I practice most aspects of attachment parenting. (I don't cloth diaper
) I get a lot of negative feedback for it that I just don't understand.
The biggest issues I am dealing with right now are CIO and nursing. My stepmother just does not understand. When I pick up and comfort Nolan when he cries she says I will spoil him. I personally do NOT believe that you can spoil a 2 month old. I co-sleep and she says that's spoiling him too. I call it comforting him. Why do people expect babies to come out of a cozy womb and go straight into a much less cozy crib, no matter what. Some babies take to it but mine didn't, big deal.
The other thing she is giving me so much crap about is his nursing. Right now Nolan is still nursing every two hours, although sometimes he will go longer. I feed on demand and I am not concerned about him eating so often. If he were old enough to articulate his hunger she wouldn't expect me to make him wait, so why make him wait now? She is saying that I need to start giving him cereal to keep him full. She starting giving my little brother cereal added to his bottle at 3 weeks and as a result he stayed overstuffed as an infant and has no impulse control when it comes to eating and is an overweight 10 year old. I told her I would not overstuff my newborn just to make him complacent. She told me I needed to ask the doctor about it and asked me if the doctor told me to give him cereal or supplement formula would I do it, and I said no. Then she started yelling at me about how I needed to listen to whatever the Pediatrician told me without question and I told her no one knows my baby better than I do and that before I did either of those things I'd wait until his next appointment to better see how he is gaining weight.
It makes me really upset when people act like my stepmom about it, saying I'm spoiling my baby or not feeding them enough, etc. I read something that said "AP is following your heart" and to me that is the best way to explain it. It hurts me to sit there and listen to Nolan cry and the only thing I know to do is comfort him. I don't know how people let their babies CIO, or make them wait to eat just so they will eat a certain amount of hours apart.
How do you feel about AP?
