Parents begin potty training at birth
Story found on YahooNews.
SUTTON, Mass. - Thirteen-month-old Dominic Klatt stopped banging the furniture in the verandah, looked at his mother and clasped his right hand around his left wrist to signal that he needed to go to the bathroom.
His mother took the diaper-less tot to a tree in the yard, held him in a squatting position and made a gentle hissing sound — prompting the infant to relieve himself on cue before he rushed back to play.
Dominic is a product of a growing “diaper-free” movement founded on the belief that babies are born with an instinctive ability to signal when they have to answer nature’s call. Parents who practice the so-called “elimination communication” learn to read their children’s body language to help them recognize the need, and they mimic the sounds that a child associates with the bathroom. Continue reading »
Filed under Parenting | Comment (0)Surrogate mothers cashing in
Story found on ChinaDaily.
By Shan Juan (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-28 07:32
Xiao Fan has twice given birth to a child she will not raise.
That is because the 32-year-old is a surrogate mother who gives birth on behalf of other couples for cash.
While in some countries surrogacy is common practice, authorities here frown upon it, although little is done to stop it.
But it is women like Xiao (not her real name) and an unknown number of brokers, agencies and other middlemen who help keep this “industry” alive, largely because of loopholes in the legal system and considerable demand from infertile couples in desperate need of a child. Continue reading »
Filed under Motherhood | Comment (0)Who’s Your Nanny?
Story found on WashingtonPost.com.
I loved “The Nanny Diaries,” the 2002 bestseller by a pair of former nannies who served up a merciless satire of the overly moneyed in Manhattan, their neglected children and their exploitive ways with the domestic help. Part comedy, part class commentary, the novel was a good laugh, and I expect I’ll enjoy the movie version that opened on Friday every bit as much.
But as a working mother, I can’t help noting how little the story has to do with reality — either with the situation of parents like me, who depend on nannies and babysitters to care for our children, or with the lives of most women who work as caregivers. Continue reading »
Filed under Parenting | Comment (0)The Age of the ‘Alpha Mom’
Story found on USNews.com.
A new wave of advertising is showing women in control
By Kimberly Palmer
Posted 8/26/07
Madison Avenue has created a new kind of mother to reflect the latest work-family trends. Dubbed “alpha moms,” they project independence, balance, and competence at both work and home, in contrast to past images of harried working moms and über-domestic stay-at-home moms.
“Alpha moms are women who are in control of their own destiny. She sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t… The idea is that you can be good at both [motherhood and career] now,” says Kristi Bridges, creative director of the Sawtooth Group, a marketing firm in Woodbridge, N.J. Continue reading »
Filed under Motherhood | Comment (0)Stretch Marks Treatment- The Only Formula To Treat These Ugly Pregnancy Marks
Story found on AmericanChronicle.
Saurabh Jain
August 26, 2007
Stretch mark treatment is a common problem among all men and women. There are many treatments that claim to solve this problem. However, you should recognize the type of treatment suitable for your skin and your pockets i.e. whether you require laser treatment for pregnancy stretch marks, creams or whether a home remedy will do the trick.
It is common for every woman to get stretch marks whether it is a pregnancy stretch mark on abdomen or weight gain stretch marks on thighs, hips, breast or upper arms. Continue reading »
Filed under Pregnancy | Comment (0)Focus on new fathers Brady, Morgan as Patriots face Panthers
Story found on SportingNews.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Tom Brady’s life as a three-time Super Bowl champion and Hollywood celebrity collided this week when he missed New England’s practice and jetted to Los Angeles to be with his ex-girlfriend, actress Bridget Moynahan.
As Brady began his first full day of fatherhood Thursday after Moynahan gave birth to a boy, his Patriots teammates were boarding a plane for Friday’s preseason game against the Carolina Panthers. Continue reading »
Filed under Sports & Fatherhood | Comment (0)
Story found on GazetteOnline.
Thirty infants, some stripped down to their Huggies and others in Onesies, lie on blankets scattered around the floor of a classroom in the Helen G. Nassif Center for Women’s & Children’s Health at St. Luke’s Hospital.
Their tiny feet and small fists punch the air. Some coo and smile. Most cry.
But as the lights dim and calming music flows, the cacophony grows quieter.
‘‘Hold their feet for two to three seconds so they know we’re going to start,’’ Andi Quinn, a nurse and educator at St. Lukes, tells a roomful of moms at a Monday morning Mommy and Me class.
The first rule of infant massage is to get the baby’s permission, she says. The second is to follow baby’s cues. ‘‘Read your little ones,’’ Quinn says. Continue reading »
Filed under Parenting | Comment (0)Oliver Hudson’s Baby Boy
Story found on EOnline!
Rules of Engagement star Oliver Hudson is getting acquainted with the rules of parenthood.
Kate Hudson’s big bro welcomed a baby boy named Wilder Thursday, his first child with wife Erinn Bartlett, E! News has learned exclusively. Continue reading »
Filed under Celebrities & Parenthood | Comment (0)Fathers - impacting children through play
Story found on SummitDaily.com.
SUMMIT COUNTY - Dads - if you haven’t kicked a ball around, hopped on bike trail or taken a trip to a park with your child lately, it may be time to make that happen.
Research shows that playing with children is central to their development, and teaches patience, turn taking and countless fundamental skills, according to the Colorado Department of Human Services. It is also the primary way fathers impact their children and generally spend the greatest percentage of their time with them.
“Dads really influence kids through play. … They tend to be more physical, playful and louder,” said Rich Batten, fatherhood specialist with the department of human services. Continue reading »
Filed under Fatherhood | Comment (0)Uterus lining predicts IVF success
Story found on TheAge.com.
Changes in the thickness of the uterus lining or “endometrium” during in vitro fertilisation predict the likelihood of pregnancy, according to a report in the journal Fertility and Sterility.
“Good-prognosis patients will experience an endometrial response quickly,” Dr John L Frattarelli told Reuters Health.
“Patients who have a slower endometrial response have significantly worse pregnancy outcomes.”
Frattarelli from Reproductive Medicine Associates of New Jersey, Somerset, and Dr. Grant D E McWilliams assessed how changes in endometrial thickness are associated with pregnancy in 132 women undergoing in vitro fertilisation, a common treatment for infertility. Continue reading »
Filed under Pregnancy | Comment (0)