The Attachment Parenting Book : A Commonsense Guide to Understanding and Nurturing Your Baby Paperback – August 7, 2001

Learned a lot and easy to understand. I thought that I was going to fail at parenting but this book helped me feel less alone and provide guidance for how I wanted to be a great dad.

I practice attachment parenting b/c that it the way feel most natural to me. I use many of the advices from Dr. Sear for all of my 3 kids. I have all girls 5,7,10. I don't want to brag about my kids here as I think the results of any parenting method can't really be measure until much later in life. Whether they will grow up as well ground adults with healthy life styes, successful career, happy individual, & a great contributor to human life....but for now, I can tell you that I'm very proud of my children at this ages & we are a very happy loving family. I don't "spoil" my kids as contrary to many incorrect perception about parenting. We try to provide a loving but structure environment for our children.Dr. Sear offer many great advice in this book & I used it in those days that my kids were babies age. We co-sleep & I nurse my kids. My baby was nurse until she almost 3. They are all very independent now & have their own rooms, which they took care really well. I almost NEVER let my babies cry & always pick them up to comfort them, my kids are great sleepers now, all we do at night is tuck them in with good night kisses, they wake up to use the rest room by themselves. Every once in a while, we allow them to sleep in our beds & that is a special treat.Except travelling for work, my husband & I NEVER take a vacation without the kids. We rather travel with other family friends so we have the adults companies & the kids have friends their ages to. We enjoy our kids companies & they love ours.If you don't use all the advice in this book, you can still benefit from reading it & maybe apply someMy mom use the "tough love" method on me . I turn out fine but I always secretly wish she was more gentle with me.So there is no right or wrong, just practice what you believe in your loving heart & hopefully we will raise the next generation of great human, loving & giving :-)

I found this book to clearly and simply convey everything I would most want to transmit to new parents about what is most critical in enabling babies and toddlers to thrive for the long-term through optimal attachment to parents. I have studied the neuroscience of this, which is very impressive and convincing, but not particularly readable unless you are scientifically or psychologically oriented (if so, the work of Allan Shore, PhD is inspiring). Sears makes this invaluable model accessible for the day by day experience of a new, or new-to-attachment, parent, answering many questions that are likely to come up; and laying out practical details for implementing it. With his expertise as a pediatric physician and his hands-on experience, with his wife, of raising eight children, practicing attachment for many years, his advice feels grounded and trustworthy. Other reviewers have commented that it is repetitious but I would describe that as reinforcing and clarifying the most essential intentions and practices of this system. As a child therapist and parent, I cannot say enough about how important healthy attachment is for the deep well-being and development of a child. Sears' book is a great tool for bringing it to life in your own family.

I might not agree with everything this book teaches, but I think it very clearly explains this style of parenting and the benefits and science to back it up. It breaks down the negativity and stereotypes that seem to come with this way of parenting and helps the reader to really understand what AP means, for the parent and for the child who might be lucky enough to receive this kind of parenting.

I am a proponent of Attachment Parenting and we follow the guidelines instinctively. The book is written in an easy to understand way, but my one criticism is that parents who work and have their child in a daycare facility may feel judged.Let me explain. The authors propose the idea that many women working outside the home re-consider once their child is born and realize that they must re-prioritize and take the financial sacrifice because they know it's best for their child. They then say that if you cannot do this (emphasis on CANNOT, because they seem to feel like most women CAN), then you simply must hire a babysitter or nanny and teach them all the principles of AP. In the absence of that, a group-setting daycare facility is the absolute worst option.Now, personally, I felt that having my son in a licensed daycare facility with high quality care (that I observed myself for an entire day), which was supportive of breastfeeding, feeding on demand, NO schedules, and not "crying it out" was something that worked best for me. I did not feel comfortable (or financially able) enough to hire a one-on-one nanny to work inside my home, and did not want to take my child to an in-home daycare... I personally wanted a facility that has specific standards for its employees (CPR certification, degree in child development, etc.) and more importantly, liability insurance and accountability if something were to ever (God forbid) go wrong. I was not able to find a person I could afford or trust enough to watch my son in my absence, and so this was not an option for our family. The setting we found is affordable for our budget and has three adults to six babies all day, which I appreciate.It doesn't seem fair that a mom should feel judged or "not good enough" for the Attachment Parenting club because there was something within this set of principles that she could not manage. I don't feel like my son is any less attached or that I am any less of a mom because I chose daycare over the recommendation in this book. Now, the authors don't state "You're a horrible parent if you do that" (of course they don't), but it's hard to feel like you are succeeding in every other realm except one.I love Dr. Sears and I do feel that attachment parenting is the right choice for us. The information in this book is extremely valuable, but just beware about this part of their book, as most parents I know are not able to follow that advice to a T. It's not all or nothing.