I strongly believe in giving women the freedom and support they need to make the best decisions for thesmelves and their families. When social or structural support for breastfeeding is absent, this can create unnecessary barriers to mothers breastfeeding successfully. I want every woman to feel that it is possible to breastfeed her child successfully, and I want to see entire communities work together to support those efforts.

Before the advent of the 20th century, breastfeeding didn't need promotion to educate new mothers about its benefits or remind health care professionals that their recommendation to breastfeed improves breastfeeding rates. But that's not the case now.

The United States continues to fall short of the breastfeeding goals set by the HHS' Healthy People 2020 (www.healthypeople.gov) initiative, which call for

I believe it’s a mistake to think about the brain and brain science in any kind of reductive fashion. That said, our brains are involved in every aspect of ours and our clients’ lives. Might we be well-served to keep these 7 features of brain function somewhere in the forefront of our own brain?

[VIDEO] The MHP panel talks about workplaces making it easier to parent children after women give birth and the necessity of an economic safety net for new mothers.

When my husband and I moved into a working class community in southwestern Ohio, the parenting gap became a daily reality. As young parents ourselves with a three-year-old and seven-month-old, we have a lot in common with many of our neighbors—like the fact that we love our children to death and would do anything to help them succeed.

But there have also been times when we’ve discovered differences in the approaches we take to parenting.

Training for foster parents that promotes more sensitive caregiving and stronger bonds of attachment could lead to more stable care placements for abused and neglected toddlers, according to researchers in the United States.

Following up from the Spring 2014 ‘Taking Stock With Teens’ study created by Piper Jaffray, the Fall 2014 edition of the study was published this week with a particularly harsh outlook for social networking giant Facebook. When teens were asked what social network they typically use, only 45 percent responded with Facebook. That’s down from 72 percent responding Facebook just six months ago.

When Minnesota Vikings’ running back Adrian Peterson was indicted for hitting his son with a ‘switch’ in September 2014, there was a public furor – with arguments on both sides, but a general sense that Peterson was in the wrong. Quickly, however, the debate over corporal punishment, which was at a fever pitch only two months ago, died down.

I’m not a mother, so I cannot imagine what’s it like to give birth to a child.  However, I can guess that having a baby brings about a host of changes for a new mom! It is exciting and life changing. It’s amazing to see mothers giving their love and tender care to a newborn child.

The changes in a mom’s life may be physical, mental, and emotional. What’s intriguing is that a study suggests that a mother’s brain actually changes as well!

A woman waits in line at a local health food store, happily scanning produce through the self checkout and glancing down to answer a text message. Every few seconds, however, she leans down to kiss the top of her two-year-old’s head, cradled safely against her chest in a baby carrier.

[INFOGRAPHIC] I wanted to share the newest Lamaze International infographic “Is An Epidural My Only Option?” geared for expectant families.  This fact sheet provides information not only about the epidural, it shares the risks and benefits.  The infographic discusses how to reduce risks and improve outcomes when laboring people choose to use one, such as trying other things first before asking for an epidural and changing positions frequently after the epidural is administered.

University of Notre Dame completed an interdisciplinary research study that observed impacts of current cultural parenting practices.  Darcia Narvaez, professor of psychology, reports, “Life outcomes for American youth are worsening, especially in comparison to 50 years ago.  Ill-advised practices and beliefs have become commonplace in our culture, such as the use of infant formula, the isolation of infants in their own rooms or the belief that responding too quickly to a fussing baby will ‘spoil’ it.” 

Attachment Parenting International is celebrating its 20th anniversary, and while the times have changed tremendously for families across the nation in the past two decades, the group's board president says most of the main philosophies of parenting really have not. 

[INFOGRAPHIC] The rise of Cesareans and the movement to safely prevent them.

During this signal year in our organization's history, we thought it would be particularly appropriate to pull together key child development insights derived from research conducted at Child Trends and elsewhere. And we wanted to present this information in language and in a format that would be easily accessible to all. Hence, this booklet. Please note that the numbers beside the 25 points that we present are used for convenience -- not to imply that some points are more important than others.