MRI results show the dramatic impact that breastfeeding has on the brain development of babies. A study out of Brown University was able to find actual evidence that by the age of 2, babies exclusively breastfed (for at least three months) babies had greater development in important areas of the brain …
Newborn baths are essentially standard operating procedure in a hospital delivery. Yet, there’s many significant reasons to postpone that newborn bath. It might seem gross to many Americans. You may be thinking about the white coating, called vernix, and how that should be cleaned off. Vernix does more than act …
Back in 2011, a press release was printed in the BMJ that concluded that delayed cord clamping can protect babies from iron deficiency. When I delivered my first son, I breastfed and I can recall the pediatrician telling me that I may need to give iron supplements because breastfed babies …
I was amazed when I read the story on Midwifery Today’s website written by two birth professionals. Denise Gilpin-Blake, a licensed midwife and owner of Accouche Waterbirth Centers in Southern California, and Summer Elliott, a registered nurse and student midwife at the time the article was printed, explained { here } how they …
When babies get colic, parents are often told to give simethicone drops. This is a gas reliever. Simethicone is a relatively safe drug that has no known side effects when used as directed unless the infant is allergic, but those little drops come with other ingredients too. Mylicon drops also contain: anhydrous citric acid, benzoic …
When my obstetrician was trying to convince me to circumcise my son, he told me that he wouldn’t feel a thing. He told me that they numbed the area and it would be a pain-free experience. I wasn’t there, so I don’t know how pain-free my own son’s circumcision was. …
Potential Trigger Warning: Though it is from a clinical stance, this post will discuss the topic of stillbirth. I was told during pregnancy that I should not sleep on my back. If you have been or currently are pregnant, you probably have been told to try to sleep on …
Pregnant? Think your vitamin D levels are fine? It wouldn’t hurt to get a blood test… Dr. Joyce Lee and a team of researchers at the University of Michigan studied 40 pregnant women. The majority of them were taking their prenatal vitamins. One would assume they would have all their …
A new paper was published that the showed the effect of fermented milk with probiotics on brain activity. It validates what many of us in the Everything Birth and “crunchy parenting” community already felt to be true. Changes in gut flora in turn change emotional behavior and brain functioning. In this …
Don’t want an unnecessary c-section, but still plan to birth in a hospital? Then, you owe it to yourself to find out the cesarean section rate at the hospital where you anticipate delivering your child. According to an article published in the medical journal Health Affairs this month, “vast differences in practice patterns are …
