Ask the Experts
Welcome to your experts section! Whether you're looking for a midwife, doula, lactation consultant, or even have basic questions about work and family, pets or fitness, here's where you'll find a panel of experts to address your questions, challenges, and concerns.
On each expert’s page, you’ll see the current links to answers so you can see what has been asked already. We ask that you please take a moment to read through what we have first before submitting a new question to one of our experts. If you don't find the answer you're looking for, click on one of the experts to submit a question, taking care you select the correct one. We can't guarantee that they'll answer your particular question, however, all our experts do the best they can at any given moment.
Ask Mr. Dad
A nationally recognized parenting expert, Armin Brott is the author of The Expectant Father: Facts, Tips and Advice for Dads-To-Be, The New Father: A Dad's Guide to the First Year, The New Father: A Dad's Guide to the Toddler Years, Throwaway Dads: The Myths and Barriers That Keep Men from Being the Fathers They Want to Be, and The Single Father: A Dad's Guide to Parenting Without a Partner (New Father Series). He has written on parenting and fatherhood for the New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, Newsweek and dozens of other periodicals.
Ask the Child Psychologist
Dr. Laura Markham is an internationally active Clinical Psychologist, web-site editor and author who specializes in strengthening the parent-child bonds that protect kids in today's turbulent world. Dr. Markham edits the website YourParentingSolutions.com, which offers inspiration, coping strategies, and solutions that work for real parents, all backed up by the latest psychological research. Her new book, SECRETS OF HAPPY PARENTS: 30 Keys to Keep Your Family Connected in Turbulent Times, will be released in March 2008. Dr.
Ask the Doula
Kerry Tuschhoff, HCHI, CHt is a wife and mother of 6 (2 kids, 2 dogs and 2 rabbits) and has been in the birthing field for 14 years. She taught the Bradley method of natural childbirth from 1989 to 1999, at present teaches Hypnobabies Hypnosis for Childbirth classes, Pregnancy Nutrition and Breastfeeding classes, and gives seminars in her community on natural pregnancy and childbirth options, and is a conference speaker.
Ask the Family Activities Expert
Kas Winters, the "Mother of Family Ideas", provides resources to help families thrive. An author, illustrator, publisher and public speaker, this grandmother creates books, offers hundreds of family activity articles on her website and does workshops for parents and children. She also represents almost 70 other authors and helps writers get their words into print. Kas is passionate about helping children develop a positive self-image, providing hands-on experiences that give them confidence, and building strong supportive relationships.
Ask the Family Pet Expert
Jennifer Shryock, creator of Dogs & Storks™ CD, is a stay-at-home mom and a certified dog behavior consultant, specializing in safe Kid and K9 interaction. Believing the relationship between dogs and their family is precious, Jennifer created Family Paws to offer opportunities to families that will help enhance their relationship with their dog.
Ask the Fitness Expert
Alexandra Allred is a former member of the US Women's Bobsled team, is an accomplished martial artist, and continues to teach kickboxing while juggling her career as a full-time writer and mother of three. She has interviewed hundreds of athletes, models, actresses, trainers, doctors, and health/fitness experts as she sought to find answers to her own questions about working out while pregnant, arranging breast-feeding around a training schedule, diet when pregnant and breastfeeding, and encouraging her whole family. Alex is the author of ten books, including Atta Girl!
Ask the Lactation Consultant
Dr. Kendall-Tackett is a health psychologist, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, and Research Associate Professor of Psychology specializing in women's health at the Family Research Lab, University of New Hampshire. She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association in both the Divisions of Health Psychology and Trauma Psychology. Dr. Kendall-Tackett is a La Leche League leader, chair of the New Hampshire Breastfeeding Taskforce, and the Area Coordinator of Leaders for La Leche League of Maine and New Hampshire. Dr.
Ask the Midwife
Cynthia Flynn, CNM. PhD, teaches in the College of Nursing at Seattle University and is President of the American Association of Birth Centers. She also practices midwifery at Valley Medical Center where she cares for pregnant and birthing women, and practices well-woman gynecology, family planning, and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases. Cynthia founded Columbia Women's Clinic and Birth Center, where she took care of pregnant women and infants up to two weeks of age and attended both birth center and hospital births.
Ask the Nutritionist
Kimberly A. Tessmer, RD LD has been a registered dietitian since 1992 and is also an Ohio licensed Dietitian. Her educational achievements include a Bachelor of Science in Technology (Dietetics) from Bowling State University in Bowling Green, OH.
Ask the Relationship Expert
Carol Ummel-Lindquist, author of Happily Married with Kids: It's Not Just a Fairy Tale, received a Masters and Ph.D. degree in clinical psychology at the University of Illinois and completed a pre-doctoral clinical internship at the University Psychological and Counseling Services in Champaign-Urbana.
Ask the Ultrasound/Dreams Expert
Jane Foley has worked as a Sonographer (Ultrasound Technologist) for over twenty-three years. Such intimate work with people's bodies somehow causes them to spill their hearts and souls as she examines their insides. Being somewhat of a gypsy, Jane has lived and worked in many parts of the world. She pulls a wealth of information from her experience in the field of Radiology and her interactions with such a broad cross-section of cultures.
Pregnancy Infancy Crisis Specialists
Deborah L. Davis, Ph.D. and Mara Tesler Stein, Psy.D. are the authors of Parenting Your Premature Baby and Child: The Emotional Journey, a 2004 National Parenting Publications Awards "Gold Award" winner. They also collaborated on Parent: You and Your Baby in the NICU (2002), as part of the nationwide March of Dimes NICU Project. They.ve been invited to regularly contribute to Advances in Neonatal Care, a neonatal nursing journal; their first article appears in Spring 2005.
Anai Rhoads: Researcher/Writer
Anai Rhoads is a medical and political researcher/writer with a particular interest in the sanctions on Iraq and the wider effect of racism's influence in the Middle East. A vegan since 2000, she is a dedicated supporter of activities which promote animal and human rights. Originally from Greece, she now resides in Virginia, USA with her husband and their two dogs, Bijou and Eva.
Ann Douglas: TTC to Teens
Ann Douglas, mom of 4, ages 7 - 17, is one of North America's foremost pregnancy and parenting writers, an award-winning journalist and the author of 27 books. Her work's distinguishing marks are relevant information from experts and physicians interspersed with chunks of practical advice and anecdotes from mothers -- for reading that is both reliable and friendly. She has experienced infertility, miscarriage, and stillbirth, as well as four textbook pregnancies.
Ask the Sex Experts
Cathy Winks and Anne Semans have been passionate advocates of sex education for over 15 years. As authors of the bestselling The Good Vibrations Guide to Sex and Sexy Mamas: Keeping Your Sex Life Alive While Raising Kids, they continue to spread their philosophy that everyone is entitled to a happy and healthy sex life. Anne wrote the online "Sex and Parenting" column for the popular magazine Hip Mama and is the Marketing Manager at the women-owned toy store, Toys and Babeland.
Chick Moorman: Parenting
Chick Moorman holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Western Michigan University in the field of Education. He is a former classroom teacher with over 38 years of experience who went on to found the Institute for Personal Power, providing training for teachers and parents. Chick has experienced full-time parenting, weekend parenting, step-parenting, single-parenting, and now after 15 years of traveling around the country teaching other people how to parent, he is raising his grandchildren. Chelsea, age 15, and Austin, age 12.
Colette Bouchez: Women's Health
Colette Bouchez is an award winning medical journalist with more than twenty years experience. She is the former medical writer for the New York Daily News, and the top selling author of The V Zone, co-author of Getting Pregnant and upcoming book, Your Perfectly Pampered Pregnancy. Currently, she is the Content Producer for Women's Health at WebMD where she is responsible for development and execution of the new Women's Health and Beauty Center.
Dr. Mark Moore: Pregnancy and Pediatrics
Mark Moore, MD is an experienced Anesthesiologist, sub-specializating in women's and children's anesthesia. He holds board certifications in both Anesthesiology and Pain Management. Dr. Moore and his wife, Lisa, a pediatric nurse, are the authors of Baby Girl or Baby Boy. They live in Tallahassee, Florida.
Elizabeth Pantley: Babies and Sleep
Elizabeth Pantley is a mom of four, a parenting expert, attachment parenting supporter and the writer of several parenting books, including The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night and The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers. Elizabeth is a regular radio show guest and frequently quoted as a parenting expert in magazines such as Parents, Parenting, Working Mother, McCalls, Redbook and on over 50 parent-directed Web sites. She publishes a newsletter, Parent Tips, that's distributed in schools nationwide.
Jack Newman: Breastfeeding
Jack Newman graduated from the University of Toronto medical school as a pediatrician in 1970. He started the first hospital-based breastfeeding clinic in Canada in 1984 at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. He has been a consultant with UNICEF for the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative in Africa, and has published articles on the subject of breastfeeding in Scientific American and several medical journals. Dr. Newman has practiced as a physician in Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa. He has written a series of instruction sheets to help women get started and succeed at breastfeeding.
Rick Hanson: Mother Nurture
Rick Hanson, Ph.D., is a psychologist who works with couples, individual adults, and children. He has written and lectured extensively on parental stress and depletion, ways to nurture mothers and fathers, and how a couple can be both strong teammates and intimate friends while raising a family. Dr. Hanson did management consulting before earning his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the Wright Institute. He has been President of the Board of FamilyWorks, a non-profit agency serving families in Northern California.
