Tag: fathers

Attachment Parenting Month 2009 Blog Carnival of Growth

Happy Attachment Parenting Month! “Attached at the Heart Through the Years” is the AP Month 2009 theme. “Attached at the Heart Through the Years” is a statement that a healthy and secure attachment between parent and child is a dynamic process that extends beyond infancy and throughout childhood. During AP Month 2009, parents are challenged to re-examine their daily activities and traditions and learn new ways to grow with each other and remain close and supportive.

API Speaks would like to reflect on, and demonstrate how, we (as parents) remained and will remain “Attached at the Heart Through the Years”. Earlier this month, we requested entries for the Attachment Parenting Month 2009 blog carnival. API received a variety of responses. Without further adieu, I present you with the Attachment Parenting Month 2009 Blog Carnival.

How Long? – House of Boys

There’s a song by the Dixie Chicks that I love. A song that I like to listen to over and over again. I like to sing it to my babies while dancing. A song that describes why I want to be an attached parent. The words speak to me and bring a calmness to my soul. The words remind me to take life slowly.

Great Expectations – The Eclectic Mom

I once knew the perfect mother. She was amazing. She absolutely beamed the glory of motherhood. Her children clustered around her, happily playing and singing, simultaneously gleefully independent and decidedly attached.

Uncovering the Truth About Cosleeping – Khoresht-e Catfish

When I became a mother I didn’t subscribe to any one parenting philosophy. I read all the books and formed my opinions when I was pregnant, but the minute Azita was born all of that went straight to the medical waste can.

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This Father is Not a Mother

When my wife and I had our first child, I remember thinking that I wished that we could have twins, so I could hold one sometimes (I have since withdrawn that wish…). I thought to myself that attachment parenting really meant attached-to-the-mama parenting.

It seemed to me that when our baby wasn’t nursing on mama, she was sleeping. I got to be a champion burper though, because I kept volunteering to do it so I could get more time holding her. Every time our daughter cried I would try to be the comforter, but when you have no milkies, it’s a lot tougher.
Continue reading “This Father is Not a Mother”

Fathers and AP

I’ve been thinking recently about how important Attachment Parenting is to fathers.

Many men seem to feel helpless and left out when it comes to the whole process of pregnancy, birth and those early weeks with a new baby. Mother and baby are like a little closed group with eyes only for each other. Everyone pampers a new mother, but little is done for the new father. He can feel overwhelmed by his new responsibilities and this tiny new person that has just entered his life! Some men can feel pushed aside as they watch the new relationship blossom between mother and baby.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

There seems to be a common perception that dads won’t bond with their babies unless they can feed them. This perception can put pressure on breastfeeding mums to introduce a bottle of f*rmula or expressed breastmilk from the start. After all no mother wants to feel that she is hurting the relationship between her baby and his dad.

But, again, it doesn’t have to be this way.

I really feel that Attachment Parenting and the sentiments which surround it are a huge help to men during this new period of their lives. Mr. Halfpintpixie has always had a great relationship with littlepixie and we credit a lot of that to our parenting “style.” I really feel that cosleeping provides one of the best opportunities for a new family to bond and get used to being in each other lives. It’s the perfect way to finish a day and the perfect way to start the next!

As a very young baby, littlepixie would only sleep in our arms. For the first few weeks, I had a very hard time with breastfeeding and was in a lot of pain especially at night, so every night littlepixie would sleep snuggled in her daddy’s arms, coming over to me for feeds when she woke and then back over to him afterwards.

These weeks helped Mr. HPP to attune to her needs and helped littlepixie realize that along with mammy there was another person who would always be there for her, her daddy. It was a very intense few weeks and none of us got very much sleep, but we got a lot more sleep than we would have had we insisted on using the moses basket!

We’re still cosleeping and breastfeeding, and Mr. HPP gets a lot more sleep now! Myself and littlepixie have gotten much better at feeding while half asleep so when she wakes in the night, she just has to mooch over, latch on and go back to sleep. She’ll often roll over to me for a quick feed then roll off back over to sleep beside Mr. HPP again.

Some mornings I’ll wake, stretch out, realize I’ve just stretched in a big empty space, and then look over to see the two of them fast asleep snuggled together. It’s the sweetest thing in the world!

Have a read of API’s Nighttime Parenting article for more information on cosleeping and some important safety information.

Half Pint Pixie