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While it sucks to say it, but there is no clear "most effective" way to enhance working memory, but the methods that have shown success are:Brain TrainingPharmaceuticalsneocortical stimulationBut for now, I'm sad to say, nothing's gonna turn you into Eddie Morra from Limitless quite yet...For details and controversy, read on.First, a big disclaimer: in my research I've published work looking into the neuroanatomical basis for visual working memory (Voytek & Knight, Prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia contributions to visual working memory, PNAS 2010 [open access] http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/09/29/1007277107). This is a very complex field, because "working memory" isn't one single process controlled by one brain region, but it does appear to be critically reliant on the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, among others (see: Neuroanatomy: What are the primary functions of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex?).It's also intricately linked to attention and other cognitive processes (very roughly, see Voytek et al., Dynamic Neuroplasticity after Human Prefrontal Cortex Damage, Neuron 2010). Check out the relationships to different cognitive tasks and working memory according to brainSCANr:The task referred to in the question, the n-back task, is a type of serial working memory task wherein a person must hold a series of information in memory. The simplest version of the task, the 0-back, requires the person to respond every time they see the target stimulus. At 2-back, the task becomes very difficult. In the 2-back version below, for example, correct responses would be to the second and third Cs, because in both cases there was a C 2-letters prior.If presented with the following letters:A D E Q E X S C E C T M T P Wthen correct responses would be for the letters in bold:A D E Q E X S C E C T M T P WThis is but one of many forms of experimentally testing working memory.BRAIN TRAININGThere are several online systems for brain training, which aim to enhance cognitive performance (including working memory), such as Lumosity (company) (http://www.lumosity.com/) and Posit (http://www.positscience.com/).(See my answer to Cognitive Enhancement: Does memory improvement software work?)Some research has shown that fluid intelligence (which is a catch-all term) can be improved with working memory training (Improving fluid intelligence with training on working memory, PNAS 2008):Fluid intelligence (Gf) refers to the ability to reason and to solve new problems independently of previously acquired knowledge. Gf is critical for a wide variety of cognitive tasks, and it is considered one of the most important factors in learning... Although performance on tests of Gf can be improved through direct practice on the tests themselves, there is no evidence that training on any other regimen yields increased Gf in adults. Furthermore, there is a long history of research into cognitive training showing that, although performance on trained tasks can increase dramatically, transfer of this learning to other tasks remains poor. Here, we present evidence for transfer from training on a demanding working memory task to measures of Gf. This transfer results even though the trained task is entirely different from the intelligence test itself. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the extent of gain in intelligence critically depends on the amount of training: the more training, the more improvement in Gf. That is, the training effect is dosage-dependent. Thus, in contrast to many previous studies, we conclude that it is possible to improve Gf without practicing the testing tasks themselves, opening a wide range of applications.This issue of transfer is important, because it's easy to show that training someone on a working memory task can improve performance on that task, but does that improvement generalize to other aspects of cognition?When you ask "What is the most effective way to enhance working memory?" you don't really care about just improving working memory. You want to be smarter all around!Given that things such as attention and working memory are so intimately related, we would think that training would transfer, but the evidence is still quite murky.For example, last year there was a big study that got a lot of coverage (Putting brain training to the test, Nature 2010) that found that:‘Brain training’, or the goal of improved cognitive function through the regular use of computerized tests, is a multimillion-pound industry, yet in our view scientific evidence to support its efficacy is lacking. Modest effects have been reported in some studies of older individuals and preschool children, and video-game players outperform non-players on some tests of visual attention5. However, the widely held belief that commercially available computerized brain-training programs improve general cognitive function in the wider population in our opinion lacks empirical support. The central question is not whether performance on cognitive tests can be improved by training, but rather, whether those benefits transfer to other untrained tasks or lead to any general improvement in the level of cognitive functioning. Here we report the results of a six-week online study in which 11,430 participants trained several times each week on cognitive tasks designed to improve reasoning, memory, planning, visuospatial skills and attention. Although improvements were observed in every one of the cognitive tasks that were trained, no evidence was found for transfer effects to untrained tasks, even when those tasks were cognitively closely related.(emphasis mine)Contrast this with a review from this year (Does working memory training work? The promise and challenges of enhancing cognition by training working memory. Psychon Bull Rev 2011) that broke training into strategy and core training:Strategy training paradigms involve teaching of effective approaches to encoding, maintenance, and/or retrieval from WM. The primary aim of most strategy training studies is to increase performance in tasks requiring retention of information over a delay. In strategy training studies, experimenters introduce participants to particular task strategies, and then provide practice sessions encouraging the strategy of interest. Some strategy training programs aim to increase reliance on, and facility with, articulatory rehearsal,while other programs aim to train elaborative encoding strategies...Core training studies typically involve repetition of demanding WM tasks that are designed to target domain-general WM mechanisms. To achieve this purpose, core training paradigms are commonly designed to: 1) limit the use of domain-specific strategies, 2) minimize automization, 3) include tasks/stimuli that span multiple modalities, 4) require maintenance in the face of interference, 5) enforce rapid WM encoding and retrieval demands, 6) adapt to participants’ varying level of proficiency, and 7) demand high cognitive workloads or high intensity cognitive engagement (though different studies place variable emphasis on these factors). Tasks utilized in core training programs also commonly involve sequential processing and frequent memory updating.The authors conclude:In particular, core WM training studies seem to produce more far-reaching transfer effects, likely because they target domain-general mechanisms of WM. The results of individual studies encourage optimism regarding the value ofWM training as a tool for general cognitive enhancement.However, we discuss several limitations that should be addressed before the field endorses the value of this approach.MEDICATIONThe issue of using medication for cognitive enhancement is very contentious, however I will not discuss the ethics here.In 2008, Nature ran a commentary on this topic: Towards responsible use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by the healthy in which the authors outline the evidence in favor of the efficacy of "smart drugs" (nootropics):Many of the medications used to treat psychiatric and neurological conditions also improve the performance of the healthy. The drugs most commonly used for cognitive enhancement at present are stimulants, namely Ritalin (methyphenidate) and Adderall (mixed amphetamine salts), and are prescribed mainly for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Because of their effects on the catecholamine system, these drugs increase executive functions in patients and most healthy normal people, improving their abilities to focus their attention, manipulate information in working memory and flexibly control their responses...A newer drug, modafinil (Provigil), has also shown enhancement potential. Modafinil is approved for the treatment of fatigue caused by narcolepsy, sleep apnoea and shift-work sleep disorder. It is currently prescribed off label for a wide range of neuropsychiatric and other medical conditions involving fatigue as well as for healthy people who need to stay alert and awake when sleep deprived, such as physicians on night call. In addition, laboratory studies have shown that modafinil enhances aspects of executive function in rested healthy adults, particularly inhibitory control. Unlike Adderall and Ritalin, however, modafinil prescriptions are not common, and the drug is consequently rare on the college black market. But anecdotal evidence and a readers' survey both suggest that adults sometimes obtain modafinil from their physicians or online for enhancement purposes.A modest degree of memory enhancement is possible with the ADHD medications just mentioned as well as with medications developed for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease such as Aricept (donepezil), which raise levels of acetylcholine in the brain. Several other compounds with different pharmacological actions are in early clinical trials, having shown positive effects on memory in healthy research subjects.It is too early to know whether any of these new drugs will be proven safe and effective, but if one is it will surely be sought by healthy middle-aged and elderly people contending with normal age-related memory decline, as well as by people of all ages preparing for academic or licensure examinations.Regarding the last class of drugs--the cholinergic drugs--my friend Ariel Rokem published research last year on the effect of Aricept on visual perceptual learning (Cholinergic enhancement augments magnitude and specificity of visual perceptual learning in healthy humans, Curr Biol 2010):Acetylcholine (ACh) has been suggested to regulate learning by enhancing the responses of sensory cortical neurons to behaviorally relevant stimuli. In this study, we increased synaptic levels of ACh in the brains of healthy human subjects with the cholinesterase inhibitor donepezil (trade name: Aricept) and measured the effects of this cholinergic enhancement on visual perceptual learning. Each subject completed two 5 day courses of training on a motion direction discrimination task, once while ingesting 5 mg of donepezil before every training session and once while placebo was administered. We found that cholinergic enhancement augmented perceptual learning for stimuli having the same direction of motion and visual field location used during training. In addition, perceptual learning with donepezil was more selective to the trained direction of motion and visual field location. These results, combined with previous studies demonstrating an increase in neuronal selectivity following cholinergic enhancement, suggest a possible mechanism by which ACh augments neural plasticity by directing activity to populations of neurons that encode behaviorally relevant stimulus features.(emphasis mine)But again, remember the caveats about transfer in training: just because a drug enhances one aspect of cognition (visual perceptual learning) does not mean it will transfer to others (e.g. working memory).Just this year, a study in Nature (A critical role for IGF-II in memory consolidation and enhancement, 2011) showed that another type of drug, insulin-like growth factor II, enhances memory in rats:We report that, in the rat, administering insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II, also known as IGF2) significantly enhances memory retention and prevents forgetting. Inhibitory avoidance learning leads to an increase in hippocampal expression of IGF-II, which requires the transcription factor CCAAT enhancer binding protein β and is essential for memory consolidation. Furthermore, injections of recombinant IGF-II into the hippocampus after either training or memory retrieval significantly enhance memory retention and prevent forgetting. To be effective, IGF-II needs to be administered within a sensitive period of memory consolidation. IGF-II-dependent memory enhancement requires IGF-II receptors, new protein synthesis, the function of activity-regulated cytoskeletal-associated protein and glycogen-synthase kinase 3 (GSK3). Moreover, it correlates with a significant activation of synaptic GSK3β and increased expression of GluR1 (also known as GRIA1) α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxasolepropionic acid receptor subunits. In hippocampal slices, IGF-II promotes IGF-II receptor-dependent, persistent long-term potentiation after weak synaptic stimulation. Thus, IGF-II may represent a novel target for cognitive enhancement therapies.BRAIN STIMULATIONThis is seriously DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME territory.DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOMEBut this year, a cool study was published in Clinical Neurophysiology (Improving working memory: Exploring the effect of transcranial random noise stimulation and transcranial direct current stimulation on the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, 2011) showing that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (a brain region known to be critical for maintaining items in working memory) may enhance working memory. tDCS is a simple system wherein a low, direct current is passed between two electrodes on the scalp, inducing a current between them intracerebrally. The researchers report that:There was significant improvement in speed of performance following anodal tDCS on the 2-back WM task; this was the only significant finding... The results do not provide support for the hypothesis that tRNS improves WM. However, the study does provide confirmation of previous findings that anodal tDCS enhances some aspects of DLPFC functioning. Methodological limitations that may have contributed to the lack of significant findings following tRNS are discussed.

Read:Neurobiology and the Development of Human Moralityby Darcia Narvaez PhD. Dr. Professor of Psychology at the University of Notre DameShe emphasizes the importance of early experience in shaping moral capacities Her current work is on the evolved developmental niche for young children (natural birth, extensive on-demand breastfeeding, constant touch, caregiver responsiveness and is studying the effects of early life experience on moral development.Her blog, "Moral Landscapes," at Psychology Today has over 4.5 million hits (as of late 2014) with the most popular post being "Dangers of 'Crying it Out'" with over 1.6 million hits.Why Love Matters: How affection shapes a baby's brainSue Gerhardt second addition 2014Why Love Matters explains why loving relationships are essential to brain development in the early years, and how these early interactions can have lasting consequences for future emotional and physical health.The brain’s emotion and immune systems are particularly affected by early stress and can become less effective. This makes the child more vulnerable to a range of later difficulties such as depression, anti-social behavior, addictions or anorexia, as well as physical illness.Tragically, a fifth of American children grow up in poverty, a situation that severely limits their potential.It's getting more extreme. According to Stanford University researcher Sean Reardon, the achievement gap between high and low-income families "is roughly 30% to 40% larger among children born in 2001 than among those born 25 years earlier."As "Drive" author Dan Pink has noted, the higher the income for the parents, the higher the SAT scores for the kids."Absent comprehensive and expensive interventions, socioeconomic status is what drives much of educational attainment and performance," he wrote.A 2014 study of 243 people born into poverty found that children who received "sensitive caregiving" in their first three years not only did better in academic tests in childhood, but had healthier relationships and greater academic attainment in their 30s.As reported on PsyBlog, parents who are sensitive caregivers "respond to their child's signals promptly and appropriately" and "provide a secure base" for children to explore the world."This suggests that investments in early parent-child relationships may result in long-term returns that accumulate across individuals' lives," co-author and University of Minnesota psychologist Lee Raby said in an interview.This woman had a NATURAL desire to have a child, and she has the MEANS to care for this child but NOT the TIME which is what a human being needs MOST. Since when did we begin to negate the needs of an infant- the need to be breastfed, the need to be held, the need to be loved, cared for and form healthy attachments! Its how we survived for millions of years!! Did you forget? How many people here understand child development? What this woman is asking for is the minimum, and essential to the development of a baby. Did anyone think about the baby? or only their selfish ideologies? Because as a country we can come up with a million CREATIVE solutions to our work-family dynamic. We can offer more flexibility in the workplace, this country has more then enough resources to provide a good education to all, we can pay people a LIVING WAGE, we can become truly civilized.As a doctor in the UK coming towards the end of a year of maternity leave, (three months full pay, three months half pay, three months of which was partially paid) my heart aches for you and the loss of your son. I spent three months of my maternity leave in America as my husband is American and it always made me sad for American women seeing them return to work when their little ones were only a matter of weeks old. It also surprised me at how accepting American women are of this unfair biased system, and I am pleased to see this article written. I hope it will be a call to action for American women to lobby to change the current deeply unfair system.In America we strive to shame parents and make sure that people understand only millionaires should reproduce. If you have one child your employers makes nasty comments, they try to fire you any way you can and if you lose your job because you are facing complications oh well you shouldn't have gotten pregnant if you were going face complications in the first place.When I had all my children (4) I went through a layoff everyone. The last pregnancy I lived in California. I went in for severe stomach pains and my doctors thought I had a gallbladder issue. I was on birth control so I had no idea that I could possibly be pregnant. I was and the worst part was that I couldn't feel any kicks because the placenta was covering the whole front of my uterus. My first ultrasound took 2 hours and it was painful because they were manually trying to move my stomach around to see the baby. Afterwards I was suffering from hyperemesis gravidarium and my doctor put me on bed rest after I lost 15 lbs. My family's response? I was stealing from my employer. I went back to work after paying $300 for Diclegis to help manage the nausea and kept a bucket by my desk. I worked up until my maternity leave 3 days prior and was notified the same day that they were going through a restructure and no longer needed me. They would not interview me for any other positions and hired 5 people in the same department the week after I left. Once again my family and friends and neighbors came at me saying I was being lazy. When I contacted the Disability office they asked whey I wasn't back at work and I broke down crying because I no longer had a job. I did receive 12 weeks maternity paid by the State of California during which I was looking for work. When my son hit 3 months they offered to hire me back but I was already starting another position.Results showed that the perinatal morality rate was 7.3 per 1,000 babies delivered on weekends compared to 0.9 per 1,000 babies delivered on weekdays. The research team estimated that 770 newborn deaths and 470 maternal infections occurred above what would be expected if mortality was the same for babies delivered on the midweek reference day, Tuesday.they also underscore how the difficult and messy experience of vaginal labor does appear to do the little ones good. Why? Doctors aren’t entirely sure.Many women worry, often unjustifiably, that having the procedure somehow signals a failure to properly advocate for themselves in an insensitive and paternalistic medical system.Obstetrician Dr. Aaron Caughey told the Times that it might have something to do with the way in which the onset of labor helps clear fluid from the baby’s lungs. It also could be a result of the baby’s exposure to labor-induced surges of hormones like oxytocin, something that planned C-section babies miss out on. According to the Times, these “may help the fetus adapt during labor, preserve blood flow to the organs, and keep the baby alert and prepared for breast-feeding.” The health benefits of labor also likely come from the immune system–boosting bacteria the baby is exposed to after leaving the pristine quarters of the amniotic sac.There’s plenty of good reasons to keep working to reduce the C-section rate, something that will only happen when we manage to undo the various institutional and cultural causes behind it.Psychologists have long believed that disciplining by focusing on the victim—talking to your child about the consequences of his actions on others—can help kids develop empathy and kindness. How do you think hitting Annie on the head with that pine cone made her feel? may be more useful than Since you did that, you’re not going to get any dessert tonight, in part because the first approach gets your child to focus on the other person, while the second causes your kid to think yet again of himself.Using the word helper may “signal that the behavior is reflective of a person’s essential underlying character,” explains Bryan, who is an assistant professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. If kids adopt this helper persona—and most do, because they like to think of themselves as good—they will then behave in ways that are consistent with this identity.Cribs are not necessary. Separate sleeping for infants is a cultural practice that is about two hundred years old. Our culture has changed, but the biological and psychological needs of infants have not changed. Throughout history and in non-Western cultures, infants have slept next to the mother. Worldwide today about 90% of infants sleep next to the mother. According to the research, mothers who co-sleep breastfeed an average of twice as long as non-co-sleeping mothers and exhibit five times the number of “protective” behaviors (such as adjusting the infant’s blanket, stroking, or cuddling).Boys who co-slept with their parents between birth and five years of age had significantly higher self-esteem and experienced less guilt and anxiety. For women, co-sleeping during childhood was associated with less discomfort about physical contact and affection as adults. Co-sleeping appears to promote confidence, self-esteem, and intimacy, possibly because it instills in the child a feeling of parental acceptance. A study in England showed a trend among children who “never” slept in their parents’ bed; they were harder to control, less happy, and had a greater number of tantrums. These children were actually more fearful than children who always slept in their parents’ bed, all night. A large, cross-cultural study conducted on five different ethnic groups in large U.S. cities found that across all groups co-sleepers exhibited a general feeling of satisfaction with life.Many parents who co-sleep feel that they become more attuned to their baby and child. They feel that their sensitivity to the needs and patterns of their baby at night translate into daytime sensitivity as well. Co-sleeping parents tend to believe that this practice powerfully contributes to the overall relationship with the child. Co-sleeping appears to respond to the child’s needs and contribute to improved bonding. This literature suggests that separate sleeping weakens the maternal-infant bond. As mentioned earlier, a low level of bonding is associated with a greater potential for violence.We also have the world’s highest documented proportion of people in prisons. Perhaps it is not a coincidence that in both instances individuals are isolated behind bars.Using MRIs, investigators looked into the brains of 3- to 5-year-olds and found concrete visual evidence that reading to preschoolers activates the parts of their brains that help with mental imagery and understanding narrative -- both of which are essential for the development of language and literacy. Read on!Picky eating is practically a rite of passage for grumpy toddlers and their exhausted parents, but in 2015, researchers argued that it shouldn't necessarily be written off as "just a phase." Investigators found that preschoolers who were so-called selective eaters -- meaning they were often or almost always picky about what they ate -- were also potentially at greater risk for anxiety and depression.Delaying cord clamping could have benefits that last for years.While it's certainly not always possible for doctors and midwives to delay clamping a baby's umbilical cord, a 2015 study added to the growing body of evidence suggesting that it can be a very good thing when care providers can hold off. Researchers found that children whose cords were cut more than three minutes after they were born had slightly higher social and fine motor skills years later. Delaying clamping the cord allows more blood to reach the baby from the placenta, and can boost babies' iron storage, which helps brain development.The earlier studies showed that women are more likely than men to feel sympathy when they hear an infant cry, and are more likely to want to care for the infant.Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have uncovered firm evidence for what many mothers have long suspected: women’s brains appear to be hard-wired to respond to the cries of a hungry infant.Researchers asked men and women to let their minds wander, then played a recording of white noise interspersed with the sounds of an infant crying. Brain scans showed that, in the women, patterns of brain activity abruptly switched to an attentive mode when they heard the infant cries, whereas the men’s brains remained in the resting state.“Previous studies have shown that, on an emotional level, men and women respond differently to the sound of an infant crying,” said study co-author Marc H. Bornstein, Ph.D., head of the Child and Family Research Section of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the institute that conducted the study. “Our findings indicate that men and women show marked differences in terms of attention as well.”Adults have many-layered responses to the things infants do,” said Dr. Bornstein. “Determining whether these responses differ between men and women, by age, and by parental status, helps us understand instincts for caring for the very young.”Pregnant women show increased activity in the area of the brain related to emotional skills as they prepare to bond with their babies, according to a new study.The study by scientists at Royal Holloway, University of London, found that pregnant women use the right side of their brain more than new mothers do when they look at faces with emotive expressions.“Our findings give us a significant insight into the ‘baby brain’ phenomenon that makes a woman more sensitive during the child-bearing process,” said Dr. Victoria Bourne, of the Department of Psychology at Royal Holloway.“The results suggest that during pregnancy, there are changes in how the brain processes facial emotions that ensure that mothers are neurologically prepared to bond with their babies at birth.”Mothers are made, not born. Virtually all female mammals,from rats to monkeys to humans, undergo fundamentalbehavioral changes during pregnancy andmotherhood. What was once a largely self-directed organismdevoted to its own needs and survival becomes one focused onthe care and well-being of its offspring. Although scientistshave long observed and marveled at this transition, only noware they beginning to understand what causes it. New researchindicates that the dramatic hormonal fluctuations that occurduring pregnancy, birth and lactation may remodel the femalebrain, increasing the size of neurons in some regions and producingstructural changes in others.Some of these sites are involved in regulating maternal behaviorssuch as building nests, grooming young and protectingthem from predators. Other affected regions, though, controlmemory, learning, and responses to fear and stress. Recentexperiments have shown that mother rats outperform virginsin navigating mazes and capturing prey. In addition to motivatingfemales toward caring for their offspring, the hormoneinducedbrain changes may enhance a mother rat’s foragingabilities, giving her pups a better chance of survival. What isBut other areas of the brain arealso involved [see box on opposite page], and each of these sitesis rife with receptors for hormones and other neurochemicals.Noted neuroscientist Paul MacLean of the National Instituteof Mental Health has proposed that the neural pathways fromthe thalamus, the brain’s relay station, to the cingulate cortex,which regulates emotions, are an important part of the maternalbehavior system. Damaging the cingulate cortex in motherrats eliminates their maternal behavior. In his 1990 book TheTriune Brain in Evolution, MacLean hypothesized that thedevelopment of these pathways helped to shape the mammalianbrain as it evolved from the simpler reptilian brain.Interestingly, once the reproductive hormones initiate thematernal response, the brain’s dependency on them seems todiminish, and the offspring alone can stimulate maternal behavior.Although a newly born mammal is a demanding littlecreature, unappealing on many levels—it is smelly, helplessand sleeps only intermittently—the mother’s devotion to it isthe most motivated of all animal displays, exceeding even sexualbehavior and feeding. Joan I. Morrell of Rutgers has suggested that the offspring themselves may be the reward thatreinforces maternal behavior. When given the choice betweencocaine and newly born pups, mother rats choose pups.Craig Ferris of the University of Massachusetts MedicalSchool recently studied the brains of lactating mother rats usingfunctional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a noninvasivetechnique that tracks changes in brain activity. Ferrisfound that activity in the mother’s nucleus accumbens, a sitethat is integral to reinforcement and reward, increased significantlywhen she nursed her pups. And Ronald J. Gandelmanof Rutgers has shown that when a mother mouse is giventhe opportunity to receive foster pups—the mouse presses a barin her cage, causing the pups to slide down a chute—the motherwill keep pressing the bar until her cage fills with the squirming,pink objects.Several researchers have hypothesized that as sucklingpups attach to their mother’s nipples, they may release tinyamounts of endorphins in the mother’s body. These naturalpainkillers may act somewhat like an opiate drug, drawing themother again and again to contact with her pups. Suckling andpup contact also release the hormone oxytocin, which mayhave a similar effect on the mother. Lower mammalian speciessuch as mice and rats, which most likely lack the lofty principlesand motivations of humans, may care for their pups forthe simple reason that it feels good to do so.But what about the motivations of the human mother? JeffreyP. Lorberbaum of the Medical University of South Carolinahas used fMRI to examine the brains of human moms asthey listened to their babies cry. The patterns of activity weresimilar to those of the rodent mothers, with the mPOA regionInitially linked to destructive health conditions such as preeclampsia and autoimmune diseases, scientists have found fetal cells in scar tissues left by C-sections. These cells produce collagen which helps the mother recover after birth by repairing wounds.Fetal cells also reduce the risk of rheumatoid arthritis and are suspected to protect against breast cancer."Being an optimist, I think the benefits will outweigh the times when they're problematical," Nelson says. "So it's actually a beautiful cooperation."This cooperation isn't one-sided—cells from the mom also cross the placenta and enter the fetal body, which means you've got your mom's cells inside you.Since your mom had cells in her body from any other pregnancies and cells from her mom, that means you likely have cells from your older siblings, from your grandmother and maybe even your great-grandmother!The best moments with my babies, the moments when I felt the closest I'd ever been to them, were the times when I simply let everything else go. Forget about the housework and laundry that needs to be done, ignore the phone, the TV and other distractions, give in to the tiredness that seems to be a perpetual presence in motherhood, and just … be with your baby. Inhale his scent, stare into his big eyes, feel the velvet-soft texture of his warm skin, listen to his coos and cries and simply feel his presence in every part of you. That feeling of complete attachment and immersion is what it means to bond with your baby. Enjoy it.Letting babies "cry it out" is an idea that has been around since at least the 1880s when the field of medicine was in a hullaballoo about germs and transmitting infection and so took to the notion that babies should rarely be touched (see Blum, 2002 (link is external), for a great review of this time period and attitudes towards childrearing).In the 20th century, behaviorist John Watson (1928), interested in making psychology a hard science, took up the crusade against affection as president of the American Psychological Association. He applied the mechanistic paradigm of behaviorism to child rearing, warning about the dangers of too much mother love. The 20th century was the time when "men of science" were assumed to know better than mothers, grandmothers and families about how to raise a child. Too much kindness to a baby would result in a whiney, dependent, failed human being. Funny how "the experts" got away with this with no evidence to back it up! Instead there is evidence all around (then and now) showing the opposite to be true!With neuroscience, we can confirm what our ancestors took for granted---that letting babies get distressed is a practice that can damage children and their relational capacities in many ways for the long term. We know now that leaving babies to cry is a good way to make a less intelligent, less healthy but more anxious, uncooperative and alienated persons who can pass the same or worse traits on to the next generation.The discredited behaviorist view sees the baby as an interloper into the life of the parents, an intrusion who must be controlled by various means so the adults can live their lives without too much bother. Perhaps we can excuse this attitude and ignorance because at the time, extended families were being broken up and new parents had to figure out how to deal with babies on their .Babies grow from being held. Their bodies get dysregulated when they are physically separated from caregivers. (See here for more.)Babies indicate a need through gesture and eventually, if necessary, through crying. Just as adults reach for liquid when thirsty, children search for what they need in the moment. Just as adults become calm once the need is met, so do babies.There are many longterm effects of undercare or need-neglect in babies (e.g., Bremmer et al, 1998; Blunt Bugental et al., 2003; Dawson et al., 2000; Heim et al 2003).Secure attachment is related to responsive parenting, such as comforting babies when they wake up and cry at night (link is external).What does 'crying it out' actually do to the baby and to the dyad?Neuronal interconnections are damaged. When the baby is greatly distressed,it creates conditions for damge to synapses, the network construction which is ongoing in the infant brain. The hormone cortisol is released. In excess, it's a neuron killer but its consequences many not be apparent immediately (Thomas et al. 2007). A full-term baby (40-42 weeks), with only 25% of its brain developed, is undergoing rapid brain growth. The brain grows on average three times as large by the end of the first year (and head size growth in the first year is a sign of intelligence, e.g., Gale et al., 2006). Who knows what neurons are not being connected or being wiped out during times of extreme stress? What deficits might show up years later from such regular distressful experience? (See my addendum below.)Disordered stress reactivity can be established as a pattern for life not only in the brain with the stress response system (Bremmer et al, 1998), but also in the body through the vagus nerve, a nerve that affects functioning in multiple systems (e.g., digestion). For example, prolonged distress in early life, lack of responsive parenting, can result in a poorly functioning vagus nerve, which is related to various disorders as irritable bowel syndrome (Stam et al, 1997). See more about how early stress is toxic for lifelong health from the recent Harvard report, The Foundations of Lifelong Health are Built in Early Childhood (link is external)).Self-regulation is undermined. The baby is absolutely dependent on caregivers for learning how to self-regulate. Responsive care---meeting the baby's needs before he gets distressed---tunes the body and brain up for calmness. When a baby gets scared and a parent holds and comforts him, the baby builds expectations for soothing, which get integrated into the ability to self comfort. Babies don't self-comfort in isolation. If they are left to cry alone, they learn to shut down in face of extensive distress--stop growing, stop feeling, stop trusting (Henry & Wang, 1998).Trust is undermined. As Erik Erikson (link is external) pointed out, the first year of life is a sensitive period for establishing a sense of trust in the world, the world of caregiver and the world of self. When a baby's needs are met without distress, the child learns that the world is a trustworthy place, that relationships are supportive, and that the self is a positive entity that can get its needs met. When a baby's needs are dismissed or ignored, the child develops a sense of mistrust of relationships and the world. And self-confidence is undermined. The child may spend a lifetime trying to fill the resulting inner emptiness.Caregiver sensitivity may be harmed. A caregiver who learns to ignore baby crying, will likely learn to ignore the more subtle signaling of the child's needs. Second-guessing intuitions that guide one to want to stop child distress, the adult who learns to ignores baby needs practices and increasingly learns to "harden the heart." The reciprocity between caregiver and baby is broken by the adult, but cannot be repaired by the young child. The baby is helpless.Caregiver responsiveness (link is external) to the needs of the baby is related to most if not all positive child outcomes. In our work caregiver responsiveness is related to intelligence, empathy, lack of aggression or depression, self-regulation, social competence. Because responsiveness is so powerful, we have to control for it in our studies of other parenting practices and child outcomes. The importance of caregiver responsiveness is common knowledge in developmental psychology. Lack of responsiveness, which "crying it out" represents can result in the opposite of the aforementioned positive outcomes.The 'cry it out' approach seems to have arisen as a solution to the dissolution of extended family life in the 20th century. The vast knowledge of (now great great) grandmothers was lost in the distance between households with children and those with the experience and expertise about how to raise them well. The wisdom of keeping babies happy was lost between generations.But isn't it normal for babies to cry?No. A crying baby in our ancestral environment would have signaled predators to tasty morsels. So our evolved parenting practices alleviated baby distress and precluded crying except in emergencies. Babies are built to expect the equivalent of an "external womb" after birth (see Allan Schore (link is external), specific references below). What is the external womb? ---being held constantly, breastfed on demand, needs met quickly (I have numerous posts on these things). These practices are known to facilitate good brain and body development (discussed with references in other posts, some links below). When babies display discomfort, it signals that a need is not getting met, a need of their rapidly growing systems.What does extensive baby crying signal? It shows the lack of experience, knowledge and/or support of the baby's caregivers. To remedy a lack of information in us all, below is a good set of articles about all the things that a baby's cry can signal. We can all educate ourselves about what babies need and the practices that alleviate baby crying. We can help one another to keep crying from happening as much as possible.Because a lot of things do change, of course, but for new mothers, some of the starkest differences are also the most intimate ones—the emotional changes. Which, it turns out, are also largely neurological.Even before a woman gives birth, pregnancy tinkers with the very structure of her brain, several neurologists told me. After centuries of observing behavioral changes in new mothers, scientists are only recently beginning to definitively link the way a woman acts with what's happening in her prefrontal cortex, midbrain, parietal lobes, and elsewhere. Gray matter becomes more concentrated. Activity increases in regions that control empathy, anxiety, and social interaction. On the most basic level, these changes, prompted by a flood of hormones during pregnancy and in the postpartum period, help attract a new mother to her baby. In other words, those maternal feelings of overwhelming love, fierce protectiveness, and constant worry begin with reactions in the brain."In new moms, there are changes in many of the brain areas," Kim continued. "Growth in brain regions involved in emotion regulation, empathy-related regions, but also what we call maternal motivation—and I think this region could be largely related to obsessive-compulsive behaviors. In animals and humans during the postpartum period, there's an enormous desire to take care of their own child."There are several interconnected brain regions that help drive mothering behaviors and mood.Of particular interest to researchers is the almond-shaped set of neurons known as the amygdala, which helps process memory and drives emotional reactions like fear, anxiety, and aggression. In a normal brain, activity in the amygdala grows in the weeks and months after giving birth. This growth, researchers believe, is correlated with how a new mother behaves—an enhanced amygdala makes her hypersensitive to her baby's needs—while a cocktail of hormones, which find more receptors in a larger amygdala, help create a positive feedback loop to motivate mothering behaviors. Just by staring at her baby, the reward centers of a mother's brain will light up, scientists have found in several studies. This maternal brain circuitry influences the syrupy way a mother speaks to her baby, how attentive she is, even the affection she feels for her baby. It's not surprising, then, that damage to the amygdala is associated with higher levels of depression in mothers.Activity in the amygdala is also associated with a mother's strong feelings about her own baby versus babies in general. In a 2011 study of amygdala response in new mothers, women reported feeling more positive about photos depicting their own smiling babies compared with photos of unfamiliar smiling babies, and their brain activity reflected that discrepancy. Scientists recorded bolder brain response—in the amygdala, thalamus, and elsewhere—among mothers as they looked at photos of their own babies.Greater amygdala response when viewing their own children was tied to lower maternal anxiety and fewer symptoms of depression, researchers found. In other words, a new mother's brain changes help motivate her to care for her baby but they may also help buffer her own emotional state. From the study:Thus, the greater amygdala response to one’s own infant face observed in our study likely reflects more positive and pro-social aspects of maternal responsiveness, feelings, and experience. Mothers experiencing higher levels of anxiety and lower mood demonstrated less amygdala response to their own infant and reported more stressful and more negatively valenced parenting attitudes and experiences.Much of what happens in a new mother's amygdala has to do with the hormones flowing to it. The region has a high concentration of receptors for hormones like oxytocin, which surge during pregnancy."We see changes at both the hormonal and brain levels," brain researcher Ruth Feldman told me in an email. "Maternal oxytocin levels—the system responsible for maternal-infant bonding across all mammalian species—dramatically increase during pregnancy and the postpartum [period] and the more mother is involved in childcare, the greater the increase in oxytocin."Oxytocin also increases as women look at their babies, or hear their babies' coos and cries, or snuggle with their babies. An increase in oxytocin during breastfeeding may help explain why researchers have found that breastfeeding mothers are more sensitive to the sound of their babies' cries than non-breastfeeding mothers. "Breastfeeding mothers show a greater level of [brain] responses to baby's cry compared with formula-feeding mothers in the first month postpartum," Kim said. "It's just really interesting. We don't know if it's the act of breastfeeding or the oxytocin or any other factor."What scientists do know, Feldman says, is that becoming a parent looks—at least in the brain—a lot like falling in love. Which helps explain how many new parents describe feeling when they meet their newborns. At the brain level, the networks that become especially sensitized are those that involve vigilance and social salience—the amygdala—as well as dopamine networks that incentivize prioritizing the infant. "In our research, we find that periods of social bonding involve change in the same 'affiliative' circuits," Feldman said. "We showed that during theWhat scientists do know, Feldman says, is that becoming a parent looks—at least in the brain—a lot like falling in love. Which helps explain how many new parents describe feeling when they meet their newborns. At the brain level, the networks that become especially sensitized are those that involve vigilance and social salience—the amygdala—as well as dopamine networks that incentivize prioritizing the infant. "In our research, we find that periods of social bonding involve change in the same 'affiliative' circuits," Feldman said. "We showed that during the first months of 'falling in love' some similar changes occur between romantic partners." Incidentally, that same circuitry is what makes babies smell so good to their mothers, researchers found in a 2013 study.women appear to have evolved to have a "brain-hormone-behavior constellation" that's automatically primed for mothering. Another way to look at it: the blueprint for mothering behavior exists in the brain even before a woman has children.Perhaps, then, motherhood really is like secret space in a woman's brain, waiting to be discovered. "Although only mothers experience pregnancy, birth, and lactation, and these provide powerful primers for the expression of maternal care via amygdala sensitization," researchers wrote, "evolution created other pathways for adaptation to the parental role in human fathers, and these alternative pathways come with practice, attunement, and day-by-day caregiving."In other words, the act of simply caring for one's baby forges new neural pathways—undiscovered rooms in the parental brain.“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”"If women are not free to make decisions about their own lives and health, they are not free. And if women are not free, none of us are."Babies Know Good from EvilBabies are born with a moral compass and the ability to differentiate right from wrong. In one study at the Yale Infant Cognition Center, babies were shown animated films showing a circle ascending a hill; meanwhile triangles helped push the circle up, and squares pushed the circle down. Even babies as young as 3 months paidi more attention to the "good guy" (helper triangle) and avoided looking at the "bad guy" (hindering square).The government has yet to release any specifics on what exactly they will teach, but if Cameron’s speech last week is any indication, it will be influenced by the work of Jack Shonkoff, director of Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child. Shonkoff is behind research that demonstrates how young children raised in a hostile or unresponsive environment produce stress hormones that interfere with their brain development. As they grow older, these children tend to have a harder time concentrating, learning, and assessing risk.HCZ says that the children of parents who used this program are better positioned to succeed in school; for example, 81 percent of these parents report that they read to their children more often. The Children’s Learning Institute at the University of Texas offers a similar program and researchers have found significant increases in the attending mothers’ emotional and cognitive responsiveness to their children.And if children were so untroubled, then why does he remember spending "my first through twelfth grades in a state of almost perpetual test anxiety, grade anxiety, flunking anxiety, parent anxiety, teacher anxiety and principal anxiety..." What he describes as being strengthened by fear, I see as a little boy who could have used a hug.But John Rosemond does not believe ADHD exists. "It is not a valid diagnosis," he says, describing it as the snake oil that the psychologists he doesn't trust are selling to the modern parents he doesn't respect. Which leads us to the second flaw in his argument -- his view of today's parents.Here is how he describes us:Today's typical child operates under some sort of bizarre parent protection program. If a teacher reprimands him at school, he goes home and complains to his parents, who call the school and reprimand the teacher ... to ask that (the) child be moved to a different classroom overseen by a more understanding and sensitive teacher.On the flip side, I was also floored at how much I enjoyed nursing. Sure, it was boring or uncomfortable sometimes, but it was also a pretty spectacular way for me to bond with my boy. I loved watching him fall asleep in my arms, belly full with milk my body somehow miraculously made. No one bugged us, no one expected anything more from me than what I was doing at the time. And it was heaven.Of course, I'm not the only fan out there. Here in the U.S., 67 percent of women said breastfeeding was "perfectly natural,""This is what 24 hours postpartum looks like. Baby in sling. Skin to skin. Adult diapers. And a rosy glow," wrote Erica Andrews in an Instagram caption alongside a picture of her with her.And a 2006 study published in Infant Behavioral Development found that babies born to clinically depressed mothers were more irritable, less attentive and exhibited fewer facial expressions than infants born to mothers without depression.Maternal influences such as alcohol or drug use, poor nutrition and stress are known to affect the level of hormones in the mother's body. It is thought that biochemical changes in the uterus have an impact on the baby's development, affecting its birth weight and even its future risk of disease, among other things."Studies have shown that untreated maternal depression negatively affects an infant's cognitive, neurologic and motor skill development," read an ACOG communiqué issued to its members. The document went on to "strongly encourage" obstetricians to screen patients for depression as part of their routine practice.It could be due to the circumstances in her life, there could be a genetic factor, or the woman could have a history of depression," says Frieder, who patient-tailors treatments that involve a combination of psychotherapy, support groups, yoga, exercise, peer counseling and, if needed, prescription drugs.At the Touch Institute in Miami, massage therapist and psychologist Tiffany Field has been helping pregnant women by training their husbands and significant others to give them restorative massages. In a 2008 study involving 200 depressed pregnant women, Field found that women who received a 20-minute back massage twice a week had lower levels of stress hormones and depressive thoughts than women who did not get the massages. The incidence of premature birth and low birth weight in infants was also lower in the massage group than in the control group.As with many other conditions, an individual's health may depend significantly on support from family and loved ones. Montefiore's Frieder says one of the first things she does after diagnosing a case of antenatal depression is talk with the woman's partner. "It's important to educate them and let them know what's happening. Because a lot of times, [they] just don't know how they can help," she says.Psychobiologist Miguel Diego and colleagues found that the stress hormone cortisol seems to be one potential mechanism for transmitting a mother's stress to her unborn baby."Maternal distress is accompanied by biochemical changes, such as increased cortisol, that can both directly and indirectly affect the fetus," Diego said. "Cortisol can directly cross through the placenta into the fetus, which could affect fetal development."The study, published in the September-October issue of Psychosomatic Medicine, may shed light on previous findings that women with prenatal depression, anxiety or stress are more likely to deliver premature and low-birth-weight babies.Cortisol "can also affect the mother's vascular function, thereby reducing blood flow to the fetus, which could affect fetal growth by diminishing the amount of oxygen and nutrients that are delivered," Diego said.After analyzing the effects of demographics, maternal distress and hormonal levels, "prenatal cortisol was the only significant predictor of fetal weight," the researchers found.Surrogate mom carrying triplets fights biological parents on abortion"complaint reads. “The bonding process is both psychological and physiological. It cannot be wished away and it is not prevented or diminished by the existence of a written surrogacy contract or any of the promises or intentions expressed therein.”A growing body of research establishes the importance of a parent’s role in the NICU. Premature babies who are held skin-to-skin by their parents have lower heart rates; they also need less pain medication. When parents are there to talk, read, and sing to their babies, they begin vocalizing earlier than other NICU infants.And although about 3,500 babies in the U.S. die in their sleep each year from SIDS, accidental suffocation, or unknown causes, a disproportionate number of those deaths happen in child care settings, says Alison Jacobson, CEO of First Candle, a nonprofit in Forest Hill, Maryland, that raises awareness and research funds for SIDS and other causes of infant death. “If you look at how many hours infants spend in day care and assume that SIDS occurs equally around the clock, you would expect just 8 percent of SIDS cases to happen when babies are in child care. The actual rate [16.5 percent] is double that.” And approximately one-third of SIDS-related deaths occur in the first week a baby spends in child care, with half of those happening on the first day.But she still had hesitations about putting Karl in a stranger’s care so young. “The resounding chorus is: This is unnatural.”Rachel Y. Moon, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and one of the researchers who discovered the correlation between SIDS and starting day care. But I really do believe that babies are stressed out when they start day care,” says Moon. “Any child care provider will tell you, they can walk into the day care and pick out the new baby, because that’s the one who is crying, crying, crying.” Moon hypothesizes that all this stress makes it harder for the baby to fall asleep; when he finally does, he’s so exhausted he may fall into a deeper sleep than usual.Karp began studying colic and newborn crying in the early 1980s. He discovered that colic is basically nonexistent in several cultures around the world. "I studied the Kung San tribe of South Africa and discovered that their babies very rarely cry. Mothers soothe and calm their babies very quickly. They carry them all day long while walking miles a day," says Karp. "They also nurse their babies 50 to 100 times a day, and sleep with their baby on top of them."Karp says the American approach of having a newborn sleep separately from his parents, who then tiptoe around trying not to disturb him, does not work well for babies.many benefits of babywearing and kangaroo (or skin-to-skin) care for both babies and adults.Some mamas refer to this time as a “babymoon.” Much like a honeymoon for newlyweds, the fourth trimester shouldn’t be about schedules or expectations. Instead it – and our babies – should be greeted with patience and wonder.Agatha Christie once wrote: “A mother’s love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity. It dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path.”But though we believe ourselves to be seeking happiness in marriage, it isn’t that simple. What we really seek is familiarity — which may well complicate any plans we might have had for happiness. We are looking to recreate, within our adult relationships, the feelings we knew so well in childhood. The love most of us will have tasted early on was often confused with other, more destructive dynamics: feelings of wanting to help an adult who was out of control, of being deprived of a parent’s warmth or scared of his anger, of not feeling secure enough to communicate our wishes. How logical, then, that we should as grown-ups find ourselves rejecting certain candidates for marriage not because they are wrong but because they are too right — too balanced, mature, understanding and reliable — given that in our hearts, such rightness feels foreign. We marry the wrong people because we don’t associate being loved with feeling happy.30% of pregnant women in U.S. don't gain enoughIt has almost become a given now in our tabloid and celebrity media-obsessed culture, said Claire Mysko, spokeswoman for the National Eating Disorders Association, that any time a celebrity is pregnant, there will be a 24/7 focus onOne of the many dangers of adult beds is that they have the potential to suffocate infants. Pillows, bedding, the mattress, and even your body and nightgown have the potential to suffocate a little one, however, the risk of sleeping with mom is not larger than the risk of the infant sleeping alone in the crib. Dr. Sears at Ask Dr Sears® | The Trusted Resource for Parents has a great report on safe sleeping with your baby. His research shows that “the number of accidental deaths in an adult bed is only 1.5% of the total cases of SIDS.”It is not unsafe to sleep with the infant nestled on your breast or arm. At http://Parenthood.com, Dr. James McKenna explains that it is safe to sleep with your infant as long as you remove potential dangers, such as large fluffy pillows and blankets. Furthermore, Dr. McKenna comments on the infant’s needs of co-sleeping and states that “both mothers and babies were designed biologically and psychologically to sleep next to one another for nocturnal infant breastfeeding and nurturing throughout the night.”One of the most important baby care tips is that touch and crying are the only way your infant can communicate with you. The more touch with the infant, the more safe and secure the infant will feel.Shortly after birth your infant was likely taken away from you. It was to be expected-after all, the baby needed to be cleaned up and washed off. But now, experts are saying there's evidence that parents should wait a bit longer-at least 24 hours, or more-before bathing your little one."It's important to remember that babies aren't born dirty," explains Dr. Ira Jaffe, a board certified maternal fetal medicine OBGYN doctor in NYC. "The way they're designed to come out is how they should come out."Babies are born with a white, waxy coating, which convention has held should be washed off sooner rather than later. But this substance, called vernix caseosa, can be beneficial if left on for awhile longer. While it may seem like bathing a baby right after birth has been the thing to do for as long as any of us can remember, there has been a recent and evolving interest in understanding that babies are covered in vernix for a reason-and we're just now gaining a better understanding of its benefits.A 2004 study by ACOG's Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology points out that vernix adds a protective layer to the skin, which makes it softer and protects the immune system. Additionally, vernix and amniotic fluid contain antimicrobial peptides which can guard against bacteria and fungi. A follow up article by Science & Sensibility points out that pneumonia and meningitis are among the diseases that these agents protect against.Similarly, doctors have recently begun to delay clamping a baby's ublilical cord until a minute after birth, proving that the bathing debate is just one part of an effort to improve the entire birthing process for babies and their mothers.Advocates for change also point to the importance of uninterrupted skin-to-skin bonding time for mother and baby, which helps your newborn feel more secure in the first moments of his or her life. "Nothing is better for a baby than laying against a mother's skin," said Dr. Jaffe. Taking a baby from his mother for a bath right away can lower his body temperature while a mother's chest has the ability to heat up or cool down to help the newborn maintain the correct body temperature, according to Very Well.While there is no one standard practice in place for when exactly is best to bathe a baby, delaying washing will likely become more widespread as more women hear about it. The World Health Organization currently advises delaying bathing for at least 24 hours, according to Today's Parent, but moms have chosen to wait longer as well. "It's just very intuitive," said Dr. Jaffe. "This is what's good for the baby, and once you start thinking about it, it just makes sense."“Before children, I always assumed that nursing would come naturally to me,” she recalled. “I prepared myself for the difficulties of pregnancy, birth and postpartum, but never expected the struggles to latch, the ‘failure to thrive’ notices from the pediatrician, the painful, engorged and raw realities that frequently accompany breastfeeding.”Nursing her eldest daughter was not easy, she explained. “My breastfeeding battle scars include multiple blocked ducts, mastitis that .Pain management during surgery and other major procedures typically requires medication, often opioids including morphine. Short-term side effects of these drugs may include a slowed heart rate, low blood pressure, and drug dependence. Some small studies have linked use of these drugs in extremely premature babies with slowed weight gain, smaller head size and behavior troubles later in childhood, but research on appropriate doses and potential long-term effects "is woefully lacking," the academy says.It urges more research on using these drugs and other medications in infants.Responsibility for what he has done. Give him 25 without the possibility of parole,Sorry I took so long to respond to you. I'm retired and a cold caused problems with my asthma so now I'm on oxygen. Before I retired I was a social worker. I most often worked in early childhood development.I have information about hospital practices and how they affect mothers and newborns but it may be better for you emotionally if you do no read this. You decide. You can do your own research on skin to skin contract also known as kangaroo care and its effects on breastfeeding.The source of the hormonal problems that cause difficulties in breastfeeding can also cause Post Partem Depression. Anything that interferes with constant skin to skin contact between mother and newborn can have a negative effect on mother’s hormones.Skin-to-skin Contact involves placing a baby, naked or wearing only a diaper and a cap for warmth, on the mother's bare chest immediately after birth.Not only is breastfeeding initiated and more successfully established when there is early SSC. The volume of mother’s milk is greatly increased, and the frequency of feeds provided also increases with SSC.Research has shown that early skin-to-skin contact between a mother and baby at birth helps women breastfeed successfully and for longer.In many cultures, babies are generally placed naked on their mother's bare chest immediately at birth. Historically, this was necessary for the baby's survival.Nowadays, modern hospital routines often involve initial separation, where babies are first dressed and undergo various routine procedures before being given to their mothers. This may significantly disrupt early mother-infant interactions - with harmful effects.A baby knows instinctively that she is dependent on her mother to survive, and so if they are separated, the baby experiences distress and the mother does not experience the release of hormones that triggers her strong, protective 'mothering' instincts.There are many labor and postnatal “routines” that are known to negatively affect breastfeeding and directly or indirectly cause breastfeeding problems.Some of these actions are: delayed first suckling[8, 9] often caused by unnecessary separation of mother and infant[10]; supplementary feeds when not given for medical reasons[11, 12] especially if the supplements are given by bottle instead of a cup to infants requiring multiple supplements[13]. Some other medical interventions like caesarean section, epidural and spinal anesthesia are often connected with delayed first suckling, breastfeeding problems and partial breastfeeding.Research has proven that separation is harmful to both baby and mother.This information has been around for over 12 years but for reasons of convenience many hospitals still do not put the best interest of women and children first.This was not something you had any control over. I’m sorry that this happened to you.A new study of monkeys, published in the journal Behavioral Ecology, demonstrates that a hormone present in milk, cortisol, can have profound effects on how babies develop. Infant monkeys rely on cortisol to detect the condition of their mothers, the authors suggest, then adjust their growth and even shift their temperaments.Jeffrey French, a neuroendocrinologist at the University of Nebraska at Omaha who was not involved in the study, praised its “remarkable sophistication” and said that it helped to change how we think about breast /And it's the preferred method of the American College of Nurse-Midwives for women with no risk factors since it's associated with fewer c-sections and forceps and vacuum deliveries, and there's no proof that it makes any difference for the babies.So if you're planning a natural childbirth and don't have any high-risk conditions, and you'd rather not be hooked up to a machine for the duration of your labor, discuss your preference with your practitioner.Ange Tralala My daughter slept only on my chest for every nap and at night for the first 16 weeks. In week 17, we went on vacation and I rolled her onto the bed next to me; we've been bed-sharing ever since and she's almost 8 months old. I still have to hold her for every nap to keep her asleep, and I have to be touching her at night as well or she awakens. My husband sleeps on an air mattress next to our bed, as he tosses and turns a lot. Our daughter is still breastfeeding every 3-4 hours around the clock. I'm in bed every night by 7:30 PM, and stuck there til morning!I think our arrangement has actually strengthened my marriage, crazy as it sounds. My husband is completely on-board with it and has never even asked if or when things will change, and although we haven't had a single date night yet we are having a blast. We watch movies on a tablet with a headphone splitter, we play phone games, we text each other in the dark, and we try to make each other laugh hard enough to - almost - wake up the baby. I have friends whose husbands are against co-sleeping and I can't imagine fighting that battle when you need to be a team. As exhausted as I am sometimes, I know my husband and I are both treasuring this wacky experience. The arrangement isn't forever, and accepting that made all the difference. We are having as much fun and intimacy as we ever did, and our circumstances forced us to make those things a priority.Attachment develops through repeatedly being looked after and appropriately responded to by the caretaker. This convinces the baby and young child that an individual is available to soothe, console, and comfort. Babies may develop attachments to other individuals who are consistent in their lives; however, the relationship with the primary caretaker(s) plays the most critical role in determining the youngster's basis for future attachments. The attachment figure(s) cannot suddenly be replaced by any other caretaker because that relationship is unique and stable.http://www.bcmj.org/article/attachment-disordershttp://www.psychology.sunysb.edu/attachment/courses/620/pdf_files/stability2000.pdfhttp://www.child-encyclopedia.com/attachment/according-experts/attachment-and-its-impact-child-development-comments-van-ijzendoornAttachment, Brains and Babies Kindle Editionby Graham Kennedy (Author)The Primal Wound: Understanding the Adopted ChildBeing Adopted: The Lifelong Search for SelfJourney Of The Adopted Self: A Quest For WholenessThe Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption. "Lost and Found" in particular helped me to deal with a lot of the issues that come up while searching, AND once you are reunited. There are even chapters on birthfathers and on siblings, something most books fail to mention or deal with.It is important for those who decide to search to carefully consider their reasons for searching, and also to think about what their expectations are. If you are not prepared for the possibility of "anything can happen", you may be highly disappointed or even divested by the results.An abandoned newborn is at high risk for depression, anxiety and low self-esteem. It is called the Primal Wound, Most think that high level of the stress hormone cortisol and too little of the cuddle hormone oxytocin cause neurological damage. Infants have feelings and being abandoned puts them in terror for their life,Implementing the new policy proposal “could create lifelong psychological trauma,” said Marielena Hincapie, executive director at the National Immigration Law Center. “Especially for children that have just completed a perilous journey from Central America.”Hincapie said the U.S. government is likely to face legal challenges based on immigration and family law if they decide to implement the policy.Shea is a Celtic spirit of the wild, Brynn a Shea-spirit of the river and sea, Trynn spirit of the hills and mountains.The male version is Rowan also called the green man, Tristan Shea of the sea and Evan is Shea of all the wisdom of the great animals,Sheas are small fast determined resourceful and very clever.1. I wish I was adopted!This irks me to no end, and I am never quite sure how to respond to such a facile comment. I feel like saying: Oh really? Tell me exactly what part of being adopted do you love so much? Is it the part where you are not allowed your original birth certificate? Or is it the bit where you had illegitimate stamped all over your paperwork and you were issued a new identity? Or is it the illogical aspect whereby you are not legally related to any of your kin? Perhaps it’s the bit about being separated from your mother at birth and then placed in a nursery for six weeks without being nurtured? Is it the part that you never knew why your mother abandoned you and you felt that rejection so keenly as a young girl that it made you ache inside? Or is it the part whereby you will spend years searching strangers faces to see if they look like you?2. I know an adoptee, and they are very happy.This pearl of wisdom is dished out to adoptees all over the world. I know this because I speak to so many of them on Twitter and Facebook. This comment is designed to shut us down! It is passive-aggressive, and it is dismissive, and quite frankly it is wearisome. I am, in the main, a happy person. However, that does not negate my experiences as a function of being adopted.This might come as a surprise, but just because you know one adoptee does not make you an expert! Adoptees who dare to speak out are shut down so quickly by such responses that it makes it very difficult to continue to speak out. I belong to a marginalized group and we continue to be treated as perpetual children without a voice.3. I am sorry you had a bad experience.This little beauty goes hand in glove with all the other points here. What I hear loud and clear is that “You are an anomaly!” This is designed to once again make us feel that our experiences are not shared by other adoptees. I am here to tell you that adoption has been a traumatic experience for many adoptees! How do I know? Because I speak to adoptees regularly (some even message me in private for fear of speaking out publicly) and they thank me for writing and sharing because it normalizes them. I grew up feeling so isolated and I thought I was an anomaly. I didn’t realize until the last few years that other adoptees struggled as well.Let me state once again for the record that I love my adoptive family and they love me. My experience of adoption was bad but that’s because of adoption itself not because I don’t love or I didn’t feel loved. I just hated being adopted and I was traumatized by it. This is well understood in research but rarely discussed and understood by mainstream – it’s time this changed. You only need type “adoption trauma” into any search engine and you will find articles, adoptee blogs and books on this. For example, Dear Adoption hosts letters written by adoptees and I commend this to you. Who better to educate you on adoption than adoptees, right?Attachment theory is a psychological model that attempts to describe the dynamics of long-term and short-term interpersonal relationships between humans. However, "attachment theory is not formulated as a general theory of relationships. It addresses only a specific facet":[1]how human beings respond within relationships when hurt, separated from loved ones, or perceiving a threat.[2]Essentially all infants become attached if provided any caregiver, but there are individual differences in the quality of the relationships. In infants, attachment as a motivational and behavioral system directs the child to seek proximity with a familiar caregiver when they are alarmed, with the expectation that they will receive protection and emotional support. John Bowlby believed that the tendency for primate infants to develop attachments to familiar caregivers was the result of evolutionary pressures, since attachment behavior would facilitate the infant's survival in the face of dangers such as predation or exposure to the elements.[3]The most important tenet of attachment theory is that an infant needs to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for the child's successful social and emotional development, and in particular for learning how to effectively regulate their feelings. Fathers or any other individuals, are equally likely to become principal attachment figures if they provide most of the child care and related social interaction.[4]In the presence of a sensitive and responsive caregiver, the infant will use the caregiver as a "safe base" from which to explore. It should be recognized that "even sensitive caregivers get it right only aboutK�ww�Coci��w��Z