Monday, May 16, 2011

Parenting - input wanted

Moms: I've been pondering different types of parenting of newborns. If you are an attachment parent, baby wearer, co-sleeper (or any other type of parent), tell me what you do and the reason you do it. No judgements here, I promise. :-) I love to see your comments!!


Side note - Look how big my 'babies' are getting.

7 comments:

  1. I am AP and "crunchy". Cloth diapers, babywearing, nursing on demand and co-sleeping are all done at this house. I sleep better, hear a lot less crying and have not had supply issues with either kiddo. Babywearing is very helpful and if you can find a carrier to nurse in, you can even nurse while buying groceries ;). It really helps with multi-tasking, and allows you to keep playing with the littlest one with little disruption.
    Co-sleeping isn't always bed sharing and there are all sorts of ways to increase the ease of parenting at night. Nursing at night gives super rich milk to the baby and many moms can go back to sleep while baby is still nursing.
    Here is one of my favorite links on night time parenting from a sleep lab out of Notre Dame.
    http://nd.edu/~jmckenn1/lab/
    In the end, I AP because my first was HIGH NEEDS and hate hearing my babies cry. When the first has colic you run from anything that tells you to let them cry it out, cause you already got a bunch of that to begin with.

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  2. I don't know what my parenting style would be called. When he was hungry, I fed him, when he was tired, he took a nap. I didn't do a "schedule" but his eating and sleeping was regular on its own. When he was sad, I held him. I coslept for 6 months because I liked it. When he and I got tired of it we stopped and I pretty much let him pick his schedule for starting and stopping things. For example, he weened himself. When I tried to do it, like most things, and he wasn't ready, it was just a pointless struggle. I have found that everything happens eventually so I don't push it. It works for us! :)

    Heather

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  3. I raised twin boys. I had to employ some rigid parenting techniques. Any crying, took them outside so they didn't bother their brother and sisters. Fed them twice a day - maybe, usually just one big meal and whatever fell off of the dinner table. As far as sleeping went, I put them in a cage together all night. If they howled long enough, I'd let them outside till the morning - the cold fixed that pretty quick. We played together a lot, but they seemed to have an oral fixation with chewing. They love me now, and we are a happily adjusted person/dog family ;-)

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  4. Love it Wes!!! Just Me

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  5. Amy, you might like Attachment Parenting by K. Granju and Magical Child by J.C. Pearce

    I can't imagine having had any other kind of relationship with my kids. It's the most satisfying in every way.

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  6. If you chose to Attachment Parent, what was your motivation and end result desired?

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  7. Hi Amy!
    I'm a laid-back momma. Babies are resilient, and I really like both the bonding times and the leave-the-baby-with-someone-else times. You know I love James and Dorie like crazy, I couldn't handle having my babies tied to me very long (the bouncy seat was my best friend) and Ethan was the one who took care of them at night, but, that said, my little boy is now fairly clingy and now I often put him in a backpack so that I can get work done.
    I think the main thing is to relax and not worry. Listen to all the opinionated voices in your life with gratefulness and then just be the mother you were created to be without any guilt whatsoever. (Isn't it something how the subject of caring for babies can get everyone's undies in a wad?! Even my opinion of "just be chill" is pretty strongly held!)
    Miss you; have a fun week!

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