We are working toward a day when Attachment Parenting won't need a label -- it will just be parenting. But as of now, the parenting practices that are based on Attachment Theory, and the ever-growing body of researc informed by it, are not well known by the general public.

Mother of 2, API Leader Tina McRorie explains on API's blog why we still need to label our parenting approach.

A huge part of Attachment Parenting is learning, and teaching our children, how to be mindful -- that ability to calm our minds, connect with our emotions in the moment, work through any conflicting feelings, and respond to others in truth and compassion. This week, API's blog features two resources on mindfulness for children and explores the powerful effect mindfulness has on parenting.

"But what if I told you that, broadly speaking, Dr. Sax and every other expert who has made similarly sweeping condemnations of modern child-centred parenting in recent years (think of books like All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood by Jennifer Senior or Drop the Worry Ball by Alex Russell and Tim Falconer) – are simply empirically wrong? There may be a general feeling of a “crisis” in modern parenting, but if you look at the numbers, across the board, there has simply never been a better time to be a middle-class child in Canada."

Mother 2 and Assistant Editor of API's blog, Effie Morchi, discusses a troubling trend in Palo Alto, Calif., and how it ties into parenting: I've come to realize that there is one fundamental question in which the answer is the foundation of our parenting approach. It defines how we, parents, raise our kids. How do you define success and happiness?

"Did you receive affection, play freely and feel supported in childhood? Childhood experiences like these appear to have a lot to do with well-being and moral capacities in adulthood.

In a forthcoming article in the journal Applied Developmental Science, University of Notre Dame professor of psychology Darcia Narvaez and colleagues Lijuan Wang and Ying Cheng, associate professors of psychology, show that childhood experiences that match with evolved needs lead to better outcomes in adulthood."

I conducted a multi-generational survey of mothers about how motherhood has changed. Today I want to share what these women said about the dangers of childhood from each generation. It’s been fascinating to me to see what has changed and what has stayed the same. One of the things I heard from older generations was the idea that, though we have a lot of new dangers for our children today with the internet, in many ways we are all safer.

It’s not just American breastfeeding mothers who have had to fight for their rights to express breastmilk on the job.
A wedding photographer-turned-breastfeeding advocate, Jen Pan has been using her photography work to stand against discrimination of breastfeeding mothers in the workplace in Singapore.

There is no place for even a mention of a bathroom in the same sentence as breastfeeding or pumping. The fact that there are still people — and so many of them, too! — that direct mothers to breastfeed or pump in a restroom is astounding. At first thought, maybe it’s because the people who are directing breastfeeding and pumping mothers to the bathroom are so removed from the idea of breastfeeding and pumping that they really have no idea.

Mississippi Sen. Hillman Frazier (D-Jackson) is standing up for breastfeeding in perhaps the boldest way yet: proposing a fine for not allowing a mother to breastfeed her child. He has filed Senate Bill 2070, which would make it a misdemeanor for anyone to deny a woman to breastfeed in public and subject that person, company or agency to a fine of $25-$250 for each offense. If passed, the bill would be effective July 1.

Despite the couple’s celebrity status, her daily life is filled mostly with taking care of their three young children. She is also focused on bringing attention to issues facing women and girls.

""We were surprised by our findings because of the high number of centers that indicated they would follow ahuman-milk feeding plan, but a large number of them didn't have staff that was properly trained on how to handle it," said Spatz. This study shows that widespread education of child care providers and staff is absolutely necessary to ensure adherence to breastfeeding support guidelines. It also aids in the proper dissemination of information about breastfeeding to families."

It is embarrassing to be living in what many would call the most advanced nation in the world,  but one that still does not guarantee parental leave for all of its employees after the birth of a baby. After all, it is 2015.

I took Tylenol when I was pregnant. Now, I’m sitting here reading about a study through which Norwegian researchers have found a link between prenatal use of acetaminophen and ibuprofen, and childhood asthma.

You either have preeclampsia or you don’t. You either have gestational diabetes or you don’t. You either have high blood pressure or you don’t. Right? When it comes to pregnancy complications, many of us are led to believe that these diagnoses — and their risks to our unborn babies — are cut and dry, that is we either have a pregnancy health problem or we don’t, and our babies are either at risk of a complication or they’re not. But at least when it comes to high blood pressure, being below the cutoff line of clinically high blood pressure doesn’t mean baby is necessarily safe.

In Cambodia, due to a traditional diet poor in iron-rich foods, iron deficiency affects over half of the population. Because iron supplements are cost prohibitive, an alternative solution was needed to solve this paramount dilemma. The answer lay in a Cambodian cultural symbol of hope and luck: the fish.

There's growing debate (and growing support) in the U.S. around paid parental leave. It's become a major campaign issue, and many states and municipalities are considering its pros, cons, and costs. For large private companies--think Google, Netflix, Adobe--expansive leave policies are a salary bargaining chip and a recruiting and retention tool.