Just What is Attachment Parenting? - from The Nursing Baby

There is no one definition of attachment parenting which will be right for every mother/father and baby/child pair, but there are some ideas which help to foster attachment. Ideas such as nursing and practicing child-led weaning. Ideas such as sharing the family bed. Ideas such as wearing their babies and avoiding prolonged mother-baby separation.

Attachment parents generally share the philosophy that a need that is not met as a child is likely to cause problems as an adult. An attachment parent may feel that what one parent views as a healthy independence in a toddler could actually be a harmful show of detachment. Attachment parents often look for non-punitive methods of discipline.

An attachment parent feels that nursing and family bedding are not unhealthy habits which need to be broken, but signs of healthy parent/child bonding which should be nurtured and cherished for as long as all parties wish.

The term attachment parenting was coined by the pediatrician Dr. William Sears, author of a fabulous baby book entitled, The Baby Book. The ideas espoused by the doctor flowed out of his own experience with his eight children, and are well founded on many years of study of children. Some of these ideas originated earlier in the century by Dr. Bowlby's attachment studies.

Attachment parenting is, perhaps, the antithesis of accepted Western parenting techniques today. It is not, however, something new, but it is a style of close parenting which has been practiced successfully for thousands of years. It doesn't require cribs, bottles, formulas, baby mushes, strollers, or other parenting paraphernalia, it just requires one baby and mother, together, learning what life is all about.

These tips are not intended to be medical advice. Please consult your healthcare provider if you have questions.