Learn the guidelines and hear the views of one AP parent.
API Links is a monthly e-newsletter to help keep parents, professionals, and others abreast of the latest news and research in Attachment Parenting and updates of API programs.
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June 15, 2013
Learn the guidelines and hear the views of one AP parent.
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June 15, 2013
Attachment parents are nurturing and available to meet their children's needs day and night. |
May 11, 2013
Editor's PickA fascinating new study reveals that Americans are more likely to call their children "intelligent," while European parents focus on happiness and balance. Here's why. |
May 8, 2013
Editor's PickMother’s Day Special - Guest Barbara Nicholson is the featured guest on Radio Dreams - Listen live on May 12, 2013, at http://kokefm.com at 7 p.m Central Time. |
April 19, 2013
Think more James Joyce, less Bill Gates More editor, a little less nerd, but some of both would be great! Attachment Parenting International functions almost exclusively due to volunteer efforts. Our current technology coordinator has a long to-do list and to help her out, we need to offload some of the web content editing duties. This person would need both excellent web writing and proofreading skills, as well as experience in managing a dynamic website, online magazine, or blog. |
April 18, 2013
Editor's Pick"Many of the mothers and mothers-to-be that I talk to are young - teens and early 20s - a challenging group to promote healthy parenting practices to, as they are still growing and developing themselves. We know this anecdotally. We also know this scientifically. This 2010 UK study is among many that show that the brain doesn’t reach maturity as once theorized until people are at least age 30. Executive functioning, such as planning and decision-making, social awareness and behavior, empathy and other personality traits, are the last bits of cognitive functions to fully develop." |
June 14, 2013
Editor's PickBreastfeeding is not only good for baby but also good for mums, with a new study by the University of Western Sydney finding breastfeeding reduces the chances of mums developing high blood pressure even decades later. |
June 13, 2013
Staff with Action contre la Faim (ACF) regularly hear widespread beliefs about breastfeeding perils: It is dangerous to breastfeed while pregnant as it could weaken the unborn infant; women should not breastfeed if a previous child has died while breastfeeding; and breastfeeding over time is dangerous as breastmilk can mix with blood. |
May 9, 2013
"Breastfeeding provides mothers and their babies with a healthy start. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services created It’s Only Natural to offer African American moms the knowledge, help and support they need to breastfeed. You’ll find all this at www.womenshealth.gov/ItsOnlyNatural. Breastfeeding. It’s only natural with mother’s love, mother’s milk." Visit the campaign for Leader's materials, posters, and more. |
June 10, 2013
The Harvard Center on the Developing Child has produced a new video: "Building Adult Capabilities to Improve Child Outcomes: A Theory of Change." The video wisely identifies the need to support the adults in a child's life in order to promote long-term health, both physical and emotional. It points to the abundance of scientific evidence showing the need for providing safe and secure relationships in early childhood to reach these goals. |
May 30, 2013
Editor's PickChildren who are exposed to negative parenting - including abuse and neglect but also overprotection - are more likely to experience childhood bullying by their peers. |
May 4, 2013
"Overall, there does not appear to be a strong relationship between per capita GDP and overall child well-being. The Czech Republic is ranked higher than Austria, Slovenia higher than Canada, and Portugal higher than the United States." |
May 3, 2013
"The researchers concluded that live music, played or sung, helped to slow infants’ heartbeats, calm their breathing, improve sucking behaviors important for feeding, aid sleep and promote states of quiet alertness. Doctors and researchers say that by reducing stress and stabilizing vital signs, music can allow infants to devote more energy to normal development." |
April 18, 2013
Being exposed to arguments between parents is associated with the way babies' brains process emotional tone of voice. |
May 25, 2013
Editor's PickThe emotional and physical welfare of infants is API's mission, and API celebrates the efforts and research aimed at reducing and eliminating SIDS/SUDS. The Carpenter et. al. (2013) analysis attempts an important review, but lacks sufficient data to support the very misleading headlines. Read on for API's response... |
May 13, 2013
"When it comes to the potential risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome from a mother sharing her bed with her baby, there is a push to change the message from "just don't do it" to "here is how it's done most safely." The shift is needed because co-sleeping will never be eliminated and not all forms are equal, said Dr. James McKenna, director of the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame. For example, McKenna said, associated risks are nearly eliminated by breastfeeding." |
May 8, 2013
Editor's Pick"While we accept the need for preventative strategies to reduce sleep-related infant deaths, we believe health agencies should shift from absolute messages discouraging bedsharing to messages that address known risk factors. "This more ethical approach will provide parents with information that minimises the risk for SIDS and still allows them to bedshare if they wish to." |
May 1, 2013
Editor's Pick"Dr. James J. McKenna, PhD, director of the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame shares: |
April 18, 2013
Methodological concerns, unethical and unscientific conclusions, flawed methodology? |
May 12, 2013
"When a parent hurts her child, the parent has to deaden her natural empathy. We know, for instance, that watching a violent image reduces our empathy. To actually engage in a violent act ourselves is much worse, we must disconnect from our own compassion not only for our child but for anyone." ~Laura Markham |
May 10, 2013
"A new study from Japan confirms what many mothers may know instinctively: Picking up and carrying a fussy baby usually calms down and relaxes the child, making the move a good one for both moms and infants." |
May 7, 2013
"It is possible to give a newborn a better chance of survival. It highlights four simple, life-saving treatments that if taken to scale could save more than one million newborns each year: |
May 7, 2013
" In many ways, epidurals are the drug trip of the current generation. Similar to street drug pushers, most anesthesiologists in the delivery rooms maintain a low profile, avoid making eye contact and threaten to walk out if they don’t get total cooperation. Women get epidurals for one of the main reasons so many women smoked pot in the 1970s—their friends are doing it. This article examines why so many women in the Western world are compelled to take powerful drugs during their labor and exposes the risks epidurals pose to both mother and baby." |
April 18, 2013
Cesarean delivery is the most commonly performed surgical procedure in the United States, and cesarean rates are increasing. Cesarean rates varied tenfold across hospitals, from 7.1 percent to 69.9 percent. Even for women with lower-risk pregnancies, in which more limited variation might be expected, cesarean rates varied fifteenfold, from 2.4 percent to 36.5 percent. |
May 7, 2013
"The common denominator of all types of bullying is a lack, or erosion, of empathy. Nurturing empathy, a potential that is present in almost all children, is therefore at the heart of interventions to prevent bullying." |
May 7, 2013
"When we help children recover from feelings of discouragement and when we are able to repair moments of anger and misunderstanding, we have strengthened their inner resources for coping with disappointment and distress. We have built a foundation for optimism and resilience." |
May 6, 2013
"Through a game-based virtual environment and negotiation exercise, Marietta and Hoahn have shown that walking around in someone else’s (virtual) shoes encourages compromise and allows for more positive relationships to develop." |
May 5, 2013
"Some days he gripes throughout his practice when he has a hard piece to practice; occasionally, he’ll ask me to buy him the sheet music to a song he heard somewhere or sang in school. I buy it and hand it to him without comment, and he learns it for fun. Last Christmas, it was “Frosty the Snowman,” and he played it every day for weeks until we begged him to play something else. He has never asked to quit. Recently, another mother asked me what my endgame was for Henry’s violin playing. That was the word she used—endgame. I was stymied." |
May 2, 2013
Adolescents who have positive relationships with their parents tend to have stable and satisfying relationships in their early adult marriages as well as romantic relationships. |
April 18, 2013
Children should be allowed to get bored so they can develop their innate ability to be creative. |