Attachment Parenting: Instinctive Care for Your Baby and Young Child

Great book with a lot of important messages, but I wish someone would take the time to give this another edit and to update the resources section. References to outdated sources and modes of accessing information takes away from the book, if just a tiny bit. Still highly recommended for parents-to-be and new parents though.

I'm not quite an attachment parent. This has never bothered me. My younger child cannot sleep with anyone touching her (the very same way that her father can't sleep with anyone touching him). My older child was formula fed. But I'm more or less an AP parent, and when I started running into situations I couldn't figure out, I bought this book.It was useless. Utterly and completely useless.It wasn't bad, and it would provide good perspective and some ideas for an expectant mother -- one that didn't want to work (the section on being a "working attachment parent" was pathetic), one that had plenty of support for breastfeeding and cosleeping, et cetera. I came to this book when my daughter was eleven months old and refusing to nurse at all, well beyond the nursing strike stage. I flipped through, hoping for some ideas on how to make formula feeding work with her yet still retain the affection that had always dominated our nursing sessions.Not one word on use of formula was written, unless it was to advise me I may as well be pouring rat poison down my daughter's throat. The book was far too preachy on the value of breastmilk, and breastmilk is great, but with well over 80% of American infants weaned by six months of age, you'd think it would occur to the author that a loving respectful formula feeding relationship may need to be addressed at one point or another.I continued flipping on through. Why I should never put my child in a "baby cage" (in English, a crib). Why I should never let my child have a bottle (which shows right there what happened to the "working attachment parent" section). Why I should never put my child in a stroller.This is great for preachiness, but as for actual parents who run across these situations, they are Anathema. There is no excuse for allowing your child <gasp> to sleep anywhere but with you! Or worse, allowing an artifical nipple in your baby's mouth, ever, even if you're pumping breastmilk so you can go back to work and support this baby and yourself! The horror!The author needs a grip on reality and some advice for integrating actualities of modern living into parenting for the 95% of us in the world that do not insist on perfectionism for our children. Like Sears & Sears, Mothering magazine, and many others, the self-congratulatory tone of "I did this and look how well MY children turned out" dominates, and actual useful advice to raise children with in the event that everything does not go perfectly is conspicuously absent.By nearly any standard -- babywearing, cosleeping (which did work with my older daughter), breastfeeding (until 11 months, anyway), et cetera, I'm an attachment parent. But good luck to all potential AP people out there who intend to integrate reality with parenting, because I have yet to see the book where the authors will actually offer useful advice unless everything goes Just Perfectly and On Schedule.

This excellent book fills a gap in parenting literature, by providing a comprehensive yet easy-to-read introduction to attachment parenting philosophy and practice. Written in a breezy, conversational style, Katie Granju's book feels like advice from a friend: an amazingly knowledgable friend who draws on a wealth of professional research as well as her own experience as a mother of three. Granju's guide directs the reader to the best resources, techniques and even products available to parents wishing to raise their children secure in parental love and attachment. She distinguishes herself from other authors in the field of attachment parenting and breastfeeding by providing practical help for a great variety of situations, including that of the full time working breastfeeding mother.The only thing I felt was missing in this enormously helpful book was an index. There's so much information here and it is a book readers will return to again and again, so it would have been nice to make it easier to find specific topics. That said, the detailed table of contents was very helpful.

This is a fantastic book. We are attachment parenting our 13 month old and this book gives a multitude of information and sources for the "cutting edge" research that SUPPORTS attachment parenting. I will be showing this book to my family and friends who have criticized our sharing sleep and extended breastfeeding - it will be pretty hard for them to keep arguing when I have the *facts* to show them and the sources to cite. This book will help us tremendously in defending what we already know is right. Other books may be better for in-depth, detailed "how toos" on attachment parenting ["The Baby Book", "Nightime Parenting" & "The Discipline Book" -all by Sears, "Mothering Your Nursing Toddler", and "Three in a Bed" for instance], but this is the best all around up-to-the-minute defense of attachment parenting I've read yet. The contact information on various helpful organizations is invaluable and I have already made great use of it. This book is definitly going into my baby-shower gift bags from now on!

It seems like it offers a lot of ideas on how to deal with skepticism and how to use AP vs. other parenting ideals but I feel like there is not enough information on how to continue to foster the AP relationship after babyhood. Also, some of the ideas are impractical for anyone other than a stay-at home parent. It would be nice to read an AP book that has a more realistic look at today's mainstream and how to incorporate these philosophies accordingly.

I resonated with each word of this book. True, attachment style parenting can also be called intuitive parenting - but so many of us do not listen to what our hearts tell us or @ least we need the reminder to listen. Granju compiles all this information in a style that I found to be very conducive, easy to read and it prepped me for wanting to learn more.

I was interested in finding out more about attachment parenting and chose this because of the positive reviews. The information was helpful. However, I was not a fan of the aggressive tone. Maybe it is because it was written years ago when the concepts were more marginalized? Anyway, to me It was not a feel-good book. Books like la leche league's that include some of the same ideas were more pleasurable to read because of a more warm tone. I haven't read Sears' books so I can't compare to that. Also, because the book was older I kept wondering if there was more research that's been done since then that I am missing out on hearing about.

Having read several books on baby care, especially sleep problems, from the likes of Tracy Hogg, Supernanny, Tanya Byron, Gina Ford and so on, I've been converted to this approach. At first I thought "oh, it's a bit exaggerated", but after reading the whole thing, I think it makes a lot of sense. I came to the conclusion that my 10 month-old daughter does not have a sleep problem, it was me who had a problem, trying to conform to cultural norms and expectations. I'm amazed that it took me so long to come to the conclusion that attachement parenting is the best way to go, especially as it is not only intuitive, but also very logical.I recommend this book whole-heartedly - BY FAR THE BEST BOOK on parenting approaches I've managed to find.

I was too stressed and overwhelmed by all the advise and techniques to raise a loving and independent baby. I kept asking myself if I was doing things right or messing up everything. This book helped me to get an answer. It is reassuring and comforting. Basically it says what is baby behaviour is normal and how raise a baby in a relaxed way that both, baby and parent enjoy.

Fast delivery. Nice price. Nice quality. The book was as it was promised.Easy reading. Me and my husband enjoy it.For those, who don't live in USA it might seem that there are way too many links to possible help etc., but it can be useful if you live there.

Really enjoyed this book. It gave me lots of insight into how to look after my 4 month old daughter. Really interesting and a great book to return to. Would recommend it to anyone. So much better than any Gina Ford rubbish. This book was just right for me because it really suits my parenting style. It gave me the confidence to look after my daughter the way I felt was right. some quite radical ideas, but no pressure to follow anything that doesn't feel instinctively right. A great book to help you argue against the Gina Ford system! Easy to read.

Nice book but I have read very similar books so it did not impressed me. It is a litlle bit absolute but in general follows the same guidlines I use.