Attachment Parenting
Looking into Attachment Parenting
We are expecting our first and I love the idea of baby wearing, and plan on doing it. But I also understand that attachment parenting is more than just baby wearing.
I am wondering what kind of things have you ladies done that have helped parent, and things that did not work at all!
We are planning on co-sleeping for a few months, and breastfeeding also. I am also considering going back to work as a part time nanny after LO arrives.
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Re: Looking into Attachment Parenting
The thing about being a new mom is you kind of just do what works, and you can't really anticipate what that will be.
If AP interests you, read some of the Sears books ("The Baby Book" is a good general one). Dr. James McKenna has a good co-sleeping book. I like "The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding" for bfing.
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I think of AP as being responsive to the child's needs. Most parents do this naturally. If you don't want to hear your child crying, you will pick him up, rock, sway, feed, etc.
I had a really "hands off" baby. He didn't really like to be held. He was much happier on the floor on his activity mat. He was crawling by 5 months and walking at 8 months. He couldn't nurse, but I was able to EP for 6 months and we always held him for feedings and let him self wean from that at 14 months. I wanted to cosleep, but from 3 months on, he couldn't sleep if we were in bed with him, and we finally moved him to his own room at 7 months. We also sleep trained at 7 months, because no amount of swaying, rocking, feeding, or cuddling got him to sleep and it was just unhealthy for him to be sleeping so little every night. Of course, we are still responsive if he wakes up during the night or is having trouble sleeping due to pain, illness, or fear. When we switched to a twin bed a couple weeks ago he was terrified, so I ended up sleeping in the room with him for a night so he could get used to it. Even though we sleep trained, there was no way I was going to leave my baby screaming in terror for more than the few seconds it took for me to close the door and open it back up again.
Anyway, we had intended on being AP and while we weren't in the traditional sense, I still consider us to be since we were just doing what came naturally to us with the child that we were given. He needed his space, but I made sure to always be there for him when he needed me, as well, which is what AP is all about, I think.
I guess my point is that you can prepare yourself for a particular parenting style but you also need to keep your mind open and parent your child the way they need to be parented. I had a really hard time accepting that I was not failing my son by giving up things that I had intended to do.