In the video below Reuters says some sleep-deprived parents are hiring sleep consultants to help get their babies to sleep. Janeen Hayward is a sleep consultant working in New York. She makes house calls and gives seminars. Reuters says Hayward charges $350 for a visit to a family's home with follow-up emails. Hayward is the Principal at Swell Being, which also offers a blog with advice for new parents. Alpha Mom has listed a few of Hayward's baby sleeping tips in this blog post.
A number of U.S. workplaces do allow mothers to bring their babies to work. Savannah Guthrie from NBC's Nightly News says this is a growing trend. NBC says about 70 U.S. firms have formal babies at work programs. Advocates of the program say it improves moral which leads to increased productivity. The obvious downside is some workplaces may not be safe environments for babies.
The Associated Press reports that Lynne Spears - the mother of Britney Spears - is writing a parenting book called Pop Culture Mom: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World. The book will be published by Thomas Nelson, a major publisher of Christian books.
"Pop Culture Mom: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World" is set for release May 11, which is Mother's Day, said Curt Harding, a spokesman for Thomas Nelson Inc., a Christian book publisher.
"That is all we're releasing at this time," Harding told The Associated Press on Friday. "I have not seen a manuscript so I cannot comment on the content."
Spears, 25, continued to make headlines Friday when she arrived in a white Mercedes convertible for a court hearing in Los Angeles to work out custody arrangements of her sons, Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, with ex-husband Kevin Federline.
Lynne Spears doesn't sound like the ideal person to write a parenting book. Britney has had tons of problems. She's been in rehab. She shaved her head. She's a terrible pet owner and she has a foul mouth. Most people probably don't blame Britney's mother for Britney's antics but they also probably wouldn't seek her out for parenting advice. The book will probably sell well anyway out of curiousity.
Childcare professionals are highly critical of a UK show called Bringing Up Baby. The controversial show, which airs on UK's Channel 4, compares child rearing tactics from the 50s, 60s and 70s. The Telegraphrepoorts that some childcare professionals believe some of the tactics used on the show may be harmful.
Verity, 41, is shown recommending that infants be left to sleep in a separate room from their mother. She also recommends that parents feed babies at strict four-hour intervals and ignore the child no matter how much it cries.
Childcare professionals, including Mary MacLeod, the chief executive of the Family and Parenting Institute, say they are alarmed Channel 4 is broadcasting "such an exploitative parenting series as Bringing Up Baby".
They warn: "Many techniques in these programmes fly in the face of scientific knowledge about brain development in very young babies. That anyone should be billed as an expert and allowed to promote ideas such as not making eye contact with babies and not comforting them in distress is at best irresponsible and at worst dangerous."
MacLeod said that she would be writing to the watchdog Ofcom, urging it to force broadcasters and programme makers to be more responsible. She said: "Bringing Up Baby may masquerade as a very serious programme but it is not. It is using outmoded techniques on babies that after all cannot give their consent."
People are discussing the show here on a Yahoo UK Answers thread. Most are quite disturbed at one of the practices on the show where a baby was left alone in the garden. They are also describing an episode where parents sipped wine downstairs while ignoring the baby crying upstairs. The Telegraph says a Channel 4 spokesman told the Telegraph that they did consult professionals when making the show and they took the welfarre of the babies involved "extremely seriously."
Childcare professionals are highly critical of a UK show called Bringing Up Baby. The 