''Mothering'' magazine was a magazine published from 1976 to 2011. Its tagline was "the magazine of natural family living" and it had a printed circulation of 100,000. The magazine was located in southern Colorado from 1976 to 1978, in Albuquerque, New Mexico from 1978 to 1984 and in Santa Fe, New Mexico from 1984 to 2011.

History

''Mothering'' was founded by Adeline Eavenson (now Cranson) in Ridgeway, Colorado in 1976. In 1980, the magazine was sold to Peggy O'Mara and John McMahon. In 1990, Peggy O'Mara became the sole owner of ''Mothering'' and was its editor and publisher until 2011. The November–December 2010 issue was the last printed issue of ''Mothering''. The last issue of ''Mothering'' magazine was the March–April 2011 issue.

Content

The magazine covered alternative childbirth options, and advocated

breastfeeding Breastfeeding, or nursing, is the process by which human breast milk is fed to a child. Breast milk may be from the breast, or may be expressed by hand or pumped and fed to the infant. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that bre ...

alternative education Alternative education encompasses many pedagogical approaches differing from mainstream pedagogy. Such alternative learning environments may be found within state, charter, and independent schools as well as home-based learning environments. ...

homeschooling Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education (EHE), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or an onlin ...

, co-sleeping and open discussion about the risks and benefits of vaccination. Journalist Emily Bazelon, who writes about women, family, and legal issues, described the magazine as "my own barometer of granola parenting gone too far". In 2006, ''Mothering'' sponsored a contest that solicited artwork to create an international symbol for breastfeeding. The winning design, chosen from more than 500 entries, was announced in November 2006. In 2001, ''Mothering'' featured a cover story about

AIDS denialist HIV/AIDS denialism is the belief, despite conclusive evidence to the contrary, that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) does not cause acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Some of its proponents reject the existence of HIV, while oth ...

and HIV+ mother,

Christine Maggiore Christine Joy Maggiore (July 25, 1956 – December 27, 2008) was an HIV-positive activist and promoter of HIV/AIDS denialism. She was the founder of Alive & Well AIDS Alternatives, an organization which disputes the link between HIV and AIDS and ur ...

, who was pregnant with her daughter at the time and refused to take any anti-HIV drugs to protect her unborn daughter from becoming infected with HIV. Maggiore's daughter caught HIV from her mother and died at the age of 3 from

AIDS-related complications Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...

; Maggiore herself died six years later.

Publications

''Mothering'' has published books through a division of

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publi ...

: *''Mothering Magazine's Having a Baby, Naturally: The Mothering Magazine Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth'', Peggy O'Mara. Atria publishing (2003) *''Natural Family Living: The Mothering Magazine Guide to Parenting'', Peggy O'Mara. Atria publishing (2000)

Web presence

Peggy O'Mara founded mothering.com in 1995 and the ''Mothering'' Forums in 1996. By 2011, mothering.com had 1.5 million unique visitors each month and was the largest online forum for parents. In July 2011, O'Mara sold mothering.com, to Huddler (Collacomm, Inc) to pay print magazine debts that had accumulated during the Great Recession. Huddler subsequently sold mothering.com to Vertical Scope in Toronto, Canada. Mothering.com has not been associated with ''Mothering'' magazine since 2011.

References

External links

* {{official website, http://mothering.com/
''Mothering'' magazine: Peddling dangerous health misinformation to new mothers
Bimonthly magazines published in the United States Online magazines published in the United States Defunct women's magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1976 Magazines disestablished in 2011 Magazines published in New Mexico Mass media in Santa Fe, New Mexico Motherhood Online magazines with defunct print editions Parenting magazines