In this groundbreaking exploration of the brain mechanisms behind healthy caregiving, attachment specialist Daniel A. Hughes and veteran clinical psychologist Jonathan Baylin guide readers through the intricate web of neuronal processes, hormones, and chemicals that drive—and sometimes thwart—our caregiving impulses, uncovering the mysteries of the parental brain. The biggest challenge to parents, Hughes and Baylin explain, is learning how to regulate emotions that arise—feeling them deeply and honestly while staying grounded and aware enough to preserve the parent–child relationship. Stress, which can lead to “blocked” or dysfunctional care, can impede our brain’s inherent caregiving processes and negatively impact our ability to do this. While the parent–child relationship can generate deep empathy and the intense motivation to care for our children, it can also trigger self-defensive feelings rooted in our early attachment relationships, and give rise to “unparental” impulses. Learning to be a “good parent” is contingent upon learning how to manage this stress, understand its brain-based cues, and respond in a way that will set the brain back on track. Hughes and Baylin define five major “systems” of caregiving as they’re linked to the brain, explaining how they operate when parenting is strong and what happens when good parenting is compromised or “blocked.” With this awareness, we learn how to approach kids with renewed playfulness, acceptance, curiosity, and empathy, re- regulate our caregiving systems, foster deeper social engagement, and facilitate our children’s development. Brain-Based Parenting brings the science of caregiving to light for the first time. Far from just managing our children’s behavior, we can develop our “parenting brains,” and with a better understanding of the neurobiological roots of our feelings and our own attachment histories, we can transform a fraught parent-child relationship into an open, regulated, and loving one. (273 pages)

What's the single most important thing you can do during pregnancy? What does watching TV do to a child's brain? What's the best way to handle temper tantrums? Scientists know. In his New York Times bestseller, Dr. John Medina shows us how our brains really work--and why we ought to redesign our workplaces and schools. He shares what the latest science says about how to raise smart and happy children from zero to five. This book is destined to revolutionize parenting. Just one of the surprises: The best way to get your children into the college of their choice? Teach them impulse control. "Brain Rules for Baby" bridges the gap between what scientists know and what parents practice. Through fascinating and funny stories, Medina, a developmental molecular biologist and dad, unravels how a child's brain develops - and what you can do to optimize it. (294 pages)

The first sensory input in life comes from the sense of touch while a baby is still in the womb, and touch continues to be the primary means of leaerning about the world throughout infancy, well into childhood. Touch is critical for childrn's growth, development, and health, as well as for adults' physical and mental well-being. Dr. Tiffany Field begins this accessible book with an overview of the sociology and antrhopology of touching and the basic psychophysical properties of touch. Here is a book that affirms the value of touch as the essential medium through which we can communicate and bodn with our babies.

shows you how to retrain your brain to turn on the chemicals that make you happy. Each page offers simple activities that help you understand the roles of your "happy chemicals"--serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphin.  –by Loretta Granziano Bruening