I've decided to do a weekly attachment/natural parenting link/article roundup, as often as I can manage it. Throughout the week, I come across lots of fantastic articles, studies, and videos that support natural parenting, and I'd like to share them with anyone who might be browsing through my archives looking for good reasons to love their child.
The Human Baby"A human baby born today, to any parents anywhere in the world, would have no trouble fitting into a hunter-gatherer society. He evolved to do so. On the other hand, any baby born today in modern society does not fit our world, nor would any baby born in the past fit it either. Babies (and mothers) have not changed in their reproductive biological or genetic structure; it is society and mothers who have changed in their response to, and in their attitude toward, babies. We no longer value and support mothering or the babies' critical need to develop in relation to a tender, nurturing mother. We have deviated from the nurturing aspect of reproductive biology by changing the baby's "someone"."Why Holding Your Baby May Save Her Life"Who needs warmers and all of that equipment in normal situations? Mom is nature's perfect warmer, and baby learns smooth respiration and heart rate from lying on mom's chest! Allowed to move freely, baby even can latch on and begin breastfeeding on its own."Watch Your Language"Try this on: You have been crippled in a serious accident. Your physicians and physical therapists explain that learning to walk again would involve months of extremely painful and difficult work with no guarantee of success. They help you adjust to life in a wheelchair, and support you through the difficulties that result. Twenty years later, when your legs have withered beyond all hope, you meet someone whose accident matched your own. "It was difficult," she says. "It was three months of sheer hell. But I've been walking every since." Would you feel guilty?
Women to whom I posed this scenario told me they would feel angry, betrayed, cheated. They would wish they could do it over with better information. They would feel regret for opportunities lost. Some of the women said they would feel guilty for not having sought out more opinions, for not having persevered in the absence of information and support. But gender-engendered guilt aside, we do not feel guilty about having been deprived of a pleasure. The mother who does not breastfeed impairs her own health, increases the difficulty and expense of infant and child rearing, and dismisses one of life's most delightful relationships. She has lost something basic to her own well-being. What image of the satisfactions of breastfeeding do we convey when we use the word "guilt"?"Breast Milk Study Furthers Understanding of Critical Ingredients "Bryan said colostrum has significantly higher concentrations of nitrite and significantly lower concentrations of nitrate than both transition and mature milk, which he believes may be nature’s way of providing nitric oxide to the newborns whose gastrointestinal tract is not yet colonized by bacteria that convert nitrate to nitrite. Nitrite-rich colostrum overcomes this deficit, he said."Spanking Is (Still) Wrong"So we have one more result supporting the recommendations of groups like the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics against spanking, which they define as hitting that is done with an open hand and does not cause injury. If everyone is agreed, then, why the continuing parade of research? Because parents are not getting the message."CIRCUMCISION: A surgery looking for a disease"In order to combat the media attention given to claims of benefits to male genital mutilation, I’ve put together these posts, articles and citations that show the “behind the science” mis-steps that have been taken in trying to find a ‘quick fix’ for the AIDS tragedy in Africa."One-Quarter of the Foods Kids Eat Contain Pesticides"Researchers checked children's non-organic fruit, vegetables, and juices for 14 different varieties of pesticides. They found that more than 25 percent of the foods kids consume on a daily basis contain detectable levels of pesticides. A snack of carrot sticks may provide youngsters with a hefty dose of nutrients they need, but some of them come soaked in a pretty toxic marinade."
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