Ask the Experts

Pregnant, Baby with Abnormalities

I am 22 weeks pregnant and have just found out that our baby has severe abnormalities that will not allow her to live more than a few days beyond her birth, and will more likely mean that I will have a late miscarriage before we reach term.

Co-Sleeping 13-month old - I'm exhausted!!

We have been co-sleeping with our 13month old daughter since she was around 5 1/2 mo old. Recently, she's started waking up about 45 min after we put her down, and again 45 min after we put her back to sleep. Then during the night for the last couple of months she has been fussing every 45 min to one hour.

Long Term Breastfeeding

Vaccinations and CPS

I stopped vaccinating my son because I believe he had a severe rash due to a vaccine. I have done some further research and I am strongly opposed to any more vaccinations, even for any child I may have in the future. I am concerned for the possibility of child protective services coming to my door and trying to take my son. Do they have the power to take my children and force vaccination? Furthermore, the last pediatrician I went to refused to treat my son because I did not want to continue vaccinating. Can a practitioner force vaccination on my family or report me to child protective services for declining vaccines?

Time management

Naomi, would you write about time and energy management? With all the activities that my family feel are important to do and participate in for our family and our world, I and my husband feel perpetually behind and tired all the time. In my family, my husband and I share unschooling our two daughters, we try to prepare healthy food for I and my daughters who have many food allergies, and we share a college position including being performing musicians. We also spend time trying to build a community of like-minded families. Sometimes when I receive Mothering, I can feel overwhelmed by the suggestions to make your lifestyle more "green" or more healthy, or more kid-focused. So many articles also talk about "slowing down". I don't see any other major way from what we are already doing (giving up) to slow down without quitting my job, and that seems like a pretty stressful option given that we have limited skills to make money another way, and are not presently capable of "living off the land". I welcome your comments about this issue.