attachment parenting

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2004
attachment parenting
1781
Mon, 08-14-2006 - 3:17pm

A woman I know (I used to work with her dh) practices "attachment parenting". Here is a definition (for those who don't know what it is):

"Attachment Parenting includes respecting your child's needs, feeding on demand, and answering your baby's cries. Other parts of Attachment Parenting include co-sleeping, nursing on demand, sling or other baby carrier wearing, and cloth diapering. Not all Attachment Parents practice all of the above, but never the less love the idea of Attachment Parenting and comforting their children.

Attachment parenting uses mild discipline methods and avoids all physical or emotional punishment, such as inflicting shame on a child for inappropriate behavior. Children are encouraged and allowed to sleep with their parents, and you treat your bed as the family bed. Meeting your child's needs according to the child's time frame during the early years of development is an essential part of attachment parenting. Children will be allowed to grow and learn at their own pace and not according to standard time frames."

What do you all think of attachment parenting?

I don't see attachment parenting as something a WOH parent could do, or could they? What do u think?

I am also curious to see if SAHPs vs/ WOHPs will have different opionions on this topic.

If anyone here practices attachment parenting - was your decision to do so closely linked with your decision to be a SAHP?

josee

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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-31-2005
Thu, 08-24-2006 - 1:53pm

"Why does that throw you for a loop? I am aware that popping a breast in a child's mouth will get them to be quiet, why is it so difficult to believe that other methods work just as quickly?"

We were at the emergency room last night and most of the babies were remarkably quiet. Some had bottles of formula, others had bottles of orange pop, but either seemed to work just as efficiently as nursing (and more efficiently than nursing for an overly modest mom like me who is reluctant to flash a roomful of bored and exhausted strangers).

I'm a big advocate of nursing (if not quite militant!) but after last night I'll certainly concede that bottles seem to be quite effective as comforting mechanisms. On the other hand, a hospital emergency room probably isn't the most sterile environment for bottles (which occasionally dropped on the floor, and the parents also weren't following the time guideline for using formula--one baby drank from an 8 oz. bottle of formula over a period of 6 hours).

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-04-1997
Thu, 08-24-2006 - 1:54pm
I really don't know what your children experienced while they were nursing. We could have had totally different nursing styles. Some babies, for instance, because their parents don't believe in it, are never nursed to sleep, or are not rocked while being nursed. So I don't know what the experience of nursing was like for you or your children. I do know that you have claimed that your children were never nursed for comfort. My children were -- they have experienced comfort WHILE NURSING. I'm sure yours did to a certain extent, because it's sort of biologically built in that they would, but you seem to have wanted to break that biological link early on. I'm not sure how you went about it.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 08-24-2006 - 1:55pm
But it's not even worth the effort to express any kind of mild wistfulness or regret to me (and I guess TM, too).

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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-04-1997
Thu, 08-24-2006 - 1:56pm
II'm not saying that at all. That's two other people, claiming they could *always* comfort their children within ten seconds, one a breast feeder and one a bottle feeder. I can't make that claim.
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-09-2006
Thu, 08-24-2006 - 1:58pm

Firstly, I hope that everything is okay, considering you spent awhile in the ER.

Secondly, do you mean a bottle of orange soda??? OMG

And lastly, did you have your eyes attuned to the parents of that child that drank from the same bottle for 6 hours?

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-04-1997
Thu, 08-24-2006 - 2:00pm
So why is it worth the effort to point out that it's not worth the effort?
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 08-24-2006 - 2:08pm
I'm just reacting to your general attitude about BF.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-26-2006
Thu, 08-24-2006 - 2:14pm
I have no doubt when my children nursed they were comforted. They would be crying because they were hungry so when they started to eat they were comforted in the sense of not being hungry anymore. However I didn't nurse my babies to sleep. If they fell asleep nursing great, however if they didn't I laid them down and they knew how to go to sleep on their own.
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-04-1997
Thu, 08-24-2006 - 2:17pm
You are reacting to my general attitude toward breastfeeding by pointing out that some of the things I think about are things that you don't think are worth thinking about? If so, thanks for sharing. I guess. If not, I guess I'm just really confused.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 08-24-2006 - 2:20pm
I think I would rather avoid all drug laced food for my infant...LOL..
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