If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
Maybe I shouldn't blame her. After a woman has a baby, she is broken down, hazed and then rebuilt in the form of a mother. We were all thin-skinned, sometimes sanctimonious and desperately insecure.
Was my wife, Dixie, helping me or suckering me? It's a debate that still goes on to this day, but regardless of the answer, I stand behind the following advice for every new dad: Change every diaper.
Some 830,000 babies' lives can be saved worldwide if they are breastfed within the critical first hour after birth. Babies who are breastfed within the very first hour after birth are three times more likely to survive than if they are breastfed a day after birth.
Are we supporting moms enough? In too many places, the answer is no. As moms, we all want the best for our children -- but any of us can tell you we cannot do it alone, especially right after birth.
There's something wrong with your baby's brain. This is never the kind of thing you want to hear, but getting the news first thing on a Monday morning before work was even harder.
Apparently, we are fighting over everything. It starts pretty much right away when we are at our most vulnerable. Most neurotic. Most pregnant.
Five days after the birth of my first daughter, I held her in my arms as my husband held me. My head was bent against his shoulder and I was sobbing so heavily that I shook. I could barely breathe, but I pushed out the words: "I. Just. Want. To. Feed. My. Baby."
Newborns eat, poop and sleep. Mostly, they sleep. But more importantly, newborns are your one-way ticket to staying home in your PJs while delegating toddler-care to your spouse, with no guilt whatsoever!
Make no mistake: breastfeeding can be easy, and instantly gratifying. I just want breastfeeding researchers and care providers to look beyond their own experience, listen to what women are saying, and react accordingly.
It's easy to be calm when you're pregnant with Baby #1. You don't know what you don't know, and all. But we all know how well that turned out.
When I think of a family vacation destination, Las Vegas is not exactly the first place that springs to mind. But the response of a Las Vegas institution to an issue surrounding a breastfeeding mother has surprised me enough to consider it.
My decision to stop breastfeeding wasn't devastating for me. It had been a pretty miserable experience from the beginning that, for me, took away from the joy of having a baby. But the decision to stop definitely came with plenty of guilt.
In 2012, breastfeeding entered mainstream American dialogue as either a polarizing or a unifying topic for a wide variety of mothers, parents, employers and public officials across the country.
We have to talk about maternal mental health. If breastfeeding isn't working -- if the process is overtaking mothering -- then breast stops being best.
What impact do local traditions have on health indicators? How can modern approaches be paired with indigenous customs to improve the health of communities? These are some of the questions that our correspondents set out to answer.
I am Sapient, I am a hip-hop artist, and I am also an advocate for natural childbirth, breastfeeding and attachment parenting. And yeah, breastfeeding isn't exactly hip-hop.
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