Breastfeeding

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Rock the World With LLL and API! Nov 2 Conference - Your Response Requested We are thrilled to announce that API is partnering with La Leche League of KY/TN for the Rock the World:... read more	The sweetness of Attachment Parenting Have you ever tried to explain to someone what attachment parenting is?
An open letter to new mamas With so much unsolicited parenting advice in our information era, I encourage you to raise a red flag to advice including any of the following 6 terms: Should, Habit, It works, That's what the doctor advised, Spoiling, Good baby.	Nicole Curtis–Why I Won't Stop Breastfeeding "This week, People sits down with Nicole Curtis, from the hit home renovation show Rehab Addict, to get all the details about what’s been going on with her personal life since the birth of her second child back in 2015.
National Trends in Pediatricians’ Practices and Attitudes About Breastfeeding: 1995 to 2014 "Pediatricians’ recommendations and practices became more closely aligned with AAP policy from 1995 to 2014; however, their attitudes about the likelihood of breastfeeding success have worsened.	World Breastfeeding Week 2017 The theme for World Breastfeeding Week 2017 is "Sustaining Breastfeeding Together." Learn more on API's blog, APtly Said.
Connection after breastfeeding My 3-year-old daughter recently found our old nursing pillow in the closet.	Relationship Between the American Academy of Pediatrics and Infant Formula Companies "Over the course of the next several decades, for a variety of reasons, formula became seen as modern and scientific and breastfeeding as old-fashioned.
Parental leave would cause a boom in breastfeeding "Only 12 percent of U.S. firms offer paid maternity leave, while a national parental leave policy would likely require businesses to give new mothers six weeks of paid time off.	The National Scandal of Newborn Deaths, and Why Support for Breastfeeding Moms Matters "...some of the recent stories in the news and articles spreading through social media appear to paint quite the opposite picture about breastfeeding—that somehow breastfeeding is potentially dangerous to babies and that the “pressure to... read more

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Journal Studies

Patterns of Developmental Change in Infants’ Nighttime Sleep Awakenings from 6 through 36 Months of Age Weinraub, M., Bender, R. H., Friedman, S. L., Susman, E. J., Knoke, B., Bradley, R., ... & Williams, J. (2012). Patterns of Developmental Change in Infants’ Nighttime Sleep Awakenings from 6 through 36 Months of Age. Developmental Psychology, 48(6),1511-1528. Infants with night-wakings were more likely to be boys, be breastfed, have a difficult temperament, come from a large family, have a depressed mother, be in a single-parent home, and/or attend fewer hours of non-parental child care; however, this tendency for more night-wakings tended to resolve by 18 months.	Infant Sleep and Paternal Involvement in Infant Caregiving During the First 6 Months of Life Tikotzky, L., Sadeh, A., & Glickman-Gavrieli, T. (2011). Infant sleep and paternal involvement in infant caregiving during the first 6 months of life. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 36(1), 36-46. In solitary sleep arrangements, mothers were more involved in nighttime parenting than fathers, and breastfeeding was related to less father involvement. More father involvement early on predicted fewer night-wakings by 6 months.
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.	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.	Breastfeeding, Brain Activation to Own Infant Cry, and Maternal Sensitivity Kim, P., Feldman, R., Mayes, L. C., Eicher, V., Thompson, N., Leckman, J. F., & Swain, J. E. (2011). Breastfeeding, brain activation to own infant cry, and maternal sensitivity. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52(8), 907-915. Breastfeeding changed the mother’s brain, activating brain regions associated with empathy, greater maternal sensitivity, and mother-infant bonding.
Breastfeeding and Its Relation to Maternal Sensitivity and Infant Attachment Tharner, A., Luijk, M. P., Raat, H., IJzendoorn, M. H., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., Moll, H. A., ... & Tiemeier, H. (2012). Breastfeeding and Its Relation to Maternal Sensitivity and Infant Attachment. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 33(5), 396-404. Breastfeeding for longer was associated with more maternal sensitivity, more attachment security, and less attachment disorganization, but bottle-feeding did not necessarily harm the mother-infant relationship.	Responsive Feeding is Embedded in a Theoretical Framework of Responsive Parenting Black, M. M., & Aboud, F. E. (2011). Responsive feeding is embedded in a theoretical framework of responsive parenting. The Journal of Nutrition, 141(3), 490-494. While more research is needed, the benefits of responsive feeding on child nutrition and growth are expected to be as great as responsive parenting is to child outcome.

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