I gave birth to our daughter almost 11 months ago. As I was preparing to have a natural unmedicated childbirth in our home with a Midwife and a Doula, I focused all of my attention and energy into preparing myself for the “pain” of childbirth. I neglected to read a whole lot about child rearing. I was thinking, “hey, we will cross that bridge when we get to it”. Labor and giving birth was like a wall that I was preparing to scale and yet I never seemed to think about what would be the other side. When our midwife came back to our home the day after I gave birth she was able to calm our little girl so easily. She knew something. I asked how she did that. She recommended a book called The Happiest Baby on the Block.
It took me a few weeks between nursing and diaper changing and holding the baby to finally finish reading this book but once I had the suggested actions down, I was able to calm my baby faster and faster. I remember how I felt getting the hang of this whole baby thing.
This book and some other research lead me to a style of parenting known as Attachment Parenting.
I remember thinking how strange the name sounded. I always thought it should be something more like Instinctual Parenting. When your baby cries pick them. When they are hungry feed them. When they need a diaper change change them. It seemed so basic.
That was about 11 months ago and it seems to be working for our family. That is the most important aspect of any style or philosophy, that it works for you.
She is waking up from her nap. I have to go….
