Taylor Hengen Newman is an Austin, Texas-based freelance writer, massage therapist, and mama to three-year-old Kaspar, and a baby-to-be! She enjoys writing about peaceful parenting, food politics and green urban lifestyles. In addition to blogging on Parenting.com, Taylor has written for BabyZone.com, WorkingMother.com, DisneyBaby.com and other parenting web sites; she also maintains a personal, just-for-fun blog at Alt-Mama.com. Taylor’s passions include cooking, yoga, photography and entrepreneurship. She hopes to inspire others, through her work, to live consciously and creatively, and to enjoy the everyday moments of their lives.
Clearly, this person has a serious anger problem (her opening sentence is, “Before I had children I thought I knew the kind of folks I despised”…), but as the mother of a child who has food allergies which are in fact real, and life-threatening, her rant caught my attention. It also scared me a little.Read Full Post
Stay-at-home-moms, in Elisabeth Badinter's opinion, are feminism’s worst offenders, but she believes all mothers who snub the ‘gains’ of the past century — epidurals, formula, and disposable diapers, to name a few — are making a grave mistake that will haunt them once their kids are out of the house (or simply reach preschool age).Read Full Post
Just when I thought we’d surely never be cloth diapering people, we’ve switched over. The results? I’ve been totally surprised by how easy the change (so to speak) has been. Click for my top five reasons why.Read Full Post
There's proof that playing outdoors and getting dirty is actually good for kids. Like, really good! Once again, nature’s showing us all up by getting it right the first time around; because isn’t getting dirty what kids do best?Read Full Post
If you delivered your baby in a hospital, chances are you went home with infant formula samples in your bag. I know I did. Maybe you even got a little goodie bag from a formula manufacturer, filled not only with free formula, but also with informational pamphlets on new-baby care? I got those, too. Now that the AAP has updated its breastfeeding guidelines, dozens of consumer and health organizations have appealed to hospitals to stop doling out the free formula -- and pamphlets, coupons, etc. -- to moms who’ve just given birth. Read Full Post
Celebrities take a lot of flack for their parenting choices, from the public, the pundits and even from each other. (Remember this?) Lately, too, many celebs have been (proudly) touting their natural parenting techniques, and causing quite a stir. Beyoncé’s breastfeeding in public, Alicia’s pre-chewing her baby’s food, and Donald Trump is denouncing vaccines.Read Full Post
We’ve all thought it, while changing one blowout diaper after another at three, and four… and five AM: “This must be some kind of record. Do all babies poop this much?” The answer is, well, yes, babies are little pooping machines, and thus parents become diapering experts. (One handed? In the dark? Piece of cake!) This month, too, you and your little record setter can put your combined talents to good use during Real Diaper Week, April 16th through 21st, an international week of advocacy and events intended to demonstrate that cloth diapering is a “real option” for modern families.Read Full Post
As if we don’t have enough reasons to love Sweden already (great furniture, family-friendly politics...), the country has now dubbed its national Twitter account “the world’s most democratic.” Here’s why: its Curators of Sweden project invites a newly-elected citizen to take over Tweeting each week, and officially encourages these citizens to share their diverse opinions with the feed’s 28,000 followers. Last week's presiding citizen, Natashja Blomberg, a mom of two, did just that by posting a photo of herself breastfeeding — followed by one of herself tandem breastfeeding (nursing both of her kiddos at once) – and declared her Twitter rein a #breastfeedingriot.Read Full Post
Did you know moms can get customized, targeted, up-to-date info on everything from safe sunscreens to cloth diapering… Any time, anywhere? Check out our favorite green parenting apps, and tell us what’s in your phone!Read Full Post
Giving birth hurts like a B. There aren’t a lot of ways around it, although there are a handful of methods for lessening that pain. A new study out of Liverpool shows that natural pain relief options carry lower risk profiles than pharmacological options do, and also leave moms feeling more satisfied with their birth experiences. But doctors aren’t necessarily aware of — or on board with — options around pain management that don’t involve drugs.Read Full Post
Taylor Hengen Newman is an Austin, Texas-based freelance writer, massage therapist, and mama to three-year-old Kaspar, and a baby-to-be! She enjoys writing about peaceful parenting, food politics and green urban lifestyles. In addition to blogging on Parenting.com, Taylor has written for BabyZone.com, WorkingMother.com, DisneyBaby.com and other parenting web sites; she also maintains a personal, just-for-fun blog at Alt-Mama.com. Taylor’s passions include cooking, yoga, photography and entrepreneurship. She hopes to inspire others, through her work, to live consciously and creatively, and to enjoy the everyday moments of their lives.
