With a heavy heart we share some very sad news. Ron Lally, Co-Director of WestEd’s Center for Child and Family Studies and creator of the For Our Babies campaign, passed away January 22, 2020. His passing was unexpected and peaceful. The enormity of this devastating loss is overwhelming. We have lost an extraordinary person, a gentle and creative spirit, and a dear friend, while the field of early childhood development has lost a pioneering champion for our youngest children. Ron worked tirelessly for decades in support of young children, their families and caregivers. His vision of high-qual ..read more

We’re thrilled to announce that our Getting it Right for Our Babies video is now available in Spanish! Haciéndolo bien por nuestros bebés Con el costo promedio de cuidado infantil en los Estados Unidos equivalente a una matrícula universitaria y con millones de educadores de la infancia temprana que reciben salarios tan bajos, que a menudo les resulta difícil  mantener a sus propias familias, el Centro para el Estudio del Empleo en el Cuidado Infantil (Center for the Study of Child Care Employment) y Para Nuestros Bebés (For Our Babies) han lanzado un video de animación nuevo para ayudar al ..read more

  New Video “Getting it Right For Our Babies” Describes and Offers Solutions to Repair America’s Broken Child Care System With the average cost of child care in the U.S. equaling college tuition and millions of early childhood educators facing wages so low they often struggle to support their own families, For Our Babies and the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment released a new animation to help people understand the challenges facing families, babies, and the teachers who work with them.  Through the story of baby Eva, her parents who need care for her while they work and infant/to ..read more

Early Caregiver-Child Relationships Build a Foundation for Lifelong Learning, a featured article in this week’s WestEd R & D Alert, highlights a recent federal policy brief, Including Relationship-Based Care Practices in Infant-Toddler Care. The brief provides research-based guidance on how to raise the level of quality for out-of-home early child care.  The central message is the importance of supportive policies that focus on the relationship between caregiver and child as the key to strengthening healthy early development. Read the full article and policy brief here: Early Caregiver-Chi ..read more

Nos complace anunciarles que “El vientre social: Cómo fortalecer el cerebro de los bebés”, originalmente escrito y narrado por J. Ronald Lally, está ahora disponible en español. Este video de 6 minutos muestra la necesidad que tienen los bebés, una vez que nacen, de que los cuiden dentro un “vientre social” que proporcione la nutrición, la protección y el enriquecimiento esenciales para el desarrollo saludable de sus cerebros aún en crecimiento. Lally recomienda tres políticas que son clave para asegurar la creación de este tipo de ambiente de apoyo: el permiso parental pagado, las visitas dom ..read more

We are thrilled to announce that “The Social Womb: Building Babies’ Brains”, originally written and narrated by J. Ronald Lally, is now available to the public in Spanish. This 6-minute video depicts the need for babies, once born, to be cared for in a “social womb” that provides the nurturance, protection, and enrichment essential to the healthy development of their still-growing brains. Lally presents three key policy recommendations for ensuring creation of this kind of supportive setting: paid leave, home visiting, and high-quality infant care. Translation and narration in Spanish by Elsa ..read more

In this episode, For Our Babies founder Dr. Ron Lally, from the Center For Child and Family Studies at WestEd, talks with Marcy Whitebook, from the Center for the Study of Childcare Employment at the University of California, Berkeley, about the current state of infant/toddler workforce conditions. http://forourbabies.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/fob_ep14_marcy_whitebook.mp3 | Open Player in New Window Length: 34 min 18 sec Download ..read more

  The Early Experiences that Lead to the Acceptance of Self and Understanding of Others As we come to the end of 2015, it seems from the news we receive through our many media sources, that we live in a world consumed by fear and filled with violence and hatred. We at “For Our Babies” feel saddened by what we hear and see, yet know that if we play our part in getting society to see the importance of providing caring and rich early experiences to young children, some of this violence and hatred will be reduced. Research has clearly shown that when interactions with young children are infused ..read more

Study of Advertisements in Parenting Magazines Don’t Always Show Safe Practices A new study found a surprisingly high number of advertisements in the top U.S. parenting magazines show images or products that contradict health and safety recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Researchers found nearly 1 in 6 ads had at least one offense such as images of infants shown sleeping on their stomachs or promotion of unsafe toys such as infant walkers. “On an individual per-ad basis, there were relatively few egregious contradictions. But our concern is that repeatedly seeing images w ..read more

More Hospitals Following Breastfeeding Standards According to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, the percentage of US hospitals that follow international guidelines to promote breastfeeding (designating them “baby-friendly”) has grown from 29 percent in 2007 to 54 percent in 2013. The steps include 10 practices endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics.  Examples of these practices include: communicating breast-feeding policy to hospital staff, helping mothers initiate breast-feeding within 30 minutes of birth, encouraging breast-feeding on demand, and giving newb ..read more