Attached at the Heart

I love to read. I also love to research topics I'm excited about. (See my gardening bookshelf for proof: need a book on lawncare, composting or propagation? Got 'em.) Getting pregnant was no different. I researched it. Drove my mom a little crazy, too:

"You don't plan children! You just have children!"

Sorry mom, access to affordable birth control says that I do get to plan children.

So I did.

I don't remember that any of those books mentioned the term Attachment Parenting back in 2001, but apparently that's what we were engaged in.

• Breastfeeding? Check!
  It wasn't easy and it was certainly painful in the beginning, but I did it because, for us, it was the right thing to do. It was also emotionally satisfying once we got past the breaking in period and the plugged ducts. Whew!
• Co-sleeping? Check!
  I couldn't bear to be separated from her and she from me in the first few months, so she slept on my chest. It also meant that she'd actually sleep so that's what we did. When the time was right, we moved her to a bassinet in our room and then to a crib in her own room. Ahhh!
  
• Babywearing? Check!
  While we didn't call it that, as our firstborn and the first grandchild, Caitlin was carried around a lot. It worked for us and it made her happy.
  

We worked our way through the other 5 Principles, using our instincts, advice from friends (What did you do when...?) and family and further research.

Caitlin turned out so well, in fact, that we decided to have one more. And then we had twins. Now we've started all over again.

This time, though, there are blogs and websites that offer helpful advice.


Attachment Parenting International (API), a non-profit organization that promotes parenting practices that create strong, healthy emotional bonds between children and their parents, has several exciting changes they would like to announce, including:

• A newly redesigned web site and new logo at Attachment Parenting.org;


• Attachment parenting worldwide support forums;


• Parent Education Program - a comprehensive series of classes for every stage and age of child development from infancy through adulthood;


• A new book based on API's Eight Principles of Attachment Parenting by API co-founders Lysa Parker and Barbara Nicholson which is expected to be available this summer;


• A series of podcasts, webinars, chats, and forums with API Advisory Board members and other supporters of AP. Future events are scheduled with Dr. Bob Sears, Dr. James McKenna, and Kathleen Kendall Tacket. Check out the events page for more information.

These are just a few of many exciting things going on at API. I hope you'll stop by and check it out for yourself.