Why Attachment Parenting Works For Us

To hold or not to hold

I was wasting some time tonight surfing the internet and I found an article on Yahoo about outdated parenting advice. I agreed with most of it because it fell in line with the attachment parenting way of thinking. Then I read the comments.

Many people were up in arms because the article said you shouldn't let a young baby (under 4 months) Cry It Out (CIO), or put rice cereal in their bottle or let your baby sleep on their tummy because of the risk of SIDS or keep them on a strict feeding schedule. Their reasoning was they did those things and their kids were fine. And a big argument was that kids will be spoiled if you don't let them CIO and that the crying helps their lungs. I try not to criticize other people's parenting techniques, but I think CIO before 4 months is cruel because the baby doesn't know what's going on.

When I was pregnant with Emily we had no idea what we were going to do. All I knew is that I wanted to breastfeed, partly because it was free. Beyond that, I had no idea what we were going to do with this little being. We had a pack and play set up in our bedroom, since co-sleeping freaked me out. I got very little sleep for the first 6 months she was here. She slept slightly better after that but I don't think either of us slept through the night until she was a year and a half because I couldn't do CIO.

Now she's almost 3 and she sleeps through the night just fine. She isn't spoiled, can be away from mommy and daddy just fine, and she isn't picky with food at all. Now I think a lot of it is her personality but some of it comes from the attachment parenting. She knows that we will always come back for her and that we will soothe her if need be.

It's not for everyone but attachment parenting works for us and I think Emily is turning out just fine.

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