By Cate Nelson •
July 1, 2009
Guilt. Augh, the guilt.
Many of us practice some form of natural parenting. Many of us choose breastmilk, cosleeping, babywearing, and whole foods for our babies and families.
But lately, I’ve noticed that something is lacking with a few vocal members of the attachment parenting community. Empathy. Yep, that’s putting yourself in another’s shoes.
You don’t have to agree. You don’t have to sanction. But it’d be nice if some APs would understand that it’s not as easy as popping a baby on a breast or in your bed. Life is not the same for everyone out there. Our experiences are different. Our reactions are different.
And until the Attachment Parenting community isolates the elitists, it will be hard to gain ground.
By Jennifer Lance •
June 9, 2009
A growing number of children are experiencing mental health issues like depression, anxiety, and aggression. Many experts this increase in is due to lack of “deep connectedness” to parents and the larger community.
Attachment parenting offers a solution, and the founders of Attachment Parenting International Barbara Nicholson and Lysa Parker have recently published a fantastic book on the subject backed by research.
Attached at the Heart: 8 Proven Parenting Principles for Raising Connected and Compassionate Children teaches parents:
· Important facts you need to know before and after having your baby
· Strategies to strengthen the emotional bonds with your child
· How to be a more conscious parent with your children
· New information to help you make informed decisions
· How raising our children with empathy and respect can positively affect society
No other parenting book is as comprehensive in its scope, from an overview of attachment theory and current child development research to practical strategies for everyday situations. Attached at the Heart is a vital blueprint for change that begins at home.
By Allison Wolff •
June 8, 2009
I’m alive!!!! I didn’t think I would make it, but I did!
Exhausted Mom by Halfmoon Jewelry, Flickr, under a Creative Commons license
I have an eleven month old little girl named Emerson who, in spite of the nurses at the hospital saying “you’ve got a sleeper”, turned out to not be much of a sleeper. There are worse stories, but mine is a good example of mixing mom’s intuition, dad’s motivation, and a great deal of research to figure out the best path to sanity.
Our Story
Month 1
Emerson started as a fairly typical baby. She slept for two hours at a time around the clock, waking only to latch on for her fill. I co-slept with her in our bed and my husband slept in an extra room so that he could get enough sleep to deal with life (don’t worry, we slipped nookie in here and there). She almost never cried the entire first month of her life. I thought the situation was quite blissful, particularly because I took the age old advice of “sleep when your baby sleeps” to heart. Clearly something in the mommy brain prepares us for waking up to feed a baby every two hours…but only up to a point.
I was really upset when I read this article from Consumer Reports – Five products not to buy for your baby! Along with Baby bath seats, Crib bumper pads and Sleep positioners were listed two products near and dear to advocates of attachment parenting: Co-sleepers and slings!
By Sean Daily •
April 9, 2009
GreenTalk Radio host Sean Daily talks about attachment and natural parenting concepts and resources with Attachment Parenting International (API) founders Barbara Nicholson and Lysa Parker, who also co-authored the upcoming book “Attached at the Heart”.
[Courtesy of our friends at [...]
By Julie Finn •
November 30, 2008
There’s a phenomenon in the blogging community that I like to refer to as The Artful Parent: in this blog, parenting and the booming DIY/handmade/arts and crafts movement interconnect. Both activities are discussed in equal measures, although the real emphasis is more, perhaps, on the status of both parenting and crafting as meaningful (if usually unpaid) work, the lessons that can be taught to and learned from children while crafting for and with them, and how creativity and inspiration are rewarding mindsets that can be taken from and brought to both parenting and crafting.
Most of these blogs also share a focus on the handmade over the store-bought; the use of natural, found, and/or recycled materials over brand-new and/or synthetic ones; and the act of parenting as a gentle, positive, attached life’s work. Here are a few of my favorites of these blogs:
By Derek Markham •
July 6, 2008
When my wife and I had our first baby, I wasn’t so sure about co-sleeping. I read about it in conjunction with attachment parenting, and the idea made sense to me, but the thought of an infant in the bed with us brought up a bunch of different issues. It turns out that most, if not all, of these issues were a result of paying too much attention to the media and not trusting our natural family instincts.
We’ve been co-sleeping with all of our children (not all at the same time- we have a one-out, one-in policy) for almost 11 years now, and I love it. However, I do get asked about it by new dads who are not quite sure that it’s safe or beneficial for the child. “Cloth diapers, I get. Breastfeeding makes sense. Babywearing could work for me. But having an infant in the bed with us? I don’t know…”
Here’s my take on co-sleeping issues.
Guilt. Augh, the guilt. 
