But it wasn't until she was pregnant with her first child that she became intrigued with the study of brain development. She wanted to know precisely how the baby's brain is formed, and when and how each sense, skill, and cognitive ability is developed. And just as important, she was interested in finding out how her role as a nurturer can affect this complex process. How much of her baby's development is genetically ordained--and how much is determined by environment? Is there anything parents can do to make their babies' brains work better--to help them become smarter, happier people? Drawing upon the exploding research in this field as well as the stories of real children, What's Going On in There? is a lively and thought-provoking book that charts the brain's development from conception through the critical first five years. In examining the many factors that play crucial roles in that process, What's Going On in There? explores the evolution of the senses, motor skills, social and emotional behaviors, and mental functions such as attention, language, memory, reasoning, and intelligence. This remarkable book also discusses:         how a baby's brain is "assembled" from scratch the critical prenatal factors that shapebrain development how the birthing process itself affects the brain which forms of stimulation are most effective at promoting cognitive development how boys' and girls' brains develop differently how nutrition, stress, and other physical and social factors can permanently affect a child's brain Brilliantly blending cutting-edge science with a mother's wisdom and insight, What's Going On in There? is an invaluable contribution to the nature versus nurture debate. Children's development is determined both by the genes they are born with and the richness of their early environment. This timely and important book shows parents the innumerable ways in which they can actually help their children grow better brains.

    As easy-to-prepare as they are nutritious, these recipes include: Basic fruit and veggie blends from apricots to zucchini Classic combinations such as turkey, sweet potato, and corn Superfoods like avocado, blueberries, and spinach Puree-based transition recipes including soups, biscuits, frozen deserts, and more Free of pesticides, hormones, GMOs, and additives, these delicious purees promote strong immune systems and healthy growth--designed to protect tiny tummies

    It quickly established Gina as an influential new authority on baby and childcare issues and has remained one of the bestselling parenting books in the UK for almost 20 years.This completely revised edition of The New Contented Little Baby Book contains the most up-to-date advice available to parents. Using the feedback from numerous readers and website members, Gina has been able to develop and elaborate on the information in her first book, while clearly setting out her philosophy on simple feeding and sleeping routines.By creating routines that match a growing baby's innate natural rhythms, Gina prevents the hunger, overtiredness and colic that can lead to excessive crying. Babies who are settled into Gina's gentle routines are happy and contented because their needs for food and sleep are appropriately met and they should sleep for their longest spell at night from an early age.With detailed, prescriptive information on everything parents need to know, this book includes chapters on:- Preparation for the birth- How the routines evolved and the benefits of following a routine- Milk feeding in the first year- Understanding your baby's sleep- Establishing a routine- Introducing solid food in line with government and World Health Authority guidelines- Common problems in the first year.Whether you are expecting your first child, or are experiencing difficulties with an older baby, this comprehensive guide contains all the expert guidance you need to help your baby feed and sleep well.

    Each recipe incorporates one or more of the Abs Diet Power 12 Foods such as almonds, spinach, turkey, and olive oil that are scientifically proven to burn fat and build muscle. The meals in this book take the guesswork out of weight loss and make calorie counting unnecessary. For beginners and seasoned cooks alike, this selection of classic and innovative meals such as Fig andProsciutto Tortilla Bites, Walk-the-Plank Grilled Salmon with Grilled Pineapple, and Blackberry Parfait Martinis makes losing weight and eating healthier both easy and delicious. Special features include speedy meals that take under five minutes to prepare, a beginner’s guide to food-prep basics, and The New Abs Diet Cheat Sheet and Portion-Distortion Decoder. Based on cutting-edge nutrition research on how to prevent high cholesterol, diabetes, and heart disease with tasty, healthy foods, The New Abs Diet Cookbook is the perfect weight-loss guide for anyone who despises dieting and loves eating.

    It's about doing all the things you swore you'd never do to get something you hadn't even been sure you wanted. It's about being a woman in a confusing, contradictory time. It's about testing the limits of a loving marriage. And it's about trying (and trying and trying) to have a baby. Orenstein's story begins when she tells her new husband that she's not sure she ever wants to be a mother; it ends six years later after she's done almost everything humanly possible to achieve that goal, from "fertility sex" to escalating infertility treatments to New Age remedies to forays into international adoption. Her saga unfolds just as professional women are warned by the media to heed the ticking of their biological clocks, and just as fertility clinics have become a boom industry, with over two million women a year seeking them out. Buffeted by one jaw-dropping obstacle after another, Orenstein seeks answers both medical and spiritual in America and Asia, along the way visiting an old flame who's now the father of fifteen, and discovering in Japan a ritual of surprising solace. All the while she tries to hold onto a marriage threatened by cycles, appointments, procedures and disappointments. Waiting for Daisy is an honest, wryly funny report from the front, an intimate page-turner that illuminates the ambivalence, obsession, and sacrifice that characterize so many modern women's lives.

    But none of this experience will prepare you for the world’s biggest technological marvel: a newborn baby.   Through step-by-step instructions and helpful schematic diagrams, The Baby Owner’s Manual explores hundreds of frequently asked questions: What’s the best way to swaddle a baby? How can I make my newborn sleep through the night? When should I bring the baby to a doctor for servicing? Whatever your concerns, you’ll find the answers here—courtesy of celebrated pediatrician Dr. Louis Borgenicht and his son, Joe Borgenicht. Together, they provide plenty of useful advice for anyone who wants to learn the basics of childcare.

    Everyone knows the secret to having “the Happiest Baby on the Block.” This is your guide to being the Sanest Mommy on the Block. It will prepare you with humor and grace for what lies ahead, give you the tools you need to take care of yourself, permission to struggle at times, and professional advice on how to move through it when you do. This book will become a dog-eared resource on your nightstand, offering you the same care and support that you are working so hard to provide to your child. It will help you prioritize your emotional health, set boundaries and ask for help, make choices about feeding and childcare that feel good to you, get good sleep, create a strong relationship with your partner, make self care an everyday priority, trust your instincts, and actually enjoy the hardest job you will ever love. This book is here to take care of you.

    In this truly groundbreaking book, nationally respected educator Alfie Kohn begins instead by asking "What do kids need — and how can we meet those needs?" What follows from that question are ideas for working with children rather than doing things to them. One basic need all children have, Kohn argues, is to be loved unconditionally, to know that they will be accepted even if they screw up or fall short. Yet conventional approaches to parenting such as punishments (including "time-outs"), rewards (including positive reinforcement), and other forms of control teach children that they are loved only when they please us or impress us. Kohn cites a body of powerful, and largely unknown, research detailing the damage caused by leading children to believe they must earn our approval. That's precisely the message children derive from common discipline techniques, even though it's not the message most parents intend to send. More than just another book about discipline, though, Unconditional Parenting addresses the ways parents think about, feel about, and act with their children. It invites them to question their most basic assumptions about raising kids while offering a wealth of practical strategies for shifting from "doing to" to "working with" parenting — including how to replace praise with the unconditional support that children need to grow into healthy, caring, responsible people. This is an eye-opening, paradigm-shattering book that will reconnect readers to their own best instincts and inspire them to become better parents.

    They're surprised at the complex feelings of love, loss, anger, and guilt, and at the unresolved issues that emerge. Therapist Lois Akner explains why the loss of a parent is different from other losses and, using examples from her experience, shows how it is possible to work through the grief.Anyone who is going through or trying to prepare for this natural, normal, inevitable loss will find How to Survive the Loss of a Parent a powerful, healing message.

     Make Your Dream Body A Reality From the world’s leading online fitness site Bodybuilding.com comes a revolutionary 12-week diet and exercise program—supported by two million members and thousands of real-life success stories. The Bodybuilding.com Guide to Your Best Body presents a plan that promotes health from the inside out, starting first with the mental blocks that are holding you back, progressing to the muscles on your body, and finally to the food on your plate. Rather than subtracting things from your life (cutting calories, losing weight, banishing your belly), here’s how to add more of the RIGHT things: more muscle, more support, and more success. On this plan, you will: • GET AND STAY MOTIVATED. Identify your “Transformation Trigger” and create a system of radical accountability in your life—whether your goal is to lose 30 pounds of fat or gain 30 pounds of muscle. • EXERCISE FOR OPTIMUM RESULTS with a fully illustrated, 3-stage exercise routine. By changing your routine often, you will “shock” your body into doing more than you ever thought you could. • EAT CLEAN TO GET LEAN with simple, inexpensive, and delicious recipes. Supercharge your metabolism and keep hunger under control. With this book, you’ll learn the optimal balance of weight training, cardiovascular exercise, and nutrition that have helped people achieve dramatic, lasting results. Join the “Transformation Nation” and create your own story that will inspire others—with The Bodybuilding.com Guide to Your Best Body.

    But this isn’t your typical serious memoir about struggling with infertility; it’s an entertaining, witty read that perfectly balances humor with its more poignant moments. Breeding in Captivity is about a quirky, lovable couple that you root for through their fertility struggles and adoption adventures. It's about the hundreds of Internet message boards where annoyingly perky women from Kappa Alpha Fruitcake refer to sex as "babydancing" and sprinkle virtual "baby dust" on each other. It’s about meeting birthmothers and deciding on open adoptions. It’s about being chosen and then having a birthmother change her mind. But ultimately, it’s about hope, how life can surprise you, and laughing through the insanity.

    No matter what the job or how you define work, you're going to have a lot of questions. When will I go back? How should I manage that initial "I want to quit" attack? Flex-time or full-time? How can I achieve 50/50 at home with my partner? What's the best option for childcare? Is it possible to look like I slept for eight hours instead of three? And . . . why is there never a convenient space to pump? Whether you're in the final stages of pregnancy or hitting the panic button on your last day of leave, The Fifth Trimester is your one-stop shop for the honest, funny, and comforting tips, to-do lists, and take-charge strategies you'll need to embrace your new identity as a working parent and set yourself up for success. Based on interviews with 700+ candidly speaking moms in wildly varied fields and incredible expert advice, The Fifth Trimester tackles every personal and professional detail with the wit, warmth, and inspiration you need to win when you head back to work. Like What to Expect When You're Expecting and The Happiest Baby on the Block, this is an indispensable guide every new mom needs on her shelf.

    Like, for example, it’s not nine months, it’s ten long months. We are three thirty-something women who were fortunate enough to be pregnant at the same time. We shared our questions, fears, humor, and experiences through emails, which became our lifeline and virtual support group. Here, we share the good, the bad, and the ugly of our experiences. We do not hold back for the squeamish or the faint of heart—you need the truth, and now!We are all social workers with graduate education, and we have all worked in the obstetrical units of hospitals for many years. Along the way, we thought it might be helpful to have someone sane weigh in on our hormonal ramblings, so we asked Dr. Bob, a specialist in high-risk pregnancies to help us out. But, we know that all of this experience is nothing like being pregnant yourself!So prop up your cankles, rest this book upon your shelf of a belly, and check out our email log. We made it through the entire experience and lived to tell the tale—and you will too.*Winner of Mom's Choice Award

    With baby-led weaning (BLW, for short), you can skip purées and make the transition to solid food by following your babyâ��s cues.At about six months, most babies are ready to join the family at the kitchen table and discover food for themselves. Baby-Led Weaning is the definitive guide to this crucial period in your childâ��s development, and shows you how to help your baby: Participate in family meals right from the start Experiment with food at his or her own pace Develop new abilities, including hand-eye coordination and chewing Learn to love a variety of foods and to enjoy mealtimes Baby-led weaning became a parenting phenomenon in the UK practically overnight, inspiring a fast-growing and now international online community of parents who practice baby-led weaningâ��with blogs and pictures to prove it! In Baby-Led Weaning, world-leading BLW authority Gill Rapley and early BLW practitioner and coauthor Tracey Murkett deliver everything you need to know about raising healthy, confident eaters.

    and around the world * advice from "Dear Abby" * 15 steps to selecting the right name for your baby * psychological stereotypes of popular names * how to change names and famous people who did * current baby naming trends * fascinating facts about names * how to make the best final decision on your baby's name!