingwithPEACE

"The most powerful protective system for a human child is a loving, caring family."

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A diet high in sugar during adulthood is associated with weight gain, and has also been linked to risk of type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, and heart disease. New research shows that when consumed by moms during the breastfeeding period, a high sugar diet can also impact developmental outcomes during infancy.

Michael I. Goran, PhD, Program Director for Diabetes and Obesity at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, has studied how sugar can impact family health. His previous research has shown that moms who consume sugary beverages and juices in the months after giving birth are at risk for weight gain, and may also expose their newborns to these added sugars through breast milk. A new study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reveals that consuming these beverages during the breastfeeding period may also lead to poorer cognitive development in children nearly two years later.

Hannah Wheeler gave birth to her first baby 10 days into lockdown, and was determined to breastfeed. Alone at home, however, she found herself in excruciating pain during every feed.

“I didn’t have any breastfeeding support at all,” she says. “It was lonely. I think that’s the best way to describe it. My husband tried his best to support me but didn’t really understand how to help. I remember sitting in bed trying to feed Arthur and just crying and crying. Not just from the pain, but from the hopelessness.”

After four months of near constant pain when feeding she called the health visitor again, who directed her to local telephone support. Finally, she reached out to a breastfeeding Facebook page and found someone prepared to sit in her garden if she paid her insurance and travel.

The woman gave some pointers and said Arthur may have tongue-tie. Wheeler went back to the health visitor again and managed to get his tongue-tie snipped. “Now here we are, five months after birth, and finally I am pain-free while feeding,” she says.

There could be a connection between food allergies and the development of asthma or recurrent wheeze, especially for cow’s milk, according to new research.

A team, led by Hiroshi Tachimoto, MD, PhD, Division of Molecular Epidemiology, Jikei University School of Medicine, evaluated whether asthma or recurrent wheeze among children were changed by avoiding supplementing breastfeeding with cow’s milk formula (CMF) in the first 3 days of life.

“The findings of this study suggest that avoiding CMF supplementation in the first 3 days of life has the potential to reduce the risk of asthma or recurrent wheeze in young children, especially among those with high vitamin D or high IgE levels,” the authors wrote.

Allegra Gast had 6,000 Instagram followers in June; now she has more than 31,000 followers — and counting — devouring her postpartum nutrition and breastfeeding advice.

The Fort Walton Beach resident and military spouse started her Instagram account, @aloha.nutrition, while she and her husband were stationed in Hawaii. She was working at Women, Infants, and Children and started posting maternal nutrition tips in her downtime.

After leaving WIC, Gast became an international board-certified lactation consultant and launched her private practice. Her husband, Joshua, has been stationed at Hurlburt Field for two years.

“As a lactation consultant, I help moms with breastfeeding issues — whether that’s helping them with latching, painful nipples, increasing their supply, decreasing their supply if they have an oversupply,” Gast said. “I help them with coming up with a plan for their return to work. I go over bottles, bottle refusal, breast refusal, induced lactation — anything that pertains to breastfeeding. I’m kind of like the boob doctor, as they call it.”

Enjoy this amazing issue of Conscious Parenting News.com by Kindred World!

All things Attachment Parenting for AP Month 2020!

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Every Mother Count new film series Delivering Hope: Maternal Health Heroes, premiering today, honors and celebrates these real-life heroes. 
 
Over the next three weeks, we will be sharing stories from three countries: Guatemala, India, and Bangladesh. We invite you to come along with us on a journey around the world to meet these incredible heroes, each with a powerful story to tell, face-to-face.

For the full trip experience, sign up to receive stories in your inbox, week by week.

Nadine Burke Harris on ACES

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#Parenting with PEACE

"Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress represent a public health crisis. A consensus of scientific research demonstrates that cumulative adversity, especially when experienced during critical and sensitive periods of development, is a root cause of some of the most harmful, persistent, and expensive health challenges facing our state and the nation. 

Research shows that individuals who have experienced ACEs are at significantly increased risk of serious health consequences, including 9 of the 10 leading causes of death in the United States. People with four or more ACEs are:

38 times as likely to attempt suicide

11 times as likely to have Alzheimer’s or dementia

3 times as likely to have chronic lower respiratory disease

2 to 2 ½ times as likely to have a stroke, cancer, or heart disease

1 ½ times as likely to have diabetes."

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#ParentingwithPEACE

"... through the COVID-19 threat, we have a chance to turn this potential adverse childhood experience (ACE) into a positive childhood experience (PCE). I have convinced myself that, yes, as we shelter-in-place we have a chance to heal-in-place too. Our research shows that feeling safe in our families to talk about emotions and things that are hard and feeling supported during hard times is what most defines a positive childhood experience (PCE). And such experiences during difficulty — like the COVID-19 threat — have lasting positive effects into adulthood. Notice that I said "feeling safe and supported." This means it does not count if you think a child "should" feel this way. It only counts if they do.When it comes to reaping the benefits of PCEs, feelings are the currency that turn on our body’s and brain’s healing responses.

In our 2019 study, we found that adults reporting more PCEs had 72% lower odds of experiencing adult depression and/or poor mental health, and had over 350% greater odds of getting the social and  emotional support they need as an adult compared to those with fewer PCEs. And this was true even for adults who reported also having higher numbers of ACEs. The brand of PCEs we studied are not merry-go-rounds and horse rides in the park, though that can be a part of it. They are learning to trust life and others even amid uncertainty and difficulties. The most important PCEs are born in difficulty." ~ Christina Bethell for ACES Connection

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#ParentingwithPEACE

Be Tech Wise With Baby!

¡Sea sabio con la tecnología y el bebé!

This unique new resource is designed specifically for expectant and new parents, and aims to help families cultivate healthy screen time habits—for their child and for parents/caregivers while around their child—from the day baby is born. Developed by the Children's Screen Time Action Network and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Be Tech Wise With Baby! is uniquely tailored to an often overlooked but critical period when it comes to screen time advice: baby's first year of life.

Be Tech Wise With Baby! covers:

• how to boost baby's brain development and communication skills from birth;
• ways that screen use by babies—and their caregivers— can impact a child's healthy development;
• and tips for creating a home environment that sets baby up for optimal growth.

This Be Tech Wise With Baby! patient education handout is well suited for pediatrician, ob-gyn, and other medical offices and outpatient therapy clinics; libraries; day care centers; and all other settings that provide information for new parents and caregivers.

Please share this important resource with your networks.  We include suggested Facebook language below and attach social share images:

Have a baby at home or expecting one soon? Check out Tech Wise With Baby!, a new, free resource by the Children's Screen Time Action Network and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). Designed for new parents and caregivers, it offers tips for creating a home environment that fosters baby's optimal growth, brain development, and communication skills, including information on how screen use by babies -- and caregivers -- can impact healthy development. Perfect for sharing in medical and therapeutic settings, day care centers, libraries, and more. Also available in Spanish!