CosmiKids’ Evolutionary Parenting Advisory Panel

Program Director: Lauren Feder, MD

Lauren Feder, M.D. is a nationally recognized physician who specializes in homeopathic medicine. Affiliated with the National Center for Homeopathy, Holistic Pediatric Association, and La Leche League, she is a frequent lecturer for parents and professionals and has been seen nationally on various health-oriented television programs and heard on radio stations throughout the United States.

In addition to her comprehensive book, Natural Baby and Childcare: Practical Medical Advice and Holistic Wisdom for Raising Healthy Children from Birth to Adolescence, and The Parent’s Concise Guide to Childhood Vaccinations: Practical Medical and Natural Ways to Protect Your Child (Healthy Living Books, Hatherleigh Press, NY) , she has written for Homeopathy Today and Mothering Magazine and has been featured in the Los Angeles Times. Alternative Medicine Digest, DiscoveryHealth.com, and many other publications and websites.

Dr. Feder lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two sons. For more information about her practice and her work visit www.drfeder.com. She can be contacted at 6399 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 401, Los Angeles, CA 90048, Telephone: (323) 651-4454.

Natural Baby and Childcare by Dr. Lauren Feder, MD

An important resource guide and an integral part of the CosmiKids’ Evolutionary Parenting Program, Dr. Feder’s Natural Baby and Childcare helps parents who want to live natural, environmentally responsible lives, and raise their babies accordingly, this comprehensive book discusses how to complement conventional medicine with alternative treatments such as homeopathy, essential oils, and herbal medicine; how to bathe your child without using damaging chemicals; and how to feed your baby healthy, organic food. As a physician and a mom, Dr. Lauren Feder skillfully bridges the divide between medicine and motherhood, empowering parents to personalize traditional child-rearing practices to their own child.

Natural Baby and Childcare answers common questions such as:

• Are there any side effects of homeopathic medicine?
• What alternatives are there to wasteful baby products, such as plastic diapers?
• Is breastfeeding good for my baby?
• Can chamomile really cure colic?
• What side effects can vaccinations have?

Dr. Feder encourages parents to examine the conventional products that are offered and be choosy about which to include in their own children's lives. With information for all stages and ages, Natural Baby and Childcare is a comprehensive, intelligent, and reassuring guide to raising healthy and happy children.

Program & Curriculum Contributors

Carista Luminare-Rosen, Ph.D. – Program Contributor

Carista Luminare-Rosen, Ph.D., is Founder and Co-Director of The Center for Creative Parenting in Marin County, California, as well as a Preconception and Prenatal Counselor. Integrating her experiences as a counselor and mother, she has developed a comprehensive Prebirth Holistic Health Program for both parents, and the future child, featured in her book Parenting Begins Before Conception: A Guide for Preparing Body, Mind, and Spirit For You and Your Future Child. Her popular seminar, "Planning a Baby? You Can Prepare" is frequently offered to women and couples in the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout the United States.

Since graduating from Harvard University in 1978, Carista has had a successful counseling practice and has taught numerous workshops internationally and locally on topics that address the concerns about preparing for parenthood.

Carista is a member and frequent speaker for the international Association of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and health, and is considered a pioneer in the field of preconception health care. Her quarterly newsletter, Parenting Passages, continues to educate thousands of readers about preparing for parenthood. Her work has been cited in local newspapers as well as national magazines, including Self, Parents, Pregnancy Magazine, Prime Fitness and Newsday. She contributes to many websites and chat rooms, including Web M.D., Oxygen Channel’s “Moms Online,” Preconception.com and iparenting.com. She has hosted and co-produced a cable TV series “Creative Parenting,” and has produced two preconception audio courses and a soon-to-be-completed educational video.

She lives in California with her husband and daughter where she co-directs The Center for Creative Parenting, an educational center offering classes on preconception, prenatal, and childbirth preparation and early parenting.

For more information about Dr. Luminaire-Rosen please visit: http://www.creativeparenting.com/. She can also be contacted at PO Box 2024, Petaluma, California 94952 or by E-Mail at carista@aol.com.

Parenting Begins Before Conception: A Guide for Preparing Body, Mind and Spirit— For You and Your Future Child by Carista Luminare Rosen, PhD is an inspiring and groundbreaking text that shows prospective parents how they can lay the foundations for a healthy and happy family life even before a child is conceived and born. New research contends that prenatal life and the birth experience are often profound determinants of human personality and aptitude. Hundreds of university and hospital studies conclude that unborn children see, hear, and feel in the womb.

Dr. Carista Luminare Rosen explores the universal forces underlying conception and shows parents how they can optimize their child's physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health by considering a host of important issues well in advance. Weaving together modern preconception and prenatal health knowledge with ancient wisdom, the author guides parents through a unique holistic program designed to prepare them for the myriad changes, adjustments, and joys that accompany the major transition to parenthood. Dr. Luminare-Rosen helps readers consider their readiness for parenthood- physically, psychologically, spiritually - so that when the child of their dreams arrives, they are fully prepared to welcome this new being - body, mind and soul.

Carista-Luminare Rosen, Ph.D., is a counselor in private practice who specializes in holistic approaches to preconception and prenatal health care.

Marsha Podd, R.N., C.L.E. – Teacher and manager of the Center for Creative Parenting

A gifted “baby whisperer,” teacher and manager of the Center for Creative Parenting, Marsha Podd is an infant/toddler specialist who possesses a degree in Child Development and has over 20 years experience working with parents and young children as an OB/GYN nurse, and Certified Lactation Expert. She has presented to and led mother’s groups all over the San Francisco Bay area and has taught parenting classes at the Center for Creative Parenting in Larkspur and Novato, California.

In addition to lecturing on child development issues both nationally and internationally, Marsha has authored many articles for "Parenting Passages" as well as other journals, and has been written about in the Wall Street Journal, Variety, and numerous other publications.

A Member of the Red Cross since 1993, Marsha recently visited Bucharest and Sibu, Romania, where she lectured health volunteered at hospitals for abandoned children there.

For more information about Martha and her work call her at (415) 883-4442 or please visit her website http://www.Gotosleepbaby.com.