Attachment Parenting. It’s something that I feel strongly about since discovering and learning all about it. I’m not a full AP parent. there are some things I missed out on doing due to medical issues and just not knowing. AP parents are parents who parent their children gentle. They generally don’t believe in cry it out, they co sleep, full term breast feed, gently discipline their children, say no to circumcision and baby wear. About 2 – 3 years ago I came across this kind of parenting and it really sat with me. I had been co-sleeping from when my son was 4 months old (He was hyperventilating and gasping for breath in his sleep. After a trip to a pead we found he was just dreaming!) I had many people telling me I needed to let him let him sleep n his own bed but he hated it. I tried letting him cry but I just couldn’t do it. He needed his mum. So I continued to co sleep. I loved it. We both slept 100 times betters and we still co-sleep to this day (and still we cop the critics now). I believe that when he is ready he will sleep in his own bed and he can sleep in there but it is just the 2 of us so I don’t see why we need to change. Unfortunately breast-feeding is something that I didn’t get to do and wish that I had the support to be able to give it a good try. We had issues from the start with breast-feeding. Addison was pretty badly tongue tied when he was born and while they snipped it they said that they weren’t too sure if they had done it enough. Because of this he could only get a feed off of one side as I had dodgy right side and it caused me a heap of stress. When I left the hospital I was determined to pump to try to get him to have breast milk but he was feeding every 2 – 3 hours and it would take him a while to feed so between pumping and feeding I wasn’t getting any sleep. So in the end I decided to switch to formula. While in the end I did formula feed I tried to keep his patterns as natural as possible. I still fed on demand and the way in which I held him was very much like he was being breast-fed. Due to back issues I couldn’t baby wear. I would have loved to though. Circumcision is something I strongly disagree with. Why would you cut off a piece of your child’s body with no antiseptic and most of the time just so they can look like their father. Even today many religions are saying there is no need to circumcise. Personally to me I think it is barbaric and unnecessary. Now gentle discipline is something that I cop a bit of flax for as well. I don’t smack my son. I don’t believe that it’s the right way to discipline him. Not to say that I haven’t smacked him. I have but it is only if he is in danger of hurting himself and it happens maybe a couple of times a year. For me I send Addison to his room until he is ready to say sorry. I get down on his level and explain to him what he has done and sometimes I take a couple of toys away until he can prove his behaviour has gotten better. This works for us. I am lucky Addison is a happy, healthy little boy who is generally well-behaved. There are heaps of websites out there and even community groups that encourage AP now days that you can search for information on. Some of my favourites include Sausage mama & the Sausagettes and Peaceful Parenting. Both have been great for learning all about AP check them out on Facebook!
Do you have kids? Have you done any of these things? What has worked for you as a parent?
Dazzlevine 