How Do We Become Attachment Parents?
I am so thrilled to have found this forum (thank you C for
inviting me to join after our phone call) and already look forward to checking in!
I live in the 20th, by the way, so not far from the 19th. Great to know there are some of you nearby. I am planning to come to the singing event in the cafe this Friday too so I really look forward to meeting you there R.
I have been thinking much today about what you asked/wrote, C, about why/how I got into attachment parenting (I think I understood that correctly) and leading on from that how come some of us parents can't imagine anything else but parenting this way and so many others parent their children so differently? I don't believe in thinking there is any ONE right or wrong way to do anything in life, but when it comes to parenting it is hard for me to feel parenting in a non-attachment way can be right. I guess mostly that feeling in me comes from watching, tuning into, feeling with my daughter A.. trying to imagine what she is feeling and going through.
But there is more to it than that, isn't there? How does one become an attachment parent? I guess each of us have a different story and
there is no one answer to this question...
I think for me it has been the combination of my own childhood, my work with children, my reading during pregnancy, a friend who co-sleeps with her children, a great lactation consultant but most importantly.... yes, it is really that that matters I think, most importantly listening to my babies needs. We bought a bedside cot but never used it because our tiny newborn premmie could not sleep anywhere but right next to my breast - and it felt absolutely right for her to be there and absolutely wrong for her to be in the cot. And she needed to breastfeed almost constantly for the first 4 months and nothing else made sense either. And she was always in our arms or a sling (we used a sling until she was 8 months when my back started to hurt too much and she began to sleep in her buggy, but I was sad to stop carrying her and am very interested in the sling you mentioned C.) I didn't find a network like this in London, by the way, but was lucky enough to have two friends with children who shared our values. I found though that the older A is getting the more attachment parents differ from others and the more important like-minded friends become.
Because it can be so strenuous at times too and sometimes you just
need to be understood and share. I guess that's what I am doing as I ramble on... sorry, we had a bit of a bummer day as A is cutting her canines and is really suffering.
Breastfeeding seems the only real relief and she fed most of the day and I am so glad she has this only it is very tiring too. I'm sureyou understand...
I loved the breastfeeding links by the way, what a relief to see REAL living feeding streching breasts (I was getting a bit worried mine were the only ones that don't look like the images we're used too!!)
Goodnite for now,
xx S.B.
Welcome to the anglophone natural parenting community in France
Beyond Breastfeeding.
The ANPA was created in response to a growing demand for an alternative to parenting organisations and “experts” that encourage artificial feeding, artificial nipples, parent-child separation, vaccines and letting babies cry it out alone, commonly know as “sleep training” and other common trends in parenting practices. We have a forum that is for discerning parents. It is for parents whose babies and children’s and consequentially the family’s well being is priority. The parents on our forum believe that being in contact with like-minded parents is part of the network that promotes conscious, educated parenting.
Our parenting choices are based on the golden standard of real milk, the human kind, and our support extends to parents who share the same standards and want to go beyond. We welcome breastfeeding mothers or mothers who have breastfed until their children wean from the the breast naturally. We believe that offering our breasts as sexual objects is a personal choice, and every woman's right. (not to mention fun) but that feeding babies with breasts is not a question of choice, but of making a stand against the power of marketing over ignorance and isolation. If you think you "can't" breastfeed or "couldn't" please see www.allaitementpourtous.com or any qualified IBCLC or an LLL leader.
This website offers a very small selection of documents and testimonies that are available on the forum PLUS a photo gallerie offering a glimpse into our lives as active parents, free, independant of bottles, (except the champagne kind of course) push chairs, cots, painful front packs and lots more of the expensive equipment that we used to think we needed to be happy parents.
Lots of us have had serious breastfeeding problems, so some of us have a lot of experience with the breast pump kind of equipment, that sometimes is necessary to save a compromised breastfeeding process. (its a bit of a paradox, but we consider the breast pump equipment an investment towards future freedom)
On the forum you will find more documents, and testimonies that can be useful to many stages of parenting, from pregnancy and giving birth to child education.
In our forum you will find real support, with attachment parents, backed by research based information. We know we are definitely the minority in our parenting standards. We know that our parenting choices can trigger guilty feelings, hostility or even aggression from parents, organisations or “experts” that don’t have the same values or education so we recognise that support in our choices is vital to our strength and well being as individual parents and families.
Although there are no rules to natural parenting, there are concepts that we all agree on that are mentioned in the ANPA charter.
To be sure the ANPA is for you, you may ask for a downloadable copy of the charter/quesionnaire. If you do agree with our basic philosophie, please fill it in and send it to astharte@gmail.com
The 25€ annual membership is payable by cheque or paypal. A year's membership, gives you access to the forum, the lending library, the open house dates, meetings, brunch dates, and all the information and support that comes with it.
If you have any questions you can contact ANPAinFrance@gmail.com
All the best to you and your family, and welcome among us.
ANPA members
The ANPA was created in response to a growing demand for an alternative to parenting organisations and “experts” that encourage artificial feeding, artificial nipples, parent-child separation, vaccines and letting babies cry it out alone, commonly know as “sleep training” and other common trends in parenting practices. We have a forum that is for discerning parents. It is for parents whose babies and children’s and consequentially the family’s well being is priority. The parents on our forum believe that being in contact with like-minded parents is part of the network that promotes conscious, educated parenting.
Our parenting choices are based on the golden standard of real milk, the human kind, and our support extends to parents who share the same standards and want to go beyond. We welcome breastfeeding mothers or mothers who have breastfed until their children wean from the the breast naturally. We believe that offering our breasts as sexual objects is a personal choice, and every woman's right. (not to mention fun) but that feeding babies with breasts is not a question of choice, but of making a stand against the power of marketing over ignorance and isolation. If you think you "can't" breastfeed or "couldn't" please see www.allaitementpourtous.com or any qualified IBCLC or an LLL leader.
This website offers a very small selection of documents and testimonies that are available on the forum PLUS a photo gallerie offering a glimpse into our lives as active parents, free, independant of bottles, (except the champagne kind of course) push chairs, cots, painful front packs and lots more of the expensive equipment that we used to think we needed to be happy parents.
Lots of us have had serious breastfeeding problems, so some of us have a lot of experience with the breast pump kind of equipment, that sometimes is necessary to save a compromised breastfeeding process. (its a bit of a paradox, but we consider the breast pump equipment an investment towards future freedom)
On the forum you will find more documents, and testimonies that can be useful to many stages of parenting, from pregnancy and giving birth to child education.
In our forum you will find real support, with attachment parents, backed by research based information. We know we are definitely the minority in our parenting standards. We know that our parenting choices can trigger guilty feelings, hostility or even aggression from parents, organisations or “experts” that don’t have the same values or education so we recognise that support in our choices is vital to our strength and well being as individual parents and families.
Although there are no rules to natural parenting, there are concepts that we all agree on that are mentioned in the ANPA charter.
To be sure the ANPA is for you, you may ask for a downloadable copy of the charter/quesionnaire. If you do agree with our basic philosophie, please fill it in and send it to astharte@gmail.com
The 25€ annual membership is payable by cheque or paypal. A year's membership, gives you access to the forum, the lending library, the open house dates, meetings, brunch dates, and all the information and support that comes with it.
If you have any questions you can contact ANPAinFrance@gmail.com
All the best to you and your family, and welcome among us.
ANPA members