Attachment Parenting

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Kids speak out: My favorite thing about my dad is... What is your very favorite thing about your father? These children from around the world speak out about their dads, daddies, and papas.	Kids speak out: I admire my dad because... Happy Father's Day from API! Today, children from around the world speak out to let us know what they admire most about their fathers.
Struggling Moms of Teens Can Benefit from Social Support "Mothers who do not feel in control of their lives and who struggle with their teenage children can benefit significantly from having a social support network.	Connection after breastfeeding My 3-year-old daughter recently found our old nursing pillow in the closet.
My Attachment Parenting support group made all the difference How important is it to find parents to give you support, encouragement, and advice in Attachment Parenting? This mom shares her experience after dealing with her child's public tantrum.	Healthy infant sleep, Part 4: The sticking point for parents If we follow evidence-based normal human development, early independence is a fallacy.
Healthy infant sleep, Part 3: Combining adult structure with infant sleep needs Light bulbs, alarm clocks, factories, and offices are new cultural inventions that require a whole new sleep-industrial complex to maintain. Taking it all into consideration, there is no question of adaptation.	Healthy infant sleep, Part 2: The dependence of healthy infant sleep patterns If we take a holistic view of the sleep question, we have to ask how successful and beneficial it is when we discover the "normal" situation of medicated sleep and the reach of adult sleep difficulties into so many lives.
Healthy infant sleep, Part 1: Are modern sleep patterns healthier? Research has revealed that right up until the advent of electric light, humans normally experienced 2 distinct segments of sleep.	Cuddling therapy, anyone? For babies requiring long-term hospitalization, like preemies and other ill newborns, some hospitals now offer Volunteer Cuddlers to help meet their needs for nurturing touch.

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Journal Studies

Normal Sleep Patterns in Infants and Children: A Systematic Review of Observational Studies Galland, B. C., Taylor, B. J., Elder, D. E., & Herbison, P. (2012). Normal sleep patterns in infants and children: A systematic review of observational studies. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 16(3), 213-222. More research is needed to identify normal sleep patterns in breastfed versus bottle-fed infants, in toddlers, on weekdays versus weekends, and as related to gender and ethnic differences. What is known is that children sleep longer at night and experience fewer night-wakings and daytime naps as they develop.	Breastfeeding May Improve Nocturnal Sleep and Reduce Infantile Colic: Potential Role of Breast Milk Melatonin Engler, A. C., Hadash, A., Shehadeh, N., & Pillar, G. (2012). Breastfeeding may improve nocturnal sleep and reduce infantile colic: potential role of breast milk melatonin. European Journal of Pediatrics, 171(4), 729-732. Exclusively breastfed infants had less colic and fussiness, and slept longer. Melatonin, which promotes sleep, available only in breastmilk, showed a clear relationship to infant sleep patterns.
Childhood Sleep Duration and Associated Demographic Characteristics in an English Cohort Blair, P. S., Humphreys, J. S., Gringras, P., Taheri, S., Scott, N., Emond, A., ... & Fleming, P. J. (2012). Childhood sleep duration and associated demographic characteristics in an English cohort. Sleep, 35(3), 353-360. More research is needed to identify what is normal when it comes to child sleep. Some of what is known is that children need longer nighttime sleep until about 9 years old. By school age, most children sleep through the night, but children up to 3 1/2 years old continue to wake at least once. Low birth-weight and pre-term infants sleep more. Infants of younger mother sleep more. All infants sleep longer at night, wake multiple times at night, and sleep longer daytime naps than young children who mostly stop taking naps by 5 years old. Girls sleep longer than boys. Children with siblings sleep less.	A Longitudinal Investigation of Maternal Touching Across the First 6 Months of Life: Age and Context Effects Jean, A. D., Stack, D. M., & Fogel, A. (2009). A longitudinal investigation of maternal touching across the first 6 months of life: Age and context effects. Infant Behavior and Development, 32(3), 344-349. As infants grew older, mothers provided less nurturing touch, patting and stroking but more tickling and static touch.
Touch for Socioemotional and Physical Well-Being: A Review Field, T. (2010). Touch for socioemotional and physical well-being: A review. Developmental Review, 30(4), 367-383. Touch is needed for social-emotional and physical development and well-being. In addition, there are therapeutic benefits of massage.	The Development of Maternal Touch Across the First Year of Life Ferber, S. G., Feldman, R., & Makhoul, I. R. (2008). The development of maternal touch across the first year of life. Early Human Development, 84(6), 363-370. While maternal touch predicts mother-infant reciprocity, which is linked to positive child cognitive, language, and social-emotional development, the incidence of all forms of nurturing touch decrease through the infant’s first year, especially after six months.
Natural Variations in Maternal and Paternal Care are Associated with Systematic Changes in Oxytocin Following Parent-Infant Contact Feldman, R., Gordon, I., Schneiderman, I., Weisman, O., & Zagoory-Sharon, O. (2010). Natural variations in maternal and paternal care are associated with systematic changes in oxytocin following parent-infant contact. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 35(8), 1133-1141. Oxytocin levels rise in both mothers and fathers who provide high levels of affectionate touch but not in parents who provide less nurturing touch.	Effect of Mother/Infant Skin-to-Skin Contact on Postpartum Depressive Symptoms and Maternal Physiological Stress Bigelow, A., Power, M., MacLellan-Peters, J., Alex, M., & McDonald, C. (2012). Effect of Mother/Infant Skin-to-Skin Contact on Postpartum Depressive Symptoms and Maternal Physiological Stress. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing, 41(3), 369-382 Skin-to-skin contact lessened the mother’s stress and postpartum depression symptoms within the first month after childbirth.
Unequal in Opportunity, Equal in Process: Parental Sensitivity Promotes Positive Child Development in Ethnic Minority Families Mesman, J., van IJzendoorn, M. H., & Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J. (2012). Unequal in opportunity, equal in process: Parental sensitivity promotes positive child development in ethnic minority families. Child Development Perspectives, 6(3), 239-250. While low-income, ethnic-minority families displayed less sensitivity overall to their children, positive father involvement and close mother-father relationships were especially beneficial in the case of maternal risk.	Predictors of Maternal Sensitivity to Infant Distress Leerkes, E. M. (2010). Predictors of maternal sensitivity to infant distress. Parenting: Science and Practice, 10(3), 219-239. A mother’s emotional goals predicted her sensitivity to infant distress more so than her own emotional reaction. In addition, her prenatal ability to detect an unfamiliar infant’s distress was associated with more maternal sensitivity with her own infant.

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