HCP Delivers!
The Nursing Mother’s Companion in Publishers Weekly
Friday, October 29, 2010Around the Harvard Common Press office, we’re always very excited when a book we publish is a success (although I suppose the same would be true of the entire publishing industry), especially when it’s a really big success and it touches so many lives. Now, on the cookbook side, that’s a bit harder to do, unless we publish a cookbook with recipes for really blow-away dishes that change people’s lives (no easy task), but on the pregnancy/childbirth side, there is much opportunity to create books that can have a lasting impact.
Such is the case with our Nursing Mother’s Companion, by Kathleen Huggins, which was just released in September 2010 in its 25th anniversary edition. First published in 1985, the book has gone on to become HCP’s bestselling book, not only because it covers a topic that is of great interest to new mothers, but also because the book is recognized as...
Harvard Common Press at the ICEA/Lamaze Megaconference
Tuesday, October 19, 2010In the world of pregnancy/childbirth, there’s much to be said for sticking together, for camaraderie and shared experience throughout the many ups and downs of these special moments. Supporting a vibrant community of expectant mothers are the doulas, midwives, and birth partners that guide and reassure. The Harvard Common Press is proud to foster relationships with these magnificent women, and the organizations they work through. We’ve always kept up with the goings on of specific organizations, such as ILCA (The International Lactation Consultants Organization), ACOG (American College of Obstetricians and Gynocologists), and ACNM (American College of Nurse Midwives) through tradeshows and conferences. So we were pleased to have the opportunity to network with many of these same women at the ICEA/Lamaze Mega-Conference in Milwaukee this past month.
This was the first year that ICEA (International Childbirth Educators Association) and Lamaze teamed up to bring together a three day event on childbirth...
A New HCP Delivery
Monday, October 18, 2010I’m not ready to become a parent.
Seriously.
And it’s not because I haven’t committed to the joy and beauty of having children, or that I haven’t read up enough on all there is to do and plan for, or even the fact that I don’t yet have a significant other (although that could be part of it).
No, it’s more because, at 24 years old, I feel a bit like I’d be parenting a younger brother or sister, rather than a child. Now I know, in the past, having a son or daughter at the age of 20-21 was considered pretty damn cool, the bee’s knees one might say, but I think at this point, I’m playing the role of an enthusiastic observer rather than a willing participant (after all, I am still being parented by my parents in many ways…although they have hinted at the fact that they’d love to be...
More Risks When Inducing Labor
Thursday, June 24, 2010Over at The Stir, Cynthia Dermody reports on the most recent study to highlight the risks of labor induction. With 7,800 first-time mothers involved in the project, the research found that voluntary induction doubled the odds of C-sections. As Dermody puts it, “When the body isn’t ready for labor on its own, it often doesn’t behave the way we’d like it to, and other complications arise, forcing moms to go under the knife to finish what was started prematurely.”
Though C-sections are generally a safe medical procedure, there are risks involved. Also, it’s been found that children born from Cesareans are more likely to develop health complications such as asthma, allergies, and other immune-related afflictions, simply because they are missing out on that final dose of mom’s bacteria, administered when leaving the birth canal naturally. In other words, the microbes found in vaginal fluids actually help “treat” your baby to a dose...
