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: 06-30-2006
Fri, 08-18-2006 - 12:38pm

What's "perfectly designed for the human body" may no longer apply.

Sabina

Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,

Avatar for myshkamouse
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 08-18-2006 - 12:50pm

Wow you have a totally different philosophy on this than I. Food is what fuels our bodies; it can be nurturing; wonderfully tasty; and healthy (or really unhealthy). I take a great amount of time and effort deciding what to feed my family. We order organic fruits and veggies from a local farm and eat what is in season/fresh. I order organic meats so as to avoid all the chemicals and other nasties that can be in commercial grade meats and dairy products. The list goes on. Food matters. Not as much as the time with the family, but I care a great deal about what I feed them.

So you'd just as likely serve McDonalds or take away pizza?

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-02-2006
Fri, 08-18-2006 - 1:07pm
How exactly would you go about increasing pumping abilities? I had to for pump for awhile with my first DS as he was early and I never got more than a 1 to 2 oz per session. I had to pump every hour just to keep up with his needs. Do you think pumping every hour for 10-15 miutes would have been worth rtw when I was happy SAH anyway? Do you think an emplyer would allow that if I had wanted to try it? Plus nursing, for me at any rate, is about more than just providing BM.
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-04-1997
Fri, 08-18-2006 - 1:12pm
I can't for the life of me remember when we started the kids on milk, but I know they started with 2%. One of my kids, like me, is semi-lactose intolerant, so he has never drunk much fluid milk. He can handle cheese and yogurt, but if he has a lot of fluid cow's milk, particularly on an empty stomach, he's miserable for awhile. People aound him aren't particulary happy, either....
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-04-1997
Fri, 08-18-2006 - 1:18pm
I don't know how you'd prevent the association anyway. Even in the neonatal period, a baby feels miserable when hungry and comfortable when full. Remember that lovely contented "milk drunk" look on newborns? Who in her right mind would want to prevent a baby from associating food with comfort? Like anything, food can be over-used, or used to fill the wrong needs, but why in heaven's name would anybody want to break the biological link between food and comfort in human beings?
Avatar for mommy2amani
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 08-18-2006 - 1:20pm

Which foods would you suggest an infant consume that would replace the ingredients found in breast milk that are not available in formula? I'm not suggesting that you can look at a child and know they were formula fed due to some obvious difference, but I am saying that children who are formula fed are sick more often or to a greater degree than their breast fed counterparts. This doesn't mean that all formula fed children are sick all the time, as genetics play a very big role, as does environment. Sure, you can pay close attention to diet, but a formula fed baby whose parents pay close attention to diet is still not as well off as a he would have been if he was nursed and his parents paid close attention to his diet.

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-04-1997
Fri, 08-18-2006 - 1:21pm
That's assuming you can get your neglectful mother to mix the can according to directions. Or not mix in a little brandy to help with teething. This argument is getting silly.
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-04-1997
Fri, 08-18-2006 - 1:24pm
Why do you think the human body was designed to die by age 40?
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-31-2005
Fri, 08-18-2006 - 1:32pm

"Not in about 8 years but you have to trust the mother is a conscientious human being who watches everything she puts in her mouth and that's not always the case in many parts of this country. So, therefore those babies would be better off on formula."

Why would a nursing mother have to watch everything she puts in her mouth? Even in countries where nutrition is inadequate, the World Health Organization recommends that mothers nurse their babies for at least two years--so the babies DO get adequate nutrition.

I don't think it takes a "conscientious human being" to avoid drugs like cocaine and PCP, or to make sure any medications they take are compatible with nursing, just as a pregnant woman is only using common sense to follow her ObGyn's guidelines on medication. Are you going to tell women they shouldn't get pregnant because a few people are stupid enough to take drugs that risk their baby's health? And, not all drugs that are dangerous while pregnant (like nicotine) are dangerous to a nursing baby. Of course you want to check on the status of an OTC or prescription drug before popping a pill. That's common sense.

http://www.kellymom.com/health/lifestyle/smoking.html

Avatar for mommy2amani
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 08-18-2006 - 1:35pm

Exactly! Because the baby will get what the baby needs first, and the mother gets what's left.

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