Home births increased 20 percent over four years, according to new government statistics. Less than one percent of women give birth at home, but clearly there's a trend toward natural births at home -- even though doctors' groups warn against it. Former "Blossom" star and "Big Bang Theory" actress Mayim Bialik has given birth at home, loved it, and thinks people need to know more about it.

Denise Herrick Borchert

My second son was born at our house, in the middle of our living room, just under three hours after my labor began in the darkness of dawn. I would like to speak to the most commonly cited reasons not to have a home birth to try to illustrate why we chose and advocate home birth for women eligible for and interested in this experience.

1) Birth needs a hospital. For all of human history, save the last 200 years of the organized medical establishment, birth was managed by women, for women in privacy and comfort, giving them a safe, dark, quiet place to labor, providing fluids and rest over the days that labor usually takes (that's right, ladies: days of on-and-off labor is not unusual), and attending to the needs of mother and baby throughout the exciting, powerful, and earth-shattering emotions and sensations. Birth centers that seek to mimic a home environment are a great option for many women, and have started popping up all over the country.

2) Interventions may be necessary. The administration of uterus-contracting drugs like Pitocin, the injection of anaesthesia into your spinal cord (an epidural), extraction of the fetus by vacuuming it out of your body, cutting open the vaginal wall and perineum for faster labor (known as episiotomy, which is no longer routinely recommended by the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists): These are interventions that are designed to help hospitals and doctors get the baby out of your body faster, which is not biologically preferable nor healthy for mother or baby. The first intervention most often given, that of Pitocin, brings on contractions more powerful and spaced more closely together than nature intended (which can lead to lowering the fetus' heart rate, thus causing alarm and often calls for a C-section); it's no wonder Pitocin very often leads to epidurals. One intervention often snowballs into another, and this is part of what has led to the astounding rate of unnecessary C-sections in this country.

Related story: Home births up, driven by natural birth trend

3) What about the pain? Birth is intense; squeezing a baby out of your body is a challenge, no matter what your "pain tolerance." However, our culture medicates routinely for a variety of "normal" emotional experiences (encouraging medication for people in the early stages of grief comes to mind), and medicating for the emotions of birth is no exception. The vocalizing and emotional experience that is commonly referred to as "complaining," "screaming," or "suffering" is a normal part of labor. Birth is not neat and fast and quiet: it's gritty and primal. But it's nothing to fear unless you also think we ought to fear women crying when they are sad or laughing when they are happy. There are numerous effective pain-management techniques to use in labor. I used self-hypnosis for both of my natural labors as well as showers and baths, massage, homeopathy, and the greatest power of all: the power of my mind to force out the notion that pain with purpose – labor -- is something to fear.

4) What if something goes wrong? Midwives are qualified to manage a variety of medical complications, and any good midwife knows when transport to a hospital is necessary (as occurred with my first birth). Midwives can stop hemorrhaging, midwives unwrap umbilical cords from around necks and torsos (as happened to my little bundle of joy), and midwives do not need electronic fetal monitors  to know the baby's heart rate, position in the birth canal, or when the next contraction is coming (any un-medicated mother will make that abundantly clear). If we stop viewing birth as an emergency waiting to happen -- it's NOT -- then we can stop imposing anxiety on women about birth. I hear many stories about women and babies dying in childbirth that are designed to make me doubt the power of the human body. I grieve for every woman and every child who has died in childbirth, but I honestly resent being encouraged to make decisions based on these stories. It's irrational, it's hysteria-inducing, and it's insulting to any woman's intuition and intelligence.

Our culture has instilled in us a fear of the natural experience of birth and a fear of our bodies. In countries where women are supported in their desire and ability for a natural birth (Northern Europe leads this charge), babies and mothers have the lowest mortality rates. Natural birth is not for hippies; it's for anyone who wants to work hard at breaking down what they have been told is true about birth, pain, and the human body and spirit.

Home birth is right for people who want to take natural birth to the next level: Let me birth in the place this baby was created. Let me labor on the floors I paced in anticipation, let me labor in the rooms of the house where I mused on sleepless nights what this moment would be like. Let me birth with the smells of the kitchen and the faint giggles of the boy who will be this child's buddy. Let me birth with music playing, with my grandfather's prayer books looking down on me, with my hair flowing, my inhibitions gone, the doors of my home flung wide open as if to say: I am open to this process, World. I was made to birth this baby!

TODAY Moms contributor Mayim Bialik starred in the early-1990s television show “Blossom” and currently appears on the CBS sitcom “The Big Bang Theory.” She earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA in 2007, and wrote her thesis on Prader-Willi syndrome. The spokesperson for the Holistic Moms Network and a certified lactation educator, Bialik is writing a book about attachment parenting, and she has two sons, Miles, 5, and Frederick, 2. She will be blogging regularly at TODAYMoms.com.

Want more Mayim? Read her blog at Kveller.com. 

"Like" TODAY Moms on Facebook, and follow us @TodayMoms

Every working mom learns how to juggle different identities, going from business meetings to bedtime negotiations, from high heels to sweat pants. Actress and mom Mayim Bialik writes about getting "glammed up" for her job, and discovering who she really is as a mom. Can you relate?

Denise Herrick Borchert

My current job involves being a professional person in show business who pretends to be Amy Farrah Fowler on "The Big Bang Theory." My job also includes social events, publicity gatherings and parties where my photograph will be taken and I have to look a certain way to be considered "appropriate" in my industry. This is a tall order by itself, but my added blessing and challenge is that I have two sons who act like a string; no matter where I go, I am connected to them and find them pulling me back to them all of the time, sometimes just in mind if not body.

I have three principle identities I assume.

Identity #1 is mom.It is the "me" I feel I am no matter what. So no matter what I am wearing or doing, underneath the make-up and the clothes is just Mayim the mom. Mayim who, in her spare moments at the Golden Globes party or in the bathroom at the Perez Hilton party, is remembering what she needs at the market and how she forgot to use that last avocado which is going to be rotten when her son Fred asks for it tomorrow. That's baseline Mayim.

Identity #2 is working Mayim.That's the me who goes to work dressed in a big-girl bra and make-up and high heels and has social time with adults after years of barely talking to adults except about nursing, pottying and nutrition. Working Mayim pumps every 2-3 hours and texts the husband to check in and make sure no one had a meltdown, and if they did, working Mayim wants all of the details, unless the meltdown is currently going on, in which case the husband texts "can't talk." Then that Mayim will sit and bite her nails wondering if this is going to be the meltdown that ends all meltdowns (it never is), while she sits in a tiny dressing room unable to do anything or hold anyone or nurse away tears. This Mayim has a picture of her boys in her wallet that she looks to when she pumps, and she keeps the notes that say in a 5-year-old's writing, "i know it [sic] boring when you work. i love you. i miss you mama."

Identity #3 is glamour Mayim.This is the Mayim that has to (gets to!?) wear foundation, lip liner, and cover up, not just the mascara, liner, and lip gloss that working Mayim can get away with. Glamour Mayim sometimes pays skilled professionals hundreds of dollars to create her "look." This Mayim chooses outfits for events based on whether she will be able to nurse in them. This Mayim chooses a purse based on whether she needs to bring the breast pump. This Mayim is the one who misses her boys most, because this Mayim feels farthest from her children. They know it, too: Fred will cry when he sees glamour mama's hair (usually, significantly different from the hairdos of baseline mama or working mama). Her other son Miles will remark that glamour mama smells different. Glamour Mayim looks pretty good; she is told "no one would think you have had two kids!" (as if "looking like you have had two kids" is a bad thing...). Glamour Mayim can't get down on her hands and knees to wipe up a missed pee from the floor, or use her sleeve to tend to a runny nose, or sweep a crying dirt-covered child into her arms if that is what is called for. Because it would mess up the dress, the hair, the make-up, and the nail polish just applied. Glamour Mayim is high maintenance, and that's just plain unusual to the children involved.

I think all mothers shift identities, especially if we work. The climate of your workplace will, to a large extent, determine how integrated you can be. At "The Big Bang Theory," I am the only cast member with children, so I feel very different. People are interested in my life, but I also know that Jim Parsons (who plays "Sheldon") may not be terribly interested in the details of Elimination Communication, the recent politics of our homeschooling group, or the protein concentration of Trader Joe's versus Whole Foods' whole wheat penne pasta noodles. I have found I need to gauge my audience when I share my mom identity. Sometimes it feels disappointing not to be able to talk about my kids all day, but this is where the challenge of re-integrating comes in. I no longer have an infant strapped to me who announces my identity. I am now Mayim again.

Mayim, with the children who are at home with their loving father. Mayim, who is working to make money to buy the things we need and the things we want. Mayim, who doesn't need to talk about her kids all day because it's not the time or the place; and they are a part of her heart forever whether she talks about them or not.

I try to transition gently when I leave the house on the mornings I work. I try to take a moment every day to tell my sons how much I truly love them. I look them in the eye. I let them break my gaze. I let them feel just a little bit uneasy about how much mama is in their face getting all emotional about loving them. They still are sad that I leave them, but they also get to feel connected with me, and that recharges everyone's battery.

"When will you be done working, not just for the summer, mama, but forever?" Miles asked me last week. I hesitated, because I had to consciously choose the "right" identity to answer. Working Mayim might have said how important it is to have money, and how this is simply my job and we should be grateful I have it. But baseline Mayim got to acknowledge that I am missed when I am gone. They miss the Mama who is notscrubbed clean and made up pretty. They miss the Mama who wears her grandmother's housedress and is not afraid to wipe up any spill, ever. They miss the Mama who wakes up Dada to help escort a cricket outside. They miss frustrated, overwhelmed, funny, silly, Lego-building, piano-playing, granola-making, sloppy, clumsy Mama.

The moments of being all of those things are what carry me through the other identities I take on. The connection to my sons is the most precious one I have been given on this planet, and the love I feel for them gets me to publicity events all dolled up, and it gets me to remember we are out of kale, and it gets me to smile confidently on the red carpet, and it gets me home as quick as I can, grateful for moments shared with adults at fancy events sipping cocktails and eating hors d'oeuvres, but missing the warm kisses and hot breath on my neck of the boys I have been given to raise into men.

This connection is the string that connects me to them and will forever. It is the string that tethers me to them, the reminder of who I really am: the baseline Mayim that is the only person I ever have to be -- fully, completely, faithfully, and lovingly.

Mayim Bialik starred in the early-1990s television show “Blossom” and currently appears on the CBS sitcom “The Big Bang Theory.” She earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA in 2007, and wrote her thesis on Prader-Willi syndrome. The spokesperson for the Holistic Moms Network and a certified lactation educator, Bialik is writing a book about attachment parenting, and she has two sons, Miles, 5, and Frederick, 2. She blogs regularly at TODAYMoms.com.

Want more Mayim? Read her blog at Kveller.com. 

"Like" TODAY Moms on Facebook, and follow us @TodayMoms

Two kids, no cribs... no problem? Sharing a bed with your kids isn't the norm in the U.S., but former "Blossom" actress Mayim Bialik explains how it works for her family -- and why she doesn't think it's so weird.

Denise Herrick Borchert

By Mayim Bialik, Ph.D., TODAY Moms contributor

We sleep with our two kids. They are 5 and 2, and I have never owned a crib or a bassinet. Our family bed consists of two futons on the floor side by side: one with black sheets, the other adorned with knights, castles and dragons. We don’t co-sleep, which means sleeping in the same room; we sleep in the same bed. That’s called bed-sharing.

I know some of you think it’s unsafe. I know some of you think it’s unhealthy. I know some of you think my spoiled, coddled kids will never outgrow it. And let’s just be brutally honest: I know you think it’s weird.

Unsafe. Sleeping with your children is not unsafe. It’s actually really safe and really smart: you know the condition of your child at any time at an arm’s length. There are well-established guidelines for how to sleep safely with your baby. When you sleep with your baby, you know if they are coughing, congested, starting to fuss, or if they’re too cold or too hot. A mother’s body is designed to adjust to help her newborn achieve optimal body temperature; talk about smart! Rolling onto a baby is an exaggerated fear that is not based on any research. It is not hard to make a bed safe for a baby. Either put it on the floor or get a bed rail to keep your little one from rolling out. So it looks ugly? Sorry. So does my tummy after two kids.

Unhealthy. Sleeping with your baby facilitates easier and less stressful breast-feeding, which is the healthiest thing you can do for your child in the first year of life. Sleeping with your baby stimulates hormones that encourage bonding, reduce anxiety and depression, and increase the chances that you will establish a strong supply of breast milk. The vigilance a new mother has for her baby is programmed into our DNA. Mammals sleep with other mammals; we are supposed to do it. You don’t sleep alone, why should babies and children?

Outgrowing it. Do you know any 18-year-olds sleeping with their parents? Nursing? Using a pacifier? Wearing a diaper? I didn’t think so. Early dependence on our parents for comfort, warmth, safety, and love at night, as well as in the day, is natural and normal. Children outgrow the “need” when they are developmentally ready to do so. There is no evidence that children who sleep with their parents are whiny, clingy, spoiled, or less able to become productive, sensitive and caring adults. On the contrary, families who sleep together report feelings of security, closeness and trust that I think our society could use more of.

Weird. There is nothing inherently weird or wrong about sleeping with your children. It feels good to cuddle, doesn’t it? Babies and kids think so, too. It’s NORMAL. Worried about your fantastic sex life taking a hit? Find other places to have sex besides your bed. End of story. If your kid kicks, get a bed attachment like the Arm's Reach co-sleeper. If you are such a light sleeper that you feel homicidal every morning, I am not going to tell you that you have to sleep with your kid. Do I sleep as well with my kids in our bed as I would without? No. But it will be over soon, and it’s not weird to want to be close to your children when their physiological and psychological development dictates that they need to be held close.

The Lowdown. We used to have one futon for me, my husband and baby No. 1. Then I got pregnant and we added the “big brother” futon where my husband and the soon-to-be “big brother” started sleeping. Invariably, when baby No. 2 arrived, I slept with both boys. The family bed is the great unifier: It’s the place we are all equal. Even when our first son’s role in the family shifted because of the newborn, when the sun went down, we were all equal in our one big bed. These days (and nights), my husband sleeps in the knights and castles bed with our older son, and I sleep with our younger son. A few nights a week, our older son bounces over to “my bed” and returns to my husband for morning cuddles as I nurse our younger son into the new day.

The moments we share in the dawn I would not give up for anything: the whispers, the giggles, the just-awakening dreams and musings of a very small person who is happy and safe in my arms. “Mama, I’m going to sleep with you even when I’m a teenager” was whispered to me before my eyes even popped open last week. I simply laughed; little does he know how undesirable that would be for all involved!

The moments we share after we recite the Jewish blessings of nighttime are also precious to us -- watching our boys go from awake and fiery to restful and angelic: asleep at last. I find myself gazing at those faces many times a night; a reminder that although my husband and I may not be perfect, the boys who carry our names might just be. And that’s a reminder that gives us comfort -- all night long.

Mayim Bialik starred in the early-1990s television show “Blossom” and currently appears on the CBS sitcom “The Big Bang Theory.” She earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA in 2007, and wrote her thesis on Prader-Willi syndrome. The spokesperson for the Holistic Moms Network and a certified lactation educator, Bialik is writing a book about attachment parenting, and she has two sons, Miles, 5, and Frederick, 2. She blogs regularly at TODAYMoms.com.

Want more Mayim? Read her blog at Kveller.com. 

"Like" TODAY Moms on Facebook, and follow us @TodayMoms

Former "Blossom" actress Mayim Bialik believes in allowing children to develop at their own pace, whether it comes to motor skills or manners. Here, she explains why. 

By Mayim Bialik, Ph.D., TODAY Moms contributor

Mayim Bialik starred in the TV show "Blossom," and went on to earn her Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA.

I’m not going to beat around the bush here. By current conventional standards both of my sons qualified for speech, occupational and physical therapy and I gave them none. Both walked at a ripe 17 months, my older son did not speak sentences until well after 3, my younger son, age 2, communicates exceedingly well with signs and gestures but has not uttered a two-word phrase or even an “appropriately” formed word. My boys were physically very cautious, shunning jumping, running, and even climbing long after their peers mastered them; and my younger son did not roll over unassisted until, wait for it: the day he turned one. He apparently has a weak set of core muscles that he now compensates for beautifully, without anyone noticing but me and my husband.

So why didn’t I send my children for assessment and therapy? For the same reason that I don’t tell them to say “please” or “thank you.” Confused yet? Don’t be. Barring outstanding medical concerns, I believe in letting children progress in their own way and pace, modeling behavior while respecting the innate development of a child as an autonomous and purposeful creature. I believe that children, like adults (and perhaps better than most adults?), generally know what works for them.

Although the “delays” my sons displayed can be markers for autism, autism-spectrum disorders or developmental delays, I trust my intuition and I trust our pediatrician. My husband and I knew there was nothing wrong with our older son, and I know there is nothing wrong with his little doppelganger. By the standards of whoever decided kids should do what when, my sons are truly “behind,” and I have been accused of being neglectful and selfish for not getting them therapy.

We have no daycare, pre-school or kindergarten standards to meet (we homeschool), no one to impress (we choose friends who support independent thinking or share it themselves) and we have nothing to be ashamed of (our parents have learned to back off and watch the results; thankfully, our boys have not disappointed them yet). My kids are fine. You may not think so, but you get to raise your kids and I get to raise mine.

Here are some other things I hate to force kids to do.

Share. I go nuts when I am at the park with my kids and parents hover over children, alternatively scolding them for not sharing toys with my kids and scolding my kids for not sharing with theirs. Here’s my deal: when my kid is done with that toy, they’ll give your kid a turn, and if your kid is not done with a toy, my kid can go ahead and wait, even if they throw the tantrum to end all tantrums about it. It’s my job as a parent to help them deal with disappointment and to distract them or offer alternatives in that situation. My husband and I learned this philosophy from an amazing educator who taught the “Parent & Me” classes we attended with our boys. She promised us that if we modeled sharing by focusing on the feelings a child exhibits when they want something desperately, our child would learn to share from the heart: instinctively, compassionately, generously. We thought she was crazy at first, but after hearing her repeatedly say to the children in our class, “I can see that Johnny really would like a turn on that rocking horse” and the like, all of the children eventually caught on and started to tune into the feelings of other people, rather than the nagging of an authority figure. Sometimes my sons won’t give up a prized possession, and that’s OK too. Not forcing sharing lets children know that they get to decide what they want, and adults don’t get to just step in and decide who gets what when.

Be Polite. In much the same way as we learned to model sharing, we model manners. Before our sons were old enough to do so spontaneously, my husband and I would say “water please” when our sons needed water, and we would say “thank you” when they got it. This taught them how society functions without us forcing it down their throats. As our sons got older, there were a handful of times when family members clearly expected a “thank you” for a gift, and I was very tempted to whisper, “Say thank you!” But we have stayed the course and our older son now remembers with just a gentle nod from us if he forgets. He is spontaneously authentic and he also knows the value of politeness, and that sounds about right for a 5 year old.

Excel. Just because a child can do something, it doesn’t mean they should. Yes, you can teach your 2 or 3 year old to recite alphabets, learn colors and shapes and songs and dances and poems by heart, but is this really what a child needs? I’m not saying it’s not fun to teach your children things, but if not for the standards of our dominant educational system, is there any inherent value in a child knowing colors as soon as possible? Or the alphabet song, for that matter? Childhood is so brief and so delicate. Letting children achieve on their own time frame and in their own way works for us. We feel that we are letting the true desires of our children develop. People are often shocked when they see what our children don’t know, but our sons are healthy, inquisitive, curious, fun, gentle, and thriving. That they don’t know Dora from SpongeBob seems inconsequential.

I have heard people say that those who force their kids to share, be polite, and excel on adult terms are really just creating children who are monkeys, imitating behavior without independently experiencing it or really understanding it. I don’t know if I agree, but I do know that families that don’t force these things have children who grow and develop at their own pace and they all turn out pretty much fine. It is my hope that my children will feel truly understood and safe in their skin, no matter how “delayed” their skin might be.

Yes, I am a bit cerebral about parenting. Maybe I should just chill out and go with the flow. Well, for a lot of reasons, from my childhood to my doctorate, I believe strongly in conscious, child-centered parenting. It doesn’t make me better than you, but it does make you need to wait for me on walks with our kids -- because I can guarantee you my kid’s not as fast a walker as yours. And that’s OK.

Mayim Bialik starred in the early-1990s television show “Blossom” and currently appears on the CBS sitcom “The Big Bang Theory.” She earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA in 2007, and wrote her thesis on Prader-Willi syndrome. The spokesperson for the Holistic Moms Network and a certified lactation educator, Bialik is writing a book about attachment parenting, and she has two sons, Miles, 5, and Frederick, 2. She will be blogging regularly at TODAYMoms.com.

Want more Mayim? Read her blog at Kveller.com. 

"Like" TODAY Moms on Facebook, and follow us @TodayMoms

By Mayim Bialik, Ph.D.

Denise Herrick Borchert

Mayim Bialik: Actress, neuroscientist, mom and now... TODAY Moms blogger!

I don’t like labels. In my 35 years, I have been labeled: short (until I no longer was), flat-chested (until I no longer was), “Blossom,” (OK, I am still labeled that even though I technically no longer am), and now: “Attachment Parent.”

I know what you’re thinking: AP parents are self-righteous, privileged, over-psychoanalyzed martyrs who (especially if they are celebrities) pretend to have the time, energy, patience and abundant love to be with their kids all the time without giving them any limits, boundaries or sense of independence.

Did I cover it all?

I am here to say that labels mean nothing. And to prove this to you, I am going to tell you about myself; no labels needed. I have been married for seven years to my college sweetheart. We had our first son in 2005, and I nursed him on demand around the clock for 26 months – no pacifiers, no bottles, no solids until 12 months. Son No. 2 was born in 2008 at home, unassisted until pushing. He is still nursing strong and on demand, day and night, at almost 2½.

This is not some fandangled new Hollywood trend. We parent the way people have parented for hundreds of thousands of years. So hang on to your hats and prepare for a view into my household.

Birth. I believe that natural childbirth is a right and a privilege. Countries where midwifery is the main form of obstetrics, and natural birth and homebirth are viewed as the norm, boast the lowest infant and maternal mortality rates in the world. Natural birth is not something to “try for” and feel bad you couldn’t do. Our country needs to step up to the plate in educating women about the benefits of natural birth, and we need to help women actually do it – not just hear about it.

We bed-share. Co-sleeping means sleeping close to your child. Bed-sharing means we all sleep on the same surface. We have two futon mattresses on the floor, since it’s the safest way to sleep for babies (there’s nowhere for them to fall if they are already on the floor!). It’s usually me and the little guy on one mattress and my husband and our 5-year-old on the other, although the 5-year-old bounces around throughout the night. Sometimes we all cuddle together when we wake up; it is something we never imagined we’d do until we had our first son, and it is intimate, fun, safe and beautiful.

Breast milk. It is a scientific fact that human breast milk is the best food, comfort and nourishment for human babies. Although there are rare cases when women’s bodies cannot produce enough milk, the human body is made to create and sustain a supply of milk to keep her baby alive. With the proper education, support and resources, almost all women should be able to build a strong milk supply and successfully breast-feed, barring rare genetic conditions.

If the baby fits…wear it! I wore my children in slings almost exclusively instead of using strollers. I tried a lot of slings until I found the one that fit my body and my lifestyle. I could go anywhere with my babies in a sling, nurse them and let them nap, instead of running home or driving them in a car to get them to sleep. Wearing our children facilitated nursing on demand and encouraged the emotional and physiological comfort that being close encourages. Our children were calm, content and secure when held close to my body and my husband’s.

We practice gentle discipline. That means we don’t hit our children or punish them. We have a lot of boundaries and expectations of our children, and we are by no means permissive parents. We do not use timeouts, we do not bargain (“If you clean your room, I’ll give you a cookie”) and we do not force manners on our children (“Say thank you!” and “Say please!” have never escaped my lips). Our children are not perfect, nor are they robots. They are both even-tempered children by nature, but they have plenty of opportunity to “act out” and “flip out” and “make mama wonder why she ever thought she was qualified to be a parent.” We have had great success with gentle discipline and our children are, by all accounts, full of empathy, aware of boundaries, and pleasant to take to public places.

I don’t need to use labels to tell you who I am and how I choose to raise my kids. I do not judge anyone, because that’s not what my job on this earth is. My job is to do my best for my kids: to be the best mama I can be to them.

The sisterhood and community of mothering and parenting has been lost because of how we have spread out geographically from our families of origin. The Internet has connected us in a way we never imagined, and in this way, I get to share with you what works for our little perfectly imperfect family. It may not work for you and your family, but I hope that it might let you see that some of us are doing our best in our own way; not because we think we’re better, but simply because it’s best for us.

Mayim Bialik starred in the early-1990s television show “Blossom” and currently appears on the CBS sitcom “The Big Bang Theory.” She earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA in 2007, and wrote her thesis on Prader-Willi syndrome. The spokesperson for the Holistic Moms Network and a certified lactation educator, Bialik is writing a book about attachment parenting, and she has two sons, Miles, 5, and Frederick, 2. She will be blogging regularly at TODAYMoms.com.

Want more Mayim? Read her impressions of the Golden Globes at Kveller.com. 

"Like" TODAY Moms on Facebook, and follow us @TodayMoms