Book Review: The Attachment Parenting Book

The Attachment Parenting Book : A Commonsense Guide to Understanding and Nurturing Your Baby by William Sears

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I would say this is a great book for someone trying to figure out what type of parenting method they want to use or for someone who is interested in attachment parenting but either not completely sold on it or just needs to read more about it to understand exactly what it entails. It is a fairly short and easy read full of useful information. It begins by going over what attachment parenting is and how it is beneficial. Then it discusses each of the 7 B's that basically make up attachment parenting: Birth bonding, Breastfeeding, Babywearing, Bedding close to baby, Belief in baby's cry, Balance and boundaries, and Beware of baby trainers. Finally, the book discusses how fathers are involved in attachment parenting and how mothers who work full time can do attachment parenting as well.

The important point that this book emphasizes is that every baby and every parent is different, thus there is no one formula for parenting that will work for everyone. Attachment parenting is flexible with the goals being to listen and connect with your child, to love and understand your child; to attach! The seven B's are just things that are conducive to helping you connect with your child.

When my baby was born, I didn't decide to select a parenting method that appealed to me, research it and follow its directions. Instead, I chose to listen to my heart. For me that meant sleeping with him at night because he wasn't happy anywhere else, it meant nursing him, it meant wearing him around because I couldn't stand using the stroller and enjoyed the exercise and having him near me. Following my heart meant spending time with him and trying to learn about his personality because it was fun and I am excited be around and get to know this little human. As my baby started growing, I was interested in learning more about his development so I picked up a copy of Dr. Sear's The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two. It was while reading through that book that I realized the parenting style I had developed intuitively was attachment parenting. So I picked up this book (The Attachment Parenting Book) just to read more about it and see if there were any tips I might find helpful along the way. It covers a lot of the same information as "The Baby Book" does, so if you have a copy of that you don't really need this book. Otherwise, it is worth having a read through!

View all my reviews