Hi, and welcome to my blog.
Its the first one ive written and boy did the page look big and empty for a while there!
Im not exactly sure where its going to go at this point, there will be some information, some chat and probably the odd rant or two.
Let us begin…
Hands up if you know what AP is?
Hands down if you were going to give me an exact list.
Theres a good deal of information on the net about what constitutes Attachment Parenting (AP) and it can get confused with the tools used to achieve the goal.
The goal is well attached children, and don’t get your knickers in a twist, i don’t mean sellotaped to your leg. It is a psychological term that basically means they are secure emotionally.
Not a good name though huh? It brings to mind clingy kids and soppy parents, but thats not AP. Well attached kids (emotionally – no sellotape) are happy to explore and move out into the world because they are confident they have a supportive base should they need it. All keeping in mind a childs natural personality. It will not make a quiet, reflective soul into an extrovert, but it will help her be confident in herself, to be comfortable in her own skin and explore the world in the way that is right for her.
There are several practices that are commonly used to achieve this: co-sleeping, baby wearing, breastfeeding being three but a more comprehensive list can be found here:
http://thenaturalparent.co.nz/community/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=20
This is not a checklist! Each family can, and should, pick and choose what is right for them. Thats where AP is different to the baby trainers (hiss!) out there. It is a premise that is backed by respected scientific principles, unlike the baby trainers (hiss!) who propound personal opinion as fact and have the sheer bloody nerve to make a mother doubt her abilities by making her think they know more about her children than she does. Children they have never met, who live in circumstances they have no understanding about.
Baby trainers? After three….one…two…three HISSSSSSS!!!!!!!
Well put
<3 <3 <3 AP!! Now to make it mainstream 
Thanks Chantal, that is my first reply to my first blog <3
Hiss!! Hiss!!! Hear hear!
Yay! Congratulations
thanks for the AP list too
Fantastic!
100% agree!! I have 4 children the youngest 10months & reading about attachment parenting (which until a few weeks ago had no idea what it was) I feel a sense of relief about my choices I made raising my kids when everyone else thought I was being way to ‘soft’ & needed to change. I will continue to do what feels right & natural & respond to my babies every need with love 
Thanks, Tree
Awesome… wish more of my friends understood!
Well done Nadine!
I know that when I was just a new parent, the attraction of baby trainers is that they give you potential solutions when you are positively clueless. Now, I am better educated, but I think that all “AP” parents need to remember not to judge those parents that follow some of that stuff – they’re only trying to get thru it, aren’t we all? The key is to educate without inducing guilt. I felt so much guilt in the beginning, and I didn’t even do anything heinously harsh. Sharing wonderful blogs such as this wherein AP is appropriately explained, and encouraging parents to listen to their instincts to choose their actions based on what is best for their family is paramount. Educating parents will change the world!
Wonderful first go Nadine!
very well put Dinnae, and you’re right, we are all in this together
my real issue is with the baby trainers, not the parents who use them, iykwim? we all want to do whats best for our children and these people prey on that. they purport to be experts when in fact they have little or no appropriate qualifications and their ‘methods’ are based on nothing but results, regardless of methods or consequences. science and studies do not support their use. there are exceptions but you know who I’m talking about
noone should criticize a parent for working hard to do well by their child. i agree with you, its about education, getting real facts out there. truthfully, before i had children i thought AP practices were ‘what hippies did’, and were not for the scientifically minded.
yep, i sure did a 180 there!
Well explained. I agree ‘attachment’ is not an ideal term – I read someone else’s misinformed blog that said it meant you’re not allowed to let your children walk to school by themselves until they are 18! I prefer to say gentle parenting.
gentle parenting sounds lovely anna <3
I would like my children to know they are always welcome to ask for help and as a child, waking in the night I remember knowing I wasn’t aloud to go to my parents for help.
I see attachment parenting as respecting the children’s wants and needs. Not necessarily giving in to every want and need, but at least understanding them. Often, I have not understood why my child has been clingy, crying and wakeful at night but a few days later I see the reason and it makes me feel better that I responded respectfully to their need at the time, no matter how tired I became from answering the call.
I love the Natural Parent magazine and share it far and wide whenever I can.
thanks joanna
i kn ow that feeling myself, when a little while after they become clingy you spot their tonsils and glands are up. i get the same feeling of relief x