Prenatal Yoga

Attachment Parenting Series

Attachment Parenting Classes
Sign Up Today to take classes on:

Co-Sleeping/Bed Sharing
Is it safe? What's the difference between the two? Why woud you want to share a bed with your baby? In this class we dispell myths and share evidence that may surprise you.

Feed with Love and Respect
Breastfeeding is the optimal way to satisfy an infant's nutritional and emotional needs. "Bottle Nursing" adapts breastfeeding behaviors to bottle-feeding to help initiate a secure attachment. Follow the feeding cues for both infants and children, encouraging them to eat when they are hungry and stop when they are full. Offer healthy food choices and model healthy eating behavior.

In this class learn about the benefits of breastfeedingand how to "Nurse" your baby when circumstances lead you to formula feed. We'll discuss basic nutrition and more.

Positive Discipline
Positive discipline helps a child develop a conscience guided by his own internal discipline and compassion for others. Discipline that is empathetic, loving, and respectful strengthens the connection between parent and child. Rather than reacting to behavior, discover the needs leading to the behavior. Communicate and craft solutions together while keeping everyone's dignity intact.

In this class we'll discuss how to accomplish positive discipline

Baby Wearing

Around the world, babywearing is far more common than we realize here in the U.S., and the benefits for both parents and children are substantial. Babies who spend more time in close physical contact with their caregivers cry less and develop better, both physically and cognitively. Physically, the stimulation of contact, as well as the constantly changing position of the adult caretaker, ensures more stimulation and development of the vestibular system, which helps babies become more organized, more quickly. Cognitively, a baby who is worn experiences much more of the world than a baby hanging at knee-level in a carseat or isolated in a stroller. And as most babywearing moms will attest, a cloth baby carrier is far more convenient, comfortable, and portable than either a carseat or stroller. Mothers who wear young infants in pouch-style carriers are also often able to nurse without changing baby’s position; in fact, the people around them are often unaware that the baby is nursing at all.

Learn how to wear your baby in a sling. Find out the different styles of baby carriers. Discover which one is best for you and your partner. At this class learn how babies that are held often;cry less, sleep better and digest their food better. See Calendar for dates.

A Six hour comprehensive class is available and covers all topics and Basic Newborn care. The fee for this class is $75 a light lunch is included

Class Fees: All classes $10 each a portion of proceeds benefit Attachment Parenting International

If you are on medical or are experiencing economic hardship the fee for this class is $5.00 each

See Calendar for dates

Green Baby Bistro

Homemade Baby Food

How To Make Your Own Baby Food Class
Introducing solid foods is a very important step in your baby’s development and well-being, studies show that babies who are fed nutritious, healthy diets grow into stronger kids and better-adjusted eaters than those who are fed poor diets.

Many parents don’t realize that making baby food at home is a simple and economical plan to provide your baby with best in quality, nutrition, and taste. It makes it easy for you to make sure your child gets the best start possible. Making baby food using fresh, all-natural ingredients has many benefits, including:

* Increased nutritional value
* Elimination of additives
* Improved freshness
* Added variety
* Enhanced control
* Lower costs

Our Class is 1-2 hours long depending on class size. The cost of the class is $30 You will learn how to make your own baby food, when to introduce certain foods, and how to avoid allergies. We will also give you recipies foryour older kids as well. Bring a friend and save $5!


Why Make Your Own Baby Food?

Increased nutritional value

Vitamins and other nutrients are critically important to your baby. For the next three years, your baby will experience rapid growth and development. It is essential that he be fed a healthy and nutritious diet in order to maximize his growth and development process.

Processed baby foods have added water, sugars, and starchy fillers. While these products are not nutritionally bad for your baby, their use in baby food dilutes the nutrient content of the actual foods. To make matters worse, processed baby foods are cooked at high temperatures to kill bacteria, so they can be stored in jars at room temperature. Bacteria are not the only things that are eliminated in this process. Vitamins and nutrients are also destroyed. Many baby food manufacturers compensate for the loss of vitamins by artificially adding some of them back in after the food is processed.

When you make baby food at home, you can cook it quickly. This process not only preserves the wonderful color and taste of the food, but most importantly it maximizes the foods nutrient content for your precious baby.

Elimination of additives

Processed baby foods contain trace amounts of chemicals, including pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides. Although the FDA has approved these chemicals, you may choose not to feed your baby products containing them. Buying certified organic produce (fresh or frozen) and preparing food at home eliminates agricultural chemicals from your baby’s diet.

In addition, many varieties of processed baby foods add ingredients that are not essential or beneficial to your baby’s diet. These can include ingredients such sugar, butter, and salt. Most healthcare professionals will recommend you avoid the introduction of these foods until your child is much older. Homemade baby food is pure, wholesome food with nothing added that you did not add yourself.

Improved freshness

Have you compared fresh green peas to a jar of pea baby food? Even though they are the same food, they don’t look, smell or taste similar. While your baby does not have the refined palate of an adult, he does respond to taste, color, and smell. With the enormous availability of fresh produce in your grocery store and the simplicity of making baby food, there is really is no reason he needs to be deprived of colorful, tasty, great-smelling baby food. And serving fresh food from the very beginning will help your baby be more open to tasting new flavors and types of food.

Additional variety

Processed baby food is developed for the mass market and, as a result, is limited in variety. Variety is key to a balanced diet and healthy living. Today’s grocery stores offer a tremendous variety of fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables. There is no reason why your baby should be limited by what food manufacturers consider the most popular foods. What’s more, preparing baby food at home enables you to add herbs, combine flavors, and easily introduce new textures, making your baby’s mealtime a pleasurable, gourmet experience.

Enhanced control

As a parent, you want to understand and trust the ingredients in your baby’s diet. Similarly, you want assurance concerning the purity, safety, quality, and consistency of such ingredients. Preparing baby food at home provides you with control of your baby’s diet and knowledge of exactly what goes into your baby’s food. The more involvement you have with what you are feeding your baby, the more likely you are to nurture healthy eating habits.

Lower costs

Processed baby foods are expensive. The average baby in the United States will consume 600 jars of baby food. Parents who use processed baby food spend an average of $300 or more on baby food during their infant's first year of life. Making baby food at home is extremely cost-effective, as foods may be purchased either in season or on sale. On average, baby food prepared at home can cost as little as $55 in the first year.

With all these benefits, you may think that it is difficult to make baby food, but it is a lot easier to make than you may imagine. Using fresh produce, a blender, and set of ice cube trays, you can make food in quantity and freeze it in single servings. This means you only need to make food once or twice a week. Bottom line, it takes about 30 minutes a week.

This Class is taught by Craig and Gena Kirby as seen on Central Valley Today

Childbirth Education Classes

We Offer a Wide Variety of Childbirth Education Classes
All parents are different so please carefully read over the following classes and see which one speaks to you. Feel free to call with ANY questions. 559-930-2032 or 559-442-4432 Sign Up today at Mommy Matters Online

A Hero's Journey Childbirth Education Class
This program fosters the mother's natural urge to take care of herself and safeguard her baby by creating a more conscious approach to the baby's development and birth. Along with the basics of pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period, and breastfeeding our program incorporates yoga, meditation, communication, mindfulness, and self-awareness. The program enhances the baby's gentle entry into the world and helps the parents toward a good beginning in conscious child rearing.

Topics covered in this program include:

* Brief explanation of the application of consciousness based model with prenatal care and the techniques that can help in the preparation for labor (breathing techniques, yoga, and meditation).

* Focus on nutrition and nourishment for the expectant family through use of 5 senses (music, poetry, massage, value of nature walks, suggestions for diet, aroma therapy).

* Practical advice for dealing with pregnancy discomforts
(comfort measures/positions, Doulas etc).

* Mechanics of labor and delivery.

* Understanding medical interventions and their necessities.

* Explore the art of communication and dealing effectively with
our emotions.

* Postpartum care of mom, dad, and care of the baby.

The Cost of this 12 hour course is $140 check or $130 cash
This class is free for A.H.J Doula clients and is half off if you are a CRN Doula client.

WEEKEND CLASS:
If you are due in days take
our All Day Saturday Class 11am-5pm . At our location: $105 check or $90 cash

Weekend Fee In-Home Private Session $140 check or $125 cash
Save gas and a trip to the hospital/ doctors office!

Our classes are uniquely different from hospital classes and doctors office classes. We emphasize the importance of informed consent and help parents understand what their choices are and empower them to make informed decisions that are best for themselves and their baby. It is our belief that no one cares for your baby like you do and we want to help you make decisions that will protect mom and baby. In our all day session we will cover:

* Practical advice for dealing with pregnancy discomforts.
* Mechanics of labor and delivery.
* Understanding medical interventions and their necessities.
* Explore the art of communication and dealing effectively with our emotions.
* Postpartum care of mom, dad, and care of the baby.
* Breastfeeding

We only recommend this class in cases of dire emergencies only; as we feel it is difficult to learn everything you need to know in such a short period. We understand however that life gets in the way, and you might have to take a weekend class, so we make them available. Please call for details.

Doula Clients: If you are employing a CRN Doula your price is half off. If you are employing AHJ Doula services there is no fee. If you are employing a Doula outside of CRN you save 25% off class fee.

LAMAZE
There is only one certified LAMAZE instructor in the Central Valley. Her name is Lisa Gartin, she is also an RN, Doula, and Breastfeeding Peer Counselor. When/if you take a class at the hospital or doctors office you are NOT taking LAMAZE.

Many people have the Hollywood notion of LAMAZE in mind when they imagine childbirth education. Things are much different today than in years past:

The Lamaze of Today

Forty years of research and learning from women’s experience of normal, natural birth have provided evidence that has gradually but dramatically changed Lamaze from being a method for giving birth to a philosophy that provides the foundation and direction for women as they prepare to give birth and become mothers. “Breathing” is no longer the hallmark of Lamaze. The Lamaze Philosophy of Birth is at the heart of Lamaze education and has been for nearly a decade the driving force for significant changes in Lamaze preparation for childbirth.

Today’s Lamaze affirms the normalcy of birth, acknowledges women’s inherent ability to birth their babies and promotes the Six Care Practices that Support Normal Birth. Our position paper, Lamaze for the 21st Century, outlines the evidence-based rationale for the evolution of Lamaze preparation for birth. The Lamaze Philosophy of Birth, supported by an ever-growing body of research, provides direction for today’s Lamaze preparation for childbirth.

The Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator promotes, supports and protects every woman’s right to give birth, confident in her own ability, free to find comfort in a wide variety of ways, and supported by her family and all members of the health care team.

The ONLY LAMAZE class taught in Fresno is on Monday evenings from 6pm-8pm, this is a six week long course for more information, please call 559-930-2032