In Louisville, Kentucky the mayor’s Healthy Hometown Movement has produced a series of pro-breastfeeding PSA’s featuring a ‘talking’ baby, espousing the wonders of breast milk and encouraging viewers to appreciate public nursing. “Some people think breast-feeding in public is nasty, but it’s not,” the baby says. “It’s natural. And with Hooter Hiders, slings and the old baby blanket over the shoulder technique, Mom can feed me anywhere.” For a city’s mayor to back public breastfeeding in a nation where nursing moms still get gasped at, censored and arrested, I think this is a pretty huge step in the right direction. The ad’s caused quite an web stir, too (and generated more than one Chucky reference)… but not because of its message; the baby in question has a full set of teeth. 

Talking babies (with teeth): Disturbing? Awesome? For a good cause? What’s your take? Click for videos to help you decide.

A study released this past February may cause antsy moms-to-be to think twice before scheduling induced labor for non-medical reasons, a now-common practice for pregnant women seeking convenience, or simply an end to the seemingly-endless third trimester. The report, which was compiled by Australian researchers and tracked the labors and deliveries of 28,000 women—some of whom went into spontaneous labor, while others were induced for either medical or non-medical reasons—documents a significant percentage increase in both C-section deliveries (67% increased risk—that’s big), and NICU care (64% increased risk), for women and their babies who undergo non-medically necessitated inductions. Read full post

While I’ve never really understood the public’s fascination with celebrities’ mundane daily activities (so they shop for groceries… so what?), this past week’s huge news on the celeb-sighting front is, in my book, actually news: Beyoncé publicly breastfed her infant daughter, Blue Ivy, while dining in a restaurant with hubby Jay-Z, and it’s caused a bit of a stir. Read full post

There’s a rumor circulating in tabloid land that Jessica Simpson, tired of pregnancy, is gunning for a C-section, while baby-daddy Eric Johnson wants a natural birth. Celebrity rumors are a dime a dozen, of course, and not typical fodder for this particular blog, but—true or not—this one brings up an interesting question: what happens when couples differ in their expectations and hopes around childbirth, and parenting, approaches? Read full post

An Indiana prosecutor has warned that co-sleeping is no longer merely a personal or familial choice; under current state law he can and will prosecute parents of babies who die while co-sleeping in his jurisdiction.

Delaware County Prosecutor Jeff Arnold has vowed to take an aggressive approach against parents whose infants died as a result of co-sleeping. “I’m not going to overlook that anymore as stupidity, I’m going to try to prosecute those cases,” he toldIndiana’s NewsCenter. Arnold explained that co-sleeping was a factor in many of the infant deaths he has seen in the past year. Read full post

Breastfeeding/cosleeping/clothbummed cake!

In Indonesia, unlike in the United States, breastfeeding isn’t considered simply a lifestyle or parenting choice; it’s the law. Exclusive breastfeeding has in fact been legally backed since 2009, and the laws have recently been strengthened. In a nation where clean water isn’t always available, the country hopes to have 80 percent of its babies exclusively breastfed by 2015, and to drastically reduce infant mortality rates in the process. Read full post

Leave it to the internet to take it up a notch and invent the ultimate in natural celebrity parent sightings. Read Full Post (and of course, see more of Ryan Gossling loving cloth diapers and natural parenting.)

The CDC has released a new report on home birth statistics in the US that shows a 36 percent increase in home births among (non-Hispanic white) women in the US between 2004 and 2009. Read full story