Most of us have probably heard about or seen the controversial “Time” magazine cover, in which a mother is breastfeeding her 3 year old son. It has sparked a lot of debate about not only the image displayed on its cover but the idea behind “attachment parenting.”
Some of the methods used in attachment parenting include breastfeeding into their toddler years, “wearing” your baby, sleeping with or close to your baby, and responding to your baby whenever they cry. Now I am not one to judge, as every parent has to do what they feel is best.
Some doctors believe that children thrive more when they are parented this way, not only in their physical health but emotionally as well. Well I don’t know of any hard fast studies on this but I do know it can leave a lot of parents feeling very guilty.
In fact, one of the controversies being stirred up is that working moms are left to feel bad when they aren’t able to parent in this way. While I can certainly understand why this could happen, I honestly don’t believe it is something to get stirred up about.
In fact, I don’t think it has anything to do with whether or not you work from home. It has to do with parenting methods which are clearly different from one person to the next.
For instance, take breastfeeding. I did this with my children but I personally felt that by the
time they were a year old, they should be weaned.
Then there is the issue of “wearing” your baby. I think the only child that ended up in a sling was my last. That’s because when he was born I had a 2 and 5 year old. I needed free hands.
As far as sleeping with or close to your baby, I admit we did that with our first but that was out of necessity. If we wanted to get any sleep, it was the only option.
I never slept with my second child because she was a great sleeper. But with my third, I did end up keeping him in bed with me most of the time because it was easier to breastfeed him that way.
Then there is the whole responding to your baby every time they cry. If I had done that with my oldest, I would have been responding every second of the day. He was an ornery baby, never diagnosed with colic but I am convinced he had it.
And by the time I had my third, there was no possible way I could respond to every cry with two other children under my feet. None of my choices are reflective of whether I stayed home or worked. They were based on the circumstances I was in and my parenting style.
What about you…have you been made to feel guilty about attachment parenting? Or do you feel it isn’t worth giving any thought to?
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Photo by anthrovik in Flickr