The Attachment Parenting Book
When I had doubts about co-sleeping, I decided to research the natural parenting method recommended by Dr. William Sears and Martha Sears, in the attachment parenting book, a couple who as far as I understand, has raised a dozen children at home. They are essentially stating things we already know deep down inside. “Meet your child’s real needs, you may feel much better about it than using method A or B.”
The important components of this method are breastfeeding, co-sleeping, baby wearing, and bonding during childbirth. They also advise against following people and methods that suggest letting the baby cry without attending to their needs, saying things like “let them cry,” “get them used to it,” or “let them get used to the routine, it’s not time for feeding yet.” This method emphasizes bonding greatly. Of course, bonding during childbirth, breastfeeding, and co-sleeping are crucial for bonding. They also argue against actions that would damage bonding, such as ignoring the child when they cry.
Breastfeeding in The Attachment Parenting Book
I personally only disagree regarding breastfeeding. I believe it’s not wrong to wean a child off breast milk around the age of 2 since the sucking reflex decreases by then. Otherwise, if the child is allowed to breastfeed whenever they want, they won’t stop because they’ve been accustomed to it since birth. This way, they will also consume more from other foods. Another point is that I didn’t carry the child in a sling constantly; I held them in my arms all the time. When I was worried about the baby falling from the sling, I realized, what’s the point of the sling if I have to hold onto it while the child is in it? So, in my opinion, the sling is not really essential.
When you attend to the child’s needs as soon as they cry, the child truly becomes a calm child who doesn’t cry. As you respond to the child’s cries, you gradually start to understand the child’s needs better as a parent. Then you become so sensitive to their crying that you meet their needs before they even cry, so the child doesn’t even cry anymore.
Here is the book : Amazon link
Translated from here