What's the best way of learning more?

kellyrn9956 · August 2012

I would like to research a bit on attachment parenting, and decide what parts of this philosophy will fit with our lifestyle. Can you recommend your favorite resource?

Also, before I even get started, is it even possible to practice this method when both parents are working full-time outside of the home and baby is in day care?

alandals · August 2012

There is no checklist to follow for attachment parenting and it's absolutely possible with baby in daycare. You just have to be open with your day care provider about your philosophies and the way you do things with your child. It's your child, you make the rules for how they are cared for when out of your care. Generally, you do what works for your family and what you feel comfortable doing. Many families will co sleep/bed share, breastfeed on demand and beyond infancy, practice positive discipline, are opposed to cry-it-out. Many families also feel strongly about natural birth, babywearing, natural health, following a delayed or selective vaccine schedule or not vaccinating at all, and are anti-circumsision, among other things.

It's not to say, though, that if your do circumsize your son or if you don't wear your baby or do fully vaccinate that you can't be an attachment parent. You do what works for you.

A lot of the things I've always automatically done as a parent follow the attachment parenting style without ever having read anything about it. "The Baby Book" by Dr. Sears is a great resource as well as any of his other books.

I hope this has been helpful

sadsadie · August 2012

"The Baby Book" by Dr. William Sears; it's all you really need. And yes, attachment parenting is for everyone!

mesmom2011 · August 2012

sadsadie:

"The Baby Book" by Dr. William Sears; it's all you really need. And yes, attachment parenting is for everyone!

I love this book as well!

LadyAph · August 2012

AP is about responding to your child's needs in a way that works best for your family. It's definitely not an all or nothing approach.

Izybel18 · August 2012

The snapshot (according to Dr. Sears) is the seven B's: Birth bonding, Breastfeeding, Babywearing, Beware baby trainers, Bedding close to baby, Belief in baby's cries, and Balance. The book mentioned above is good but HUGE. If these 7 ideas sound appealing, check out his website. And lurk on this board

00jennifer00 · August 2012

www.askdrsears.com is a great resource, as are his books (I've read a few and given them to relatives, but I can't remember which titles). I had a little girl in my daycare several years ago whose parents were most definitely AP, despite both working ft.

LiteraryFoodie · August 2012

Hi Kellyrn!!!!

I learned soooooo much just from lurking on this board. Probably most importantly I learned that AP is not a set checklist of things you adhere to, but rather being intentional about being in tune with your child. AP can look different in each family.

I've found The Baby Book really helpful. Not only is it an extensive resource about caring for and what to expect with an infant, but I also like the perspective.

I also found Our Babies, Ourselves: How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Parent by Meredith Smalls to be incredibly eye-opening. The book is written by an anthropologist and she does (rather non-biased) cross cultural studies about parenting in different cultures from US, to African bushmen, to Japan. It was absolutely fascinating. For me, it really caused me to question the legitimacy of some of the parenting norms in American Culture because most of them are based on American values of "independence" and "self-sufficiency" rather than actual science about what is best for babies.