Depression is the number one cause of maternal death in developed countries and results in adverse health outcomes for both mother and child. It is vital, therefore, that health professionals are ready and able to help those women that suffer from perinatal and postpartum depression (PPD). This book provides a comprehensive approach to treating PPD in an easy-to-use format. It reviews the research and brings together the evidence-base for understanding the causes and for assessing the different treatment options, including those that are safe for use with breastfeeding mothers. It incorporates a new psychoneuroimmunology framework for understanding postpartum depression and includes chapters on: negative birth experiences infant characteristics psychosocial factors antidepressant medication therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy herbal medicine and alternative therapies suicide and infanticide. Invaluable in treating the mothers who come to you for help, this helpful guide dispels the myths that hinder effective treatment and presents up-to-date information on the impact of maternal depression on the health of the mother, as well as the health and well-being of the infant.

Mothers, Sex, and Sexuality talks about things not normally dared spoken out loud—the interconnectedness and conflict between our parental and sexual selves, the taboo of the sexual mother, and why it matters so much to shatter it. What is it about the sexual mother that is incompatible, and at times even disturbing? Why are we threatened by maternal sexuality? And what does this tell us about the structures of gender and power that govern our bodies? Mothers, Sex, and Sexuality presents a rigorous academic analysis of the myriad ways in which the sexual/maternal divide affects women, birthing people, and those of us who assume or are ascribed the title "mother". We examine the way we as mothers talk to our daughters about sex, the way we talk about sex in a cultural context, and the deafening silence around sex in a medical system that overlooks maternal sexuality. We return repeatedly to the impact of both Christianity and Hinduism on the mother as someone to be revered but tightly controlled. We embrace the lost eroticism of mothering and hail breastfeeding as a sexual maternal practice, arguing for a new, broader, feminist understanding of sexuality. We discuss the way fat mothers destabalise the heteronormative maternal model, the way kinky queers are reconfiguring the sexual/maternal divide through erotic role-play, and we explore the strange, intense, and romantic domestic relationship that springs up between mothers and nannies—two heterosexual women trapped together in a homoerotic triangulation of need and desire. In a titillating climax we revel in the sexual maternal as embodied through performance art, poetry, installations, and comedy, disrupting queer readings of bodies as we are invited to both fuck, and fuck with, the maternal. This book boldly provides both a challenge to the patriarchal constraints of motherhood and a racy road-map escape route out of the sexual-maternal dichotomy.

Ask any mother and she will tell you there are just not enough hours in the day. By the time she has fed, clothed, and bathed the children, read Curious George for the 100th time, cut the crusts off the PB&J sandwiches, and removed the ground-in dirt from the play clothes, she does not have time to create a detailed scrapbook of each of her children's lives. It's no wonder that so many elaborate baby books remain incomplete, their pristine pages adding to the guilt and inadequacy that many moms already feel.That is why The Mommy Journal is so perfect for today's moms. It offers a quick and guilt-free way to record the special moments of childhood. Space for each entry is only about three inches long and undated, so there is no pressure to write lengthy narratives or to journal every day. In less than five minutes, mothers can quickly jot down the moments they want to remember forever. Plus, unlike traditional baby books, The Mommy Journal lets mothers record memories of all their children in one place.Charming illustrations of toys, hearts, and animals grace each page. Every few pages contain a bit of parenting wisdom such as, "The best thing you can give children next to good habits are good memories." Instructions for fun activities moms can do with their children, such as make edible finger paint from instant pudding, are included as well.The Mommy Journal will become a treasured keepsake, both for the mom who creates it and for the child who receives this precious record of childhood.

This insightful volume presents important new findings about parenting and parent-child relationships in ethnic and racial minority immigrant families. Prominent scholars in diverse fields focus on families from a wide range of ethnicities settling in Canada, China, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States. Each chapter discusses parenting and parent-child relationships in a broader cultural context, presenting within-group and cross-cultural data that provide readers with a rich understanding of parental values, beliefs, and practices that influence children’s developmental outcomes in a new country. For example, topics of investigation include cultural variation in the role of fathers, parenting of young children across cultures, the socialization of academic and emotional development, as well as the interrelationships among stress, acculturation processes, and parent-child relationship dynamics. This timely reference: • explores immigration and families from a global, multidisciplinary perspective; • focuses on immigrant children and youth in the family context;• challenges long-held assumptions about parenting and immigrant families;• bridges the knowledge gap between immigrant and non-immigrant family studies;• describes innovative methodologies for studying immigrant family relationships; and• establishes the relevance of these data to the wider family literature. Parental Roles and Relationships in Immigrant Families is not only useful to researchers and to family therapists and social workers attending to immigrant families, but also highly informative for persons interested in shaping immigration policy at the local, national, and global levels.

"The book is written in an engaging and accessible style and the passion of the author is evident. ...an interesting and timely text that will be useful to those working with very young children and their families." British Journal of Educational Studies "a challenging and worthwhile read" Nursery World The first year of life is the year of opportunity. It is when the foundations for our emotional and social well being together with our motivation and ability to learn begin to be laid down by an ongoing interplay of physical, neurological and psychological processes Maria Robinson draws upon up to date research to illuminate this process and highlights the importance of understanding the meaning and influence of adult interactions, reactions and behaviour towards their child and the child's impact on the adult. She indicates how the outcomes of early experience can influence the direction of future development so providing insight into the potential reasons for children's behavioural responses. The powerful nature of working with babies and young children is addressed in a separate section which encourages practitioners to reflect on how personal attitudes, beliefs and values can influence professional practice. This fascinating book is a valuable resource for all early years practitioners including teachers, social workers and health visitors who wish to understand behaviour within a context of early developmental processes.

The articles in this volume shed light on some of the major tensions in the field of children?s rights (such as the ways in which children?s best interests and respect for their autonomy can be reconciled), challenges (such as how the CRC can be made a reality in the lives of children in the face of ignorance, apathy or outright opposition) and critiques (whether children?s rights are a Western imposition or a successful global consensus). Along the way, the writing covers a myriad of issues, encompassing the opposition to the CRC in the US; gay parenting: Dr Seuss?s take on children?s autonomy; the voice of neonates on their health care; the role of NGO in supporting child labourers in India, and young people in detention and more.