Parenting, in a nutshell, is giving your children the tools to succeed in life. Here are ten parenting tips that I have tried to teach our children and have used in my medical practice during the past 40 years.

Analysis of reports examined in this paper indicate that “many women globally experience poor treatment during childbirth, including abusive, neglectful, or disrespectful care.” This treatment can further complicate the situation downstream, by creating a disincentive for women to seek care from these facilities and providers in future pregnancies.

Being a mother: It means to hold and nurture you inside my body until the moment you arrive in this world, having unconditional devotion to another being till my last breath, to trust my instincts and teach you to trust yours, to care for you, embrace you and answer all your cries, to endure exhaustion and pain while always recognizing there is much to gain, to be elated...

Mother of 2, Effie Morchi reflects on her role as a mother on API's blog.

Julinda Adams reflects on API's blog how a stranger's comment in a grocery store helped calm her, as a new mother, and get her in touch with both her baby's emotional needs and her own instincts.

Practical wisdom and encouragement. Engaging conversation. Your favorite authors and speakers in a rare chat with host Lu Hanessian and API's Cofounders.

The term "secure attachment" refers to the relationship infants and toddlers form with their parents when their needs are met on a regular basis with calmness, respect and warm affection. Experts report other less healthy attachments tend to take shape when parents frequently fail to meet the needs of their young children or respond to them with a lack of compassion.

In June, you were asked to help tell your story through a survey created by SMU in collaboration with API. We are thrilled to report that more than 1,200 parents participated from 49 states and 37 countries!

Many of you told us you that the multiple choice was too limiting, so we've created a short, open-ended set of questions designed to hear everything you want to tell us about the first survey and your AP experience. As always, responses are anonymous.

The findings suggest that children from high-conflict homes, by training their brains to be vigilant, process signs of interpersonal emotion, whether anger or happiness, differently than children from low-conflict homes, Schermerhorn said.

For some, that extra vigilance may result in having difficulty in social relationships later in life, Schermerhorn hypothesized, although more research is needed to test that theory.

With the return of the school many of us are wondering how can we stay balanced ourselves while at the same time honoring our child's needs. School is a time period in which many are pulled in many directions with homework, after-school activities, and weekend practices. How do you keep your child's needs in mind and honor yours as well? Listen to this teleseminar to find out how.

A new study finds that the quantity of social interactions a person has in young adulthood influences their well-being later in life.

I received a copy of To Three and Beyond at a critical point in my parenting journey. At the time, I was breastfeeding my third child at 2-1/2 years old. The longest I had breastfed my other two children was 9 months, and my original goal with my third baby was 1 year. I was thrilled to make it to 1 year, and so changed my goal to 18 months.

API Leader and API Publications Coordinator Rita Brhel shares her interview with Janell Robisch on API's blog about her book for mothers breastfeeding through toddlerhood and beyond.

So, when I was feeling touched-out or just ready to quit nursing, I would test the waters, cut back a little or talk to my son A.J. about it, and see how he reacted. I felt that since I was the adult, I could be patient when I needed to.

Mother and editor/author of the new book about child-led weaning, To Three and Beyond, Janell Robisch shares the story of how her son weaned from breastfeeding when he was ready on API's blog.

It is often noted that part of what makes breastfeeding so challenging at times is that in our Western culture, we just don't see breastfeeding happening on a regular basis.

API Leader and API Publications Coordinator, Rita Brhel reports on API's blog aobut a talk given by Native American lactation consultant Camie Jae Goldhammer about breastfeeding and historical trauma.

Born from an entirely protective environment where mother's body tends to baby's every immune nutritional need, breastfeeding transitions the newborn safely into childhood. Nutrition is truly only a portion of breastfeeding's role. Along with significant neurological and hormonal provisions, there are multitude immune-protective factors. A major, but seldom considered, portion of baby's protection from illnesses, and the continued health of the child, comes from the early establishment of optimal gut flora.

World Breastfeeding Week is an exciting time for me every year. Not only do I greatly enjoy joining in the annual celebration through API's week-long observance on the APtly Said blog, but I also get to partake in fun, local events thorugh my job as a WIC Breastfeeding Peer Counselor. Today, I kicked off World Breastfeeding Week by helping with a local Big Latch On event.

Mother of 3, API Leader and API's Publications Coordinator, Rita Brhel shares her impressions of a local Big Latch On event, one of many World Breastfeeding Week activities for mothers across the globe.