written by Laila Muller, local Kindergarten Teacher, M.Ed. Even without words, your baby is constantly communicating with you. She communicates through body language, facial expression, and tone of voice. You use the same tools as your baby, but you also have speech. Respectful communication has been shown to relieve stress in adults and help soothe to children. At...
written by Renee Mandala, ParentCare Director Infant caregiving is demanding and rewarding. Adults and babies grow capacities rapidly, and caregiving times can build connection. As such, feeding time is about more than nutrition. The infant’s physical, social, neurological, emotional, and sensory systems develop, while relationship-building and co-regulation of our nervous systems take place, in addition to...
written by Renee Mandala, M.A. CD(DONA) C.L.C. Expectant families are rightly, more frequently being advised by their medical providers to breastfeed their babies. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends at least 6 months of exclusive nursing, and continued nursing through at least the first year with the addition of complimentary solids. They also recommend nursing beyond...
written by Carol Castanon, Parent Consultant Sleep is important to parents and children. Parents often become obsessed with sleep, because sleep deprivation deeply affects our mental and emotional state. Parents might even feel panic around loss of sleep. Night parenting is often the hardest time to parent. Every family will develop their own ways getting children...
written by Carol Castanon, Parent Consultant Babies begin to communicate who they are, and are becoming in those first moments after birth and beyond. As adults, we come into these new relationships with joy, worry and expectation. As the baby’s grown-up, there are times in the baby relationship when we are simply providing the basics of...
written by Carol Castanon, Parent Consultant Infants tell their caregivers when they are hungry, wet, tired, or not feeling quite right. They cry, they wiggle and they sometimes struggle to get to sleep. They’ll reach for the nipple and then sometimes pull away, and then seem to reach back again. They’ll find your loving gaze and...
written by Brenda Murrow, Practicum Student Article Summary: At Secure Beginnings, our classes encourage time for uninterrupted play. Interacting with children in this way may be unfamiliar because play is often more structured and initiated by adults. This article explains what uninterrupted play is and why it is important to development, from a psychological perspective. One...
written by Marsha McKeon, Ph.D. Clinical Director Even before we hold our baby in our arms for the first time, we have clear and beautiful ideas of how it will go, how it must go. We imagine all the joy, the profound love, the perfect holding and tireless effort to give our child more than we ever...
written by Terra Solecki, Secure Beginnings Core Class Facilitator “Do less, observe more, enjoy most!”– Magda Gerber, founder of Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE) Each Secure Beginnings class begins with a period of quiet observation. We invite families to settle into a comfortable place in the room. For children it is a time to explore, to go...
written by Carol Castanon, Child Development Specialist A new baby cries with frequency and volume. Sometimes it may take 2 weeks to hear the powerful newborn cry. Every parent knows the pull of an infant’s cry. This cry, mouth open and body trembling, necessarily gets the attention of others. Newborns will often cry in the late afternoon or early...