Parenting Your Infant

"A concise and interactive guide that simplifies what you need to know about new babies in general and gives you a place to discover more about your own baby to help you make the most of this phase." -- back cover.

A comprehensive guide to attachment parenting, which asserts that consistent parental responsiveness to a baby's needs will lead to happy and emotionally well-balanced children. Photos.

Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.

Dr. Jay Gordon gives new parents the information they need to make their newborn's transition from the womb to the world as painless and stress-free as possible. He gives them free rein to center their lives around their newborn baby and build a secure bond that will foster health and happiness in the future-with advice on: * Parenting during pregnancy * Breastfeeding * Sleeping * Switching to solid foods * Immunizations * Milestones in development Plus: a concise, accessible reference to everything from infant acne to umbilical cord care.

Covers birth, the first hours after delivery, newborn health, going home, care and feeding, safety, sibling rivalry, and developmental milestones.

The spirited child—often called "difficult" or "strong-willed"—can easily overwhelm parents, leaving them feeling frustrated and inadequate.Spirited kids are, in fact, simply "more"—by temperament, they are more intense, sensitive, perceptive, persistent, and uncomfortable with change than the average child.Through vivid examples and a refreshingly positive viewpoint, Mary Sheedy Kurcinka offers parents emotional support and proven strategies for handling their spirited child. Raising Your Spirited Child will help you: Understand your child's—and your own—temperamental traits Plan for success with a simple four-step program Discover the power of positive—rather than negative—labels Cope with tantrums and blowups when they do occur Develop strategies for handling mealtimes, bedtimes, holidays, school and many other situations Filled with personal insight and authorative advice, Raising Your Spirited Child can help make parenting the joy it should be, rather than the trial it can be.

A helpful guide to recognizing anxiety in children, both at home and in school. Offers advice on bullying, cyberbullying, school phobia and more.