Baby-led feeding is an approach to solid food introduction that allows baby to explore and discover whole food on their own with parental supervision.

With baby-led feeding you give baby whole foods or foods cut into hand size spears or slices so that baby learns what is a comfortable and manageable bit size for them. This helps develop baby’s taste and texture sensations to natural food, and helps create their independence at the dinner table as well. Read More…

I, Leigh Anne DuChene, have researched, taught, and coached on holistic or natural baby-led weaning or baby-led feeding for 3 years now; through classes, online support, and one-on-one coaching.

I now offer my services through DuChene Natural Health Center’s Nourishing Origins. Our February Baby-Led Feeding classes are now scheduled, with more to come. Special offer when you register early, see below for details!

Join us on:

Baby-Led Feeding Class – Thursday, February 18, 2010 – 6:30 PM

Baby-Led Feeding Class – Saturday, February 27, 2010 – 1:00 PM

For more details and to register go to www.BabyLedFeeding.com

Placenta Encapsulation is a new and rapidly growing postpartum care profession. Through the extensive efforts of Jodi Selander, founder of Placenta Benefits.info (PBi), and her network of Placenta Encapsulation Specialist throughout the United States placenta encapsulation is becoming a well known and highly sought after postpartum care service. First looked at as an on-the-fringe trend, as placental use is not as common in our country as it is in other countries, placenta encapsulation is now being brought to the forefront of postpartum care as a well established and scientifically researched and sound practice that has enormous benefits to a postpartum mother during postpartum recovery. Placenta Encapsulation Specialists are self-employed and able to set their own clientele load, hours of work, and fees.

Leigh Anne DuChene, is the DFW, Texas area’s only Certified Placenta Encapsulation Specialist, and is now the area’s Placenta Encapsulation Specialist Manager, as PBi and Leigh Anne DuChene, of DuChene Natural Health Center, actively seek out interested women for Placenta Encapsulation Specialist Training in the Dallas and Fort Worth Metroplex area and other areas of Texas, as well.

As a Placenta Encapsulation Specialist you are a postpartum wellness resource to your clients. You provide a service, answer questions about postpartum healing, wellness, and care, and you refer them to appropriate resources for postpartum care when necessary. Postpartum care issues can include, but are not limited to, postpartum depression issues, physical recovery, emotional recovery, postpartum nutrition, lactation or breastfeeding, lactation nutrition, and various other postpartum issues. You are not expected to have all the answers, you are instead the postpartum mother’s resource to connect her with those who can answer her questions or assist her in her needs.

The Placenta Training Course through PBi teaches you proper preparation methods according to Traditional Chinese Medicine, educates you on the benefits of placental use, teaches you how to answer questions about placental use, educates you on the OSHA, EPA, and FDA safety protocols, requires that you get your food safety & handlers training for your area, and teaches you through hands-on training how to prepare the placenta for mother safely, properly, and legally.

If you are interested in becoming a Placenta Encapsulation Specialist, or have questions about the training or service, please contact Leigh Anne DuChene at LeighAnne@DuCheneNaturalHealth.com.

For information on the research and benefits of placental use please visit www.placentabenefits.info/articles.asp.

Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD

From: Medical News Today.com

US researchers who transplanted human intestinal microbes into germ-free mice and then switched their diet from a low-fat plant-based one to a more Westernized diet, high in fat and sugars, found that within one day obesity-linked microbes were thriving in the gut and the mice eventually became obese.

The study was the work of Dr Jeffrey I Gordon and colleagues and was published on 11 November in the journal Science Translational Medicine. Gordon, the senior author of the study, is director of the Center for Genome Sciences at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri.

Gordon and colleagues wrote how over time, compared with mice kept on a low-fat, plant-based diet, the “humanized” mice fed the Westernized high-fat, high-sugar diet diet became obese, and that their weight gain patterns followed shifts in the types of bacteria present in their gut.

Read MORE.

by: Ethan Huff

From NaturalNews.com

For years, baby formula manufacturers have been fortifying and reformulating their blends in an effort to poise their products as equal or superior to natural breast milk. Beginning in 2002, many producers began supplementing their mixtures with synthetic forms of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (ARA), the long-chain fatty acids naturally present in breast milk. Evidence is now showing that the synthetic versions are detrimental to the health of children, despite their continued usage in almost every available brand of infant formula.

Read MORE…

iStockphoto.com A recent study in the Journal of Food Science suggests that green beans, beets and garlic maintain their antioxidant levels even after most kinds of cooking. The antioxidant value in carrots actually increased after gentle cooking.

by Allison Abrey

From NPR.org

Tomatoes are certainly nutritious — a good source of the antioxidants lycopene and beta-carotene. But consider this: if you eat a tomato without adding a little fat — say a drizzle of olive oil — your body is unlikely to absorb all these nutrients.

Scientists at Iowa State University figured this out a while ago. They recruited graduate students to eat bowls of salad greens with tomatoes and various types of salad dressings — from fat-free to regular Italian. “Basically once a month for several months we’d show up first thing in the morning,” recalls participant Gregory Brown, now a professor of exercise science at the University of Nebraska. Researchers put IV lines into the participants’ veins and drew blood samples before and after they’d eaten the salads in order to get precise measurements of the absorption of nutrients.

Read MORE at NPR.org

Baby Bond (a brand new, updated version of Baby Matters: What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Caring for Your Baby) author Dr. Linda Folden Palmer will be speaking to Houston residents at a book signing at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10. Want to organize a presentation for your group right here in Dallas/Fort Worth? Read more about how to bring Dr. Palmer to a meeting of your group, later in this article.

Dr. Palmer’s book exhaustively lists the scientific evidence behind attachment parenting, breastfeeding and the reality of food allergies … Dr. Palmer shows how the establishment of science-conquering-nature has caused unnecessary suffering and heartache to parents and babies alike. — Vegetarian Baby and Child

Dr. Linda Palmer’s rebuttals of current mainstream child-rearing trends (artificial infant food, cow’s milk consumption) do not stop at their negative impact on infants but rather create a compelling and well-cited argument for their links with lifelong negative complications. — Journal of Human Lactation

Read more of Dr. Palmer’s articles on healthy, natural parenting online at her web site.

Organize your own program with Dr. Palmer

Dr. Palmer is available to speak to groups of 25 or more, so coordinate with several playgroups or parenting groups and bring Dr. Palmer to your own Houston event. Presentations may be tailored to parent groups or health professionals. Dr. Palmer may also be available in Dallas/Fort Worth. Contact Dr. Palmer directly to learn more about possible speaking dates for your group of 25 or more in Texas on Oct. 9-11.

See Dr. Palmer at Barnes and Noble in Houston:

2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10
Barnes & Noble
12850 Memorial Drive, Houston 77024
(713) 465-5616

From PhD in Parenting

Where is the safest place to give birth? If you are at a low risk of complications, then a midwife assisted home birth is your best bet according to a new Canadian study by Dr. Patrician Janssen from the University of British Columbia.

According to the CBC, the study found that the rate of death per 1,000 births in the first month of life was:

* 0.35 for planned home births
* 0.57 for hospital births with a midwife
* 0.64 for hospital births with a physician

Newborns born at home were less likely to require resuscitation or oxygen therapy after birth and were less likely to have aspirite meconium. Babies born at home were more likely to be admitted to hospital after birth than those born in a hospital. However, this was for fairly easily treatable and common conditions like jaundice and a baby born in the hospital that has jaundice probably wouldn’t have been sent home in the first place if it was jaundiced (therefore there would be no record of the baby being admitted to hospital).

Read more at PhD in Parenting.

Fever, throbbing pain, breast soreness, throbbing pain, more fever, throbbing pain … A plugged duct can be not only a (throbbing) pain but also throw a monkey wrench into your nursing relationship. But you don’t need to scamper off to the doctor; it’s absolutely possible to cure a plugged duct through natural means at home.

According to Kellymom.com, the four basics of treating any plugged duct or breast infection are:

• Heat (opens ducts, deliciously soothing relief)
• Massage (be as firm as you can!)
• Rest (slow down)
• Empty breasts (nurse frequently)

The key to successful treatment, Kellymom notes, is to begin treatment promptly.  Visit Kellymom for research-based advice on breastfeeding questions, including plugged ducts and mastitis:

• How do I know if I have mastitis or a plugged duct?
• Common (and not-so-common) side effects of plugged ducts or mastitis
• What are the usual causes of plugged ducts or mastitis?
• What is the usual treatment for plugged ducts and mastitis?
• Does mastitis always require antibiotics?
• References and additional information

Fewer than half of Texas doctors do not routinely recommend HPV vaccinations for their patients, according to an article published earlier this month at Med Page Today. Of 1,122 survey participants, just 48.5% said they always recommend HPV vaccines to girls, Jessica Kahn, MD, of the University of Cincinnati, and colleagues reported in the August issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.

“Two-thirds of respondents said they are likely to recommend vaccination to boys if the vaccine is approved for that indication,” noted the article. “A majority disagreed with mandated vaccination. ‘Half of the physicians in this study did not follow current recommendations for universal HPV vaccination of 11- to 12-year-old girls,’ the authors concluded.’”

Read more at Med Page Today.

Be one of two lucky winners of a full set of five of parenting author Elizabeth Pantley’s No-Cry Solution books –- autographed!

1. The No-Cry Nap Solution *NEW*
2. The No-Cry Sleep Solution (for babies)
3. The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers & Preschoolers
4. The No-Cry Discipline Solution
5. The No-Cry Potty Training Solution

Here’s how to enter:

• Choose a line or two, or a complete except, from any of the above Elizabeth Pantley books or from her web site.
• Quote it on your blog, website or newsletter page, including the the title and author.
• Send the link to elizabeth@pantley.com.

That’s all — you’re entered! Winners will be chosen at random on Aug. 31, 2009. See a list of lucky past winners at Pantley.com.