The crazy world of the postpartum body...there is really nothing quite like it. I didn't even recognize myself after I had my son and was almost at the loss of where to start getting active again. I had always been an active person, but it was difficult at first to figure out how to incorporate that into my life now that I had a little one. Not only that, but my body was not even capable of doing all the things that it had been before. Not initially anyway.

"Every day I go about my life: drive my children to and fro, make breakfast, lunch and dinner, and change my baby's diapers in my four-walled house while the world buzzes around me busy and fast. My little plays on the floor and I watch him pluck toy after toy out of the large box in the corner of the room and although my life is rich with many things, I think about you because I miss the village.

A new Northwestern University study suggests that an intervention focused on strengthening families can reduce inflammation, a chronic overactivation of parts of the immune system that is important for long-term health.

Children of low socioeconomic status (SES) often experience such inflammation and poorer health at all stages of life than their more advantaged peers—from lower birth weights at infancy to higher rates of age-related cardiovascular disease and cancer.

What this year's celebration of World Breastfeeding Week is really about--more than updating the status on breastfeeding acceptance or increasing understanding for mothers who are unable to breastfeed--is advocacy for parent support. In this spririt, Attachment Parenting International created the Parent Support Deserts project through which we mapped gaps in local parent support opportunities specific to Attachment Parenting.

I know as a mom, I often want to "silver lining" things for my kids. They are struggling and having a hard time, and I want to help them feel better. But Brene Brown of the University of Houston makes an excellent point in that rarely can a response make something better. What makes something better is connection. Instead of silver-lining things to help my kids feel better, I need to meet them where they are with those heavy feelings. I need to sit in the dark with them.

As all the kids line up to go to school, your son, Timmy, turns to you and says, "I don't want to take the bus. My stomach hurts. Please don't make me go." You cringe and think, Here we go again. What should be a simple morning routine explodes into a daunting challenge.

Are American kids spoiled rotten? Every year a new article goes viral by preying on parents' fears. Are we being too permissive? Are we raising a generation of brats?

"It’s happened again. A parenting article gone viral, one that has the mainstream masses rising from their seats in raucous applause…. and the rest of us shaking our collective heads. In the article 5 Reasons Modern-Day Parenting is in Crisis, a nanny (I think that’s important to note. She’s writing it as a nanny, not as a mother) outlines what she believes to be the five worst mistakes being made by us modern parents. It’s a crisis, she tells us.

By carefully watching nearly a hundred hours of video showing mother rats protecting, warming, and feeding their young pups, and then matching up what they saw to real-time electrical readings from the pups' brains, researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center have found that the mother's presence and social interactions—her nurturing role—directly molds the early neural activity and growth of her offsprings' brain.

Is it enough that our children survive? Is it enough that our children grow up into adults who can be functioning members of society–who can choose to marry and have children, who can get and keep a job and pay their bills? Should we be thinking about the bigger picture?

And what is that bigger picture?

If there's one thing Tiger Moms have in common with those bringing up Bébé, it's that they both show us just how varied parenting styles can be.

Argentinian parents let their kids stay up until all hours, Japanese parents let 7-year-olds ride the subway by themselves and Danish parents leave their kids sleeping in a stroller on the curb while they go inside to shop or eat.

"Not long ago, my second grader came to me in tears. He was upset that I wouldn’t be able to chaperone his class field trip the next day because I had to work.

“'I want you there. I want you to go. I want to be with my daddy.'

"I hugged him and assured him that we would take our own family field trip over the weekend. This compromise seemed to make him feel better, but it didn’t make me feel better."

[VIDEO] This 5-minute video depicts a theory of change from the Frontiers of Innovation community for achieving breakthrough outcomes for vulnerable children and families. It describes the need to focus on building the capabilities of caregivers and strengthening the communities that together form the environment of relationships essential to children’s lifelong learning, health, and behavior. 

Attachment parenting is a style of caring for your infant that brings out the best in the baby and the best in the parents.

This concept of parenting is coined by world famous pediatrician and parenting guru, Dr William Sears and many parents around the world practice this concept including Hollywood celebrities like Angelina Jolie, Gisele Bundchen and many others.

Let us take a look at what Attachment Parenting stands to benefit in a parent-baby relation.

The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) monitors six types of health-risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death and disability among youth and adults, including—

• Behaviors that contribute to unintentional injuries and violence
• Sexual behaviors that contribute to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection
• Alcohol and other drug use
• Tobacco use
• Unhealthy dietary behaviors
• Inadequate physical activity

"Has anyone noticed how many articles bash attachment parenting lately? I sure have. While most attachment parents are quick to point out the benefits of full term breastfeeding, delaying daycare, co-sleeping, baby-wearing, and anything else they found worked best for their family, one has to wonder… Is all the criticism based on something real? Could attachment parenting make parents miserable, and are we all sacrificing our happiness for the supposed sake of our children? Let’s dig a little deeper…"