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There are tons of well-known benefits of breastfeeding, which is why the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends breastfeeding exclusively for six months. After that, you can introduce solid food and continue breastfeeding for a year or as long as you and baby want. But some moms, for various reasons, aren’t able to give their own breast milk to their babies—and sometimes consider using donor breast milk instead. You don’t usually have to look far to find ads for donor breast milk....

Nanny vs. daycare? Working mom guilt? Working mom vs. SAHM? See all newborn Q&As Itty bitty narcissist Need to keep baby occupied for an hour or two? A small shatterproof mirror should do the trick. Baby loves looking at his own reflection — only to him, it seems like another baby is starting back at him! Believe it or not, playing with his own reflection actually helps him learn about communicating with others....

Father’s Day is just a hop, skip and a jump away and it’s time to celebrate the dudes’ who’ve made it possible for us to become mothers. Though we love them, sometimes hate them and always wish they’d take a more active interest in doing the laundry (and the dishes), we’ve got to admit: There’s nothing quite like a daddy. For our daughters, daddy is a girl’s first (and longest!) love and for our sons, dad is the first guy who teaches them how to throw a football, how to suck down a hot dog at a baseball game and to make it look like you cleaned you room without ever really trying....

New moms: Meet your new best friend, one that you’ll seriously want by your side. All. The. Time. If you and baby hit the road without it, we’re guessing you’ll slam on the brakes and make a U turn, just so you can head back home and retrieve it. We’re talking about your diaper bag, of course. Consider it a security blanket for parents, or a mom purse on steroids. Whatever life with a tot throws your way—from incomprehensible freakouts to sudden hunger pangs to, yes, poopy diapers—a well-packed pouch that slings over your shoulders (and clips easily onto the stroller) can make messy situations disappear....

Contrary to popular belief, you can’t gauge effective breastfeeding by the number of minutes a baby spends nursing. Just like adults, some babies are fast feeders and others are slow feeders. For example, some newborns get plenty of milk in five minutes, while others need to nurse for 40 minutes to get the milk they need. Typically, babies get more efficient (aka faster) as they get older, but again, there’s a big variation in feeding length from baby to baby at all ages....

You may have put lots of thought—and money!—into planning baby’s wardrobe before they arrive. But the truth is babies don’t need a huge variety of outfits for the first few weeks of life. You’ll be too busy figuring each other out and just trying to get through the day (and night) to worry about perfectly matching tops, bottoms, socks and hats. (Don’t worry, there will be plenty of time for adorable matching outfits later, when baby is a little older....

It’s no secret that babies need a lot of food to fuel their growing bodies. If you’re breastfeeding, you’re probably paying close attention to your breast milk production—and may even be concerned about low milk supply. In fact—because all parents want to ensure their child’s health and growth—a common question among new moms is how to increase milk supply. The good news is, if you are struggling with production, there are plenty of ways to increase milk supply....

The answer here really depends on you and your partner. There’s no right or wrong way to go about this, as long as you both weigh the pros and cons to each route and go with what works for you. One perk to picking out a gender-neutral name is that you can begin to associate baby with that name throughout your pregnancy. Sure, you may not know the gender yet, but you won’t have to refer to your little one as “the baby,” or even “it,” the whole time....

A very good study published by the New England Journal of Medicine in 1999 showed that for women with otherwise unexplained infertility, IUI (intrauterine insemination) alone allowed only an 8% increase in pregnancy rates over three cycle attempts. In non-ovulating women who combine Clomid with IUI, the chance of pregnancy is between 10 and 20%, depending on age. When ovulation induction through gonadotropin injections is combined with IUI, the chance of pregnancy is approximately 12 to 17%, depending on age....

There are two types of hydramnios: oligohydramnios, which means there’s not enough amniotic fluid around baby, and polyhydramnios, which means there’s too much. If there’s not enough fluid, it could mean several things. It could mean your water has broken and some of the fluid has leaked out. Or it could be that baby’s not peeing enough (yup, amniotic fluid is made of baby’s pee), which could be a sign baby’s not getting enough blood and nutrients from the placenta....

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated its rules against pregnancy discrimination in 2015—the first time in over 30 years. Previously, many employers weren’t entirely sure what the rules were or how they applied to their specific business. The hope is that these new clarifications will be helpful to employers, as well as the women (and men) who work for them. So, what exactly do the new rules say? For starters, they discuss the fact that the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) covers not only current pregnancies, but also past pregnancies and a woman’s potential to become pregnant....

For the first time, researchers have found a link between BPA and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in kids. Researchers from Rowan University and Rutgers University found that bisphenol-A (BPA), a plasticizer commonly used in consumer food and drink containers, isn’t easily metabolized by kids with autism. “It has been suspected for a lot of years that BPA is involved in autism, but there was no direct evidence,” says lead author T....

It was winter, six years ago, and a blizzard had just socked the Northeast. Snow was everywhere. But other than that, Jessica—mom of then-15-month-old Adam, with another on the way—expected it to be like any other typical Friday morning in their Bayside, Queens, home. Sure, she was 4 to 5 cm dilated and 80 percent effaced, according to her doctor at an appointment just the day before. But since her first child took a while to progress before actual labor, neither Jessica nor her husband, Sam, were worried....

Someone once told me that pregnancy was the one time in my life where I’d have a license to pack on the pounds. Now that I’ve actually been pregnant, I wish I could remember who it was — so I could slap them. Thing is, that person forgot to tell me about the fine print. You know, the part where it says that there are weight-gain charts involved, and frequent weigh-ins at the doctor, and scary stats about pregnancy complications for moms who gain too much, or even too little....

Ready. Set. Peas in your hair! Feel free to let baby experiment with a child-size spoon as soon as she seems interested. Just don’t expect her to get it right for a while. “At around six months, a baby can start to hold foods in their palm, followed by the development of the pincer grasp, which allows them to hold food with fingers,” says Eileen Behan, RD, LD, author of The Baby Food Bible....

Jen was never — NOT EVER — going to let her child sleep in bed with her. And the woman next door yelling at her toddlers? Clearly the meanest mom in the world. Then there’s Kate, who’d never have a living room full of toys (“Why would such a tiny person need that much stuff anyway?”) or spend big chunks of dough on baby clothes that would only fit for a few months....

New babies bring loads of love and happiness into a mother’s life—but they also bring a lot of responsibility and require near-constant attention, which can pose some challenges for new moms looking to jump back into a workout routine. But don’t let it stop you from trying, especially since regular exercise can be exactly what your body needs to get back to feeling like its old self. “After having a baby, you’re probably busy breastfeeding, pumping, changing diapers and just holding your little one,” says Jaime McFaden, a trainer with Aaptiv, a fitness app offering trainer-led audio workouts you can set based on your fitness goals, how much time you have, the kind of workouts you enjoy and the kind of music that gets you grooving....

Irritable bowel syndrome is exactly what you’d think it would be: It’s classified by a crampy pain that occurs at least once a week for two months combined with a bothersome and frequent stool pattern. IBS happens when the bowels are literally irritable, or trying to move things through faster than is comfortable. Actually passing the stool makes some people feel better and can relieve the cramping. The downside is that stools in IBS come more often than usual and are usually harder or softer than normal....

For some women, thick and lustrous hair during pregnancy is no more than a myth (sorry). Hormones (yep, blame them for this one, too) hit every head differently. The lucky ones wind up with thick, full hair; others, limp and thin. And sometimes, hair just starts to seem a little… different. Dry hair might turn oily, curls might straighten and a perm or a dye might produce totally unexpected results. One bonus for the limp and thin: Hormones can also cause hair to sprout in less exciting places (think face, belly, back and legs), making that thick hair a little less attractive....

I’m a new mom and I’m experiencing some postpartum depression. There are a few things I think contributed to my developing it. First of all, I’m prone to anxiety and depression and have struggled in the past with social anxiety. While I was pregnant, I had a secret concern that I would wind up with a touch (or more) of postpartum, but I didn’t tell anyone. That wasn’t the best decision....