Your Baby Skin to Skin gives parents a fresh, empowering approach to parenting. It takes parents on a reassuring and practical journey through your baby's first year. You are invited to contemplate your baby from a different perspective from the usual. One which can bring calm and solace along with many "lightbulb moments" of recognition. This book has at its heart the delightful truth that your baby is a highly evolved human, pre-set instinctively to survive. You can simply step back and let your baby show you how to parent by understanding the inbuilt reflexes and instinctive cues. Instincts are not learned, need no practice and can never be wrong. After all, no-one taught us to sneeze, we can't get better at sneezing through practice and we can't sneeze "wrong"! Likewise, a newborn baby comes ready-primed to feed, sleep and learn perfectly well and cannot get these things wrong, so turn down your anxiety and learn from your little instinctive expert. Taken from conversations with thousands of parents over 30 years, Your Baby Skin to Skin speaks about the real baby before your eyes. Not some mythical creature you have yet to meet. It reflects you as a real parent and releases you from the need to wrestle with your baby's nature and instead, allow yourself to sink naturally together into parenthood. By stepping back, accepting that your baby really can't get the business of being a baby wrong, you can finally rid yourself of the need to teach your newborn the basics of life. Parenting can be about watching evolution unfold before your eyes, safe in the knowledge that there are millions of years of natural selection wrapped up in your child and you ensuring that both of you will respond to each other naturally and correctly. So, don't panic. All is as it should be. Millions of years of evolution have got us here safely and now you can relax and get to know your baby.

"Our intimate connection with the world, skin protects us while advertising our health, our identity, and our individuality. This synthetic overview, written with a poetic touch and taking many intriguing side excursions, is a guidebook to the pliable covering that makes us who we are. This book celebrates the evolution of three unique attributes of human skin: its naked sweatiness, its distinctive sepia rainbow of colors, and its remarkable range of decorations. Author Jablonski begins with a look at skin's structure and functions and then tours its three-hundred-million-year evolution, delving into such topics as the importance of touch and how the skin reflects and affects emotions. She examines the modern human obsession with age-related changes in skin, especially wrinkles, then turns to skin as a canvas for self-expression, exploring our use of cosmetics, body paint, tattooing, and scarification"--Publisher's description.

Provides advice on all aspects of infant care from the members of the American Academy of Pediatrics, discussing such topics as behavior, growth, immunizations, and safety.

This text examines the research and evidence connecting birth practices to breastfeeding outcomes. It takes an in-depth look at the post-birth experiences of the mother and baby, using the baby’s health as the vehicle and the intact mother-baby dyad as the model to address birth practices that affect breastfeeding. The Second Edition has been completely revised to include new information on infant outcomes, including epidural anesthesia and Cesarean surgery, clinical strategies for helping the mother and baby recover from birth injuries, medications and complications, and information on Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiatives with a Mother-Friendly Module.

Give Your Preterm Baby the Best Possible Start in Life If you have just given birth to a preterm infant, you and your baby both face special challenges. Parents long to help their baby but often feel isolated frightened by hospital procedures. Now there is wonderful news for both babies and parents. Kangaroo Care, a technique pioneered in leading neonatal centers worldwide, gives you a unique role: a special way of holding your infant that provides crucial health benefits—including shorter hospital stays. Based on ground-breaking research, Kangaroo Care is a step-by-step guide to bringing these benefits to your baby—even if your neonatal unit does not yet have a Kangaroo Care program. It explains: • Why Kangaroo Care enhances your baby’s development • How to use the technique even if your infant requires a ventilator or an incubator • How to understand your baby’s signals of distress or comfort—and how to respond • How you can work with the neonatal staff to provide the best for your baby between your visits • How to involve fathers as well as mothers • All the proven results of Kangaroo Care—including a more relaxed, healthier, and contented baby The complete parents’ guide to the revolutionary new treatment for preterm babies: Kangaroo Care

"Originally published in the United Kingdom by Pinter & Martin Ltd in 2016 as The microbiome effect."

Kangaroo mother care is a method of care of preterm infants which involves infants being carried, usually by the mother, with skin-to-skin contact. This guide is intended for health professionals responsible for the care of low-birth-weight and preterm infants. Designed to be adapted to local conditions, it provides guidance on how to organize services at the referral level and on what is needed to provide effective kangaroo mother care.