Child Development

• Bonding With Your Baby: Ten Tips That Work
  
  - Bonding is the loving process of forming an attachment or emotional connection with your baby. For most parents bonding is an immediate response which happens during the first hours or days of life. For your baby however, the attachment is not instant.
  
  

• Forget the "Super-Baby" Syndrome: You Entertain Baby Best
  
  - As new parents, you want the best for your baby, and you’re willing to do whatever it takes to ensure his well-being. Therefore, you’ll buy all sorts of fancy gizmos, and pour through mountains of information about all of the products and resources that claim they can turn your infant into a “super-baby” who will be intellectually advanced, happier, or “improved” in some miraculous way. However, all of the gadgets and gizmos in the world can’t give your baby what he or she needs most – which is YOU!
  

• Learning Through Senses - The Key To A Child's Development
  
  - The first few years of a child's life are full of new and exciting experiences that are absorbed like a sponge through the five senses: touch, taste, smell, sight and sound. From birth, newborns are bombarded with a busy world that they must learn to master. It is the senses that pave the way for a child's development throughout his or her life.
  
  

• Play, Laugh, Grow - Learning To Play With Your Child
  
  - The first year of a child's life is a prime time for exploring. Babies are excited and eager to learn about the world around them and playing is essential to a child's development. Parents are the best learning resource a child has, and playtime offers a chance for bonding between parents and children. By learning how to play with their children, parents can help them develop a sense of accomplishment and self-esteem.
  
  

• Movement & Infants - Child Development
  
  - Besides the fact that they were built to do so, there are a great many reasons why infants need to move. The truth is, even though their movement capabilities are extremely limited when compared with even those of a toddler, movement experiences may be more important for infants than for children of any other age group. And it’s not all about motor development either.
  

• Oh Baby! You Can Make It Happen
  Right from the beginning, a baby learns that certain actions within his or her environment can bring desired results. Typically the first sign of reinforcement comes from the baby's parents. For example, a baby learns early on in the development stage that crying will result in a parent picking him up, feeding him or changing his diaper.

• Peek-a-boo! Playtime helps baby develop an optimistic outlook on life.
  
  - A baby’s unselfconscious laughter is one of the happiest sounds you’ll ever hear. But did you know that by playing with your baby, you’re doing much more than simply having fun?
  

• Play, Laugh, Grow – Learning To Play With Your Child
  
  - The first year of a child's life is a prime time for exploring. Babies are excited and eager to learn about the world around them and playing is essential to a child's development. Parents are the best learning resource a child has, and playtime offers a chance for bonding between parents and children. By learning how to play with their children, parents can help them develop a sense of accomplishment and self-esteem.
  

Breastfeeding

• Breast Compression
  
  - The purpose of breast compression is to continue the flow of milk to the baby once the baby no longer drinks (open — pause — close type of suck) on his own. Breast compression simulates a letdown reflex and often stimulates a natural letdown reflex to occur.
  
  
  

• Breastfeed a Toddler—Why on Earth
  
  - Because more and more women are now breastfeeding their babies, more and more are also finding that they enjoy breastfeeding enough to want to continue longer than the usual few months they initially thought they would do it. UNICEF has long encouraged breastfeeding for two years and longer, and the American Academy of Pediatrics is now on record as encouraging mothers to nurse at least one year and as long after as both mother and baby desire.
  
  
  

• Breastfeeding - Starting out Right
  
  - Breastfeeding should be easy and trouble free for most mothers. A good start helps to assure breastfeeding is a happy experience for both mother and baby.
  
  
  

• Breastfeeding for the First Time
  
  - For those of you who are planning to breastfeed for the first time, or may have already started, and are storing breastmilk, I thought the following information would be helpful.
  
  
  

• Breastfeeding Survival Guide
  
  - Members of The Labor of Love community share their thoughts and experiences on a variety of breastfeeding related issues.
  
  
  

• A Call to Arms and Breasts
  
  - Article talks about extended breast feeding and the rights of breastfeeding women.
  
  
  

• Blocked Ducts and Mastitis
  
  - Mastitis needs to be differentiated from a plugged or blocked duct, because the latter does not need to be treated with antibiotics, whereas mastitis often, but not always, does require treatment with antibiotics.
  
  
  

• Books TLOL Nursing Moms are Reading
  
  
  

• Breast Milk or Formula: Making the Right Choice for Your Baby
  
  - Article discusses the benefits of breast feeding over formula feeing your baby.
  
  
  

• Breastfeeding - Handling Criticism
  
  - Though breastfeeding is on the rise now, women are still dealing with the repercussions of previous generations. This article provides possible reactions to other people's criticisms regarding your choice to breastfeed.