My husband and I didn’t completely know what to expect when we had our daughter 10 months ago. TV shows and movies make parenting look so easy at times. If a baby is sleepy, the parents would set the baby in the crib, turn on the monitor, and walk away. I don’t think I had even heard of attachment parenting.
Our girl had different plans, though. She hated being set down. The crib didn’t work. The rock and play didn’t work. And yes, I splurged and bought the MamaRoo. It didn’t work.
When I wanted to try and get some work done around the house, I thought I would be able to set her down and she’d stay on her activity mat. Wrong.
What made a difference for me when my baby was younger was wearing her in a wrap. She loved it! I’d be able to wear her to clean, and 9 times out of 10 she’d fall asleep.
She’s 10 months old, and I still nurse on demand. We co-sleep, and we put her crib as a sidecar to our bed. Every time she cries, we pick her up.
We sometimes get comments about how she should be sleeping in her crib by herself, or we should let her cry it out. We remind ourselves that every child is different.
Attachment parenting isn’t exactly what we had planned, but that’s fine with us. Our girl is only little once, and we’re enjoying the journey.
