oops
Printable View
oops
I'm Anne, married to Chip. Our son, Benjamin was born on January 9, 2005. I'm staying home with Benjamin, and it is absolutely wonderful to be able to be with him all day. :-) My husband and I had talked and read about attachment parenting a lot before Benjamin was born. It was very clear to us that this was the way we wanted to parent our child!
We co-sleep and are planning on continuing to do so until Benjamin decides he wants to sleep in his own room. He does nap in his bed there sometimes, (when he naps, which is rarely these days!) but he really likes having us right next to him at night. When he wakes up in the morning he always smiles at us with the sweetest smile, and it is just the best thing in the world.
We wore him as constantly as we possibly could when he was an infant, and we have always used either a sling or a Snugli type carrier when we were going places with him on foot. (I think there might still be a stroller somewhere in our basement, but I only ever used it (unsuccessfully!) once when he was a few months old.) He is a very cuddly kid, and he really likes to be in contact with a parent when he isn't off exploring the world.
And then there is the difficult part of parenting Benjamin. I have been pumping milk for him ever since he was three days old and got scarily dehydrated with quite a fever. All the lactation consultants I worked with when he was a tiny baby were unable to get him to nurse, and I kept being told it by professionals I was dealing with that he just couldn't nurse. I now believe that this wasn't true (and am still really working through a lot of resentment at what I think was bad advice about his potential to nurse).
A really wonderful La Leche League leader helped me a bunch when he was five months old, but I was never able to get him to nurse more than a few times. Now that he is older I am hoping to see if he will be willing to try again. If not, I am planning on pumping milk for him until I just can't force my body to produce any more milk for the pump. It was *really* important to me to nurse my child as long as he wanted, partially for the psychological benefits but also because he has a lot of digestive problems (as does a lot of my family), and I really want him to have all the physical benefits of human milk for absolutely as long as possible. We have tried to make feeding him pumped milk as much of a bonding thing as we can, and I am really adamant that he be allowed to self-wean when *he* is ready.
And this is rather a novel. I guess I had a lot to say! :-)
Cool! now i know what i hae done inspite of all the flack i had to hear from family, friends and well meaning people.
I bf all my children, only #1 was stopped early because of meds i had to take and an op. I swore never to let that happen agian. I cloth diapered them all and bf till they quit and co sleeeping just came with that. #2 quite when he was 3, #3 quit when she was 2 1/2(she wouldnt tandem), my milfk tasted funny, #4 quit one month before #5 came. And #5 went to 3 1/2.
Beleive me i got alot of flack(this was in 1982-1994) for all of it, but when i look at my 3 girls and how they became, strong minded independant and caring, inspite of thier abusive dad, I am glad i was so stubborn to AP.
Actually i think that is why all my nieces and nephews complain that i spoil thier babies. AP is just my way.
And if i get pg again I will do the same again.
loveya
I'm Susanna, married to Simon in April of 2006. We welcomed our little high-needs bundle of joy into the world in June 2007, and have been AP ever since.
I never knew I would parent this way, I was the typical American, horrified at the thought of co-sleeping (which we now do), thinking you could spoil a baby (never!), and kinda weirded out by BFing (still going strong at almost 6 months - no end in sight). But once I saw my baby, I followed my heart and my instincts and haven't looked back.
I never really needed this board up until now, when you have a newborn, people overlook your parenting style and chalk it up to you being a nervous new mom. But now that he's getting older, people are questioning me, reprimanding me and throwing unasked for advice around incessantly.
So I've decided I need to talk to people who understand me, my philosophies, and my parenting. Thank you all for being able to look past the mainstream, contemporary parenting ideas and see your children for who the really are. I look forward to getting to know you all!
Hi Everyone - My name is Jackie I am 30 years old, and I am married to Chris who is 32. We have a BEAUTIFUL son name Joseph, 5 months!
No one has been on this thread for almost 2 years. But i am glad I found this board. I never heard the term Attachment Parenting until he was about 1 month old and i finally got around to reading Dr. Sears baby book. It fits me to a T!
my DH was against co-sleeping and i was for it before our son came - but once he saw our beautiful boy we both wanted him in the bed with us. We also EBF and have been going strong for 5 months now and I only plan on stopping when he is ready. I love wearing him in the Moby wrap and agree with Dr. Sears that children should be worn not pushed in a stroller (though I do use a streoller when I go clothes shopping and have to try on clothes). I also began making my own baby food about one month ago and I feel it eases the transition from BF'd to solids (for me) if I was able to make it myself and know for sure what is in the food.
The only thing I don't really do is cloth diapering....
Hello ALL!!!!
Hello everyone, I'm Jasmine. I'm a relatively-new Mama to Laszlo, aged 3 months and partner to Warren (who is much older than 3 months). I've very recently begun working full time as a technical writer.
We attachment parent because it is a method of parenting that just fits for us. I'm also interested in a personal level in permaculture, ancestral diets, "natural" exercise and minimalist hygiene methods. Attachment parenting fits with my philosophies and it fits for my family.
I'm really hopeful that this board will "take off." I can't wait to talk about reconciling attachment parenting with working full time and get to know you all a little better!