MISSION: Fathers’ Support Center works to improve the lives of children by bettering the father-child relationship. Fathers enroll for at least one year of program involvement, which starts with an intense six-week course meant to grow family, communication, relationship and employment skills.

BRIAN HALL, chief marketing officer for the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission, has been named chairman of Christmas in St. Louis Foundation, which produces Macy’s Festival of Lights and the Ameren Missouri Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Communication is one of the very first skills we learn in order to navigate the world. As infants, we are quick to begin communicating our needs and respond to those around us. However, babies who are born with hearing disorders and children who lose their sense of hearing face a very different communication landscape—one that now involves technology and strategies to help them to communicate with the wider world.

Smiling and giggling babies are a common sight at a Baby Boot Camp session in St. Louis. That’s because their moms are thrusting them into the air for shoulder presses, balancing them during yoga poses and swiftly pushing them in strollers through the park.

How are you faring during this cold and flu season? The answer depends, at least in part, on how your body’s immune system is protecting you from the many viral and bacterial illnesses that gets passed around every winter.

There is more than one way to flatten your tummy. Diet and exercise works for those who need to reduce fat in general. Liposuction removes fat cells from targeted areas. Noninvasive procedures freeze fat and cause it to disappear over time. But the only thing that addresses the abdominal muscles, fat and excess skin is abdominoplasty—a tummy tuck.

Most babies are born healthy, yet the National Birth Defects Prevention Network (NBDPN) estimates that one in 33 infants enters the world with some sort of birth defect. January is Birth Defects Prevention Month, and women are urged to take proactive steps to help ensure a healthy baby.

Unreliable and second-hand gossip from around the world*

The Baldwin Report

The lists are fairly uncontroversial this year. I said fairly. Also, in the spirit of full disclosure, there are three films on the list that I have not yet seen. I just feel that confident. So, without further ado...

During this time of year, it is an LN tradition to salute local charities and nonprofit organizations that have commemorated milestone anniversaries in 2012. In celebration, we've asked a sampling of them to share some favorite memories, as well as even bigger future plans.

In August 2012, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) issued a formal opinion: The annual health assessment (annual examination) is a fundamental part of medical care and is valuable in promoting prevention practices, recognizing risk factors for disease, identifying medical problems and establishing the clinician-patient relationship. In other words, don’t skip your annual well-woman exam.

It's understandable for women to worry a lot about breast cancer. With so many messages aimed at us from so many places, breast cancer awareness, prevention and screening is top-of-mind when it comes to health news. But it may be time to rethink our worries.

If there’s one modern malady that everyone seems to share, it’s stress. The demands of everyday life—working, parenting, fulfilling social obligations—can make even the most organized person feel overwhelmed. 

After having children, women often wish to bounce back to their pre-pregnancy bodies. St. Louis Cosmetic Surgery’s solution is the ‘mommy makeover.’

Whether you want a subtle change that helps hide your age or a more dramatic transformation, there’s a cosmetic procedure for you. The menu at the body transformation buffet continues to expand, offering more choices to fit an array of desires.

Saturday 6

You’re expecting a second baby. This should be a breeze. You know what to expect as you recover from childbirth and you’re probably less anxious about how to care for your second child. Yet, bringing home baby No. 2 is much different than bringing home the first. You‘ll be faced with the reaction of your older child. How will she react to being a brother or sister? How will you meet the needs of two children? What can you do to make the adjustment easier for her and for you?

As an OB/GYN, Dr. Rebecca Booth’s studies of hormonal changes spawned the book, The Venus Week: Discover the Powerful Secret of Your Cycle…At Any Age in 2008. Inspired by the way women’s hormones affect the luster of their skin throughout their lives, she and her sister, Cecil Booth, a veteran of the beauty industry, got to work. The result was VENeffect, a skin-care line that uses plant-based phytoestrogens to restore collagen and decrease the signs of aging. We caught up with them on a recent visit to Neiman Marcus at Plaza Frontenac.

Corsets, bras and thongs may not be typical social conversation, but the Missouri History Museum’s Underneath It All exhibit is changing that.

Whether you’re looking for a gentle mind-body practice or a muscle-strengthening workout, yoga could be what you seek. Different types of yoga provide different benefits and experiences, and there’s something for everyone.

For many women, no single day changes their life more than having a baby. And for first-time moms especially, the prospect of giving birth can give rise to a lot of joy—but also questions and fears. “First-time moms sometimes have plenty of anxiety because there’s a lot of unknown, and they hear bits and pieces from friends and family, who often talk about things that can go wrong,” says Dr. Ann Marie Rockamann, an obstetrician/gynecologist who practices with Missouri Baptist Medical Center. “When I first meet them, it’s good to put things in perspective.”

All parents leave the hospital with their first baby feeling excited and proud. Most also have many anxious moments as they appropriately worry about everything. Is the baby seat correctly installed? How do we bathe the baby? Is he going to have a happy childhood? Where will he go to college? When the second child arrives, the list of questions grows even larger: Will the older embrace the younger? How will they get along?

We try to be careful about our diet all the time (or at least most of the time), but when a woman is ‘eating for two,’ the stakes are higher. Pregnancy requires a special attention to nutrition as the developing fetus draws upon the mother’s nutritional stores.