Life with Baby

Many people don’t understand my parenting style. Well, mostly my mom doesn’t understand. I have been trying to follow the principles of attachment parenting. If you aren’t sure what that is, Dr. Sears has a great list of what attachment parenting consists of .

To me, attachment parenting means responding to my child’s needs and doing what feels right to me as the parent. I take other people’s advice with a grain of salt and just continue to do what works best for us as a family. I have had much success so far with babywearing - my baby loves being close to me. And I don’t see the virtue of letting my baby cry and not be consoled. If he cries, he gets his needs met (insofar as I can discern what those needs are!). If I can’t tell what he needs, at least he knows that I’m there and that I care.

Most of the time, I’ve found that what he needs is to go to sleep. He is always tired! And letting him sleep more has been helpful for me as well.

Anyway, my baby is only a baby one time. I try to remember that when I feel smothered, or tired, or ready to pack my bags and go on vacation by myself. I have just this once to enjoy all his little smiles, his cuddles, and the silly coos and faces he makes.  I want to spend as much time as I can loving him and being with him. The time will come very quickly when he won’t even want me around anymore.

Until I became a parent, I had no idea what it would be like, and yet I distinctly remember giving my sister advice. Some of it wasn’t that great, either. I really hope she didn’t listen to me and did her own thing instead!

I guess what I’m saying is that if you are a parent, listen to your heart, not to the books on parenting. Nobody can know and love your baby like you can. So while there is some good advice to be gleaned from many sources, it’s ultimately up to us as parents to make our parenting decisions.