Attachment parenting is a philosophy which promotes strong emotional bonds between parents and their infants. Dr William Sears, an American paediatrician coined this term over 25 years ago.

Together with his wife Martha Sears, a registered nurse, they raised 8 children using this philosophy and have gone on to write and co-write 40 plus books, many educating parents on the philosophy.

3 of the Sears children have also gone on to become paediatricians and two are currently working in practice with their father.

What does it mean to be attached to your child? Could it be that you have naturally developed an ‘attached’ style of parenting and want to know what to say to the critics around you? Or are you wanting to develop this parenting style and would like to learn more about it’s benefits? Many of the books by the Sears Family will lead you in the right direction.

Dr. Sears notes that there are 7 attachment tools, known as the Baby B’s:

* Bedding close to Baby

* Belief in the language value of your baby’s cry

* Beware of baby trainers

The Sears Family have written books for their parenting library and books for their children’s library. my son loves the potty book they have written for children and can really relate to the pictures as there is a baby being breastfed like he was and one who is sleeping in their parent’s bed as he does sometimes too.

I really wanted to find a ‘gentle way’ to help my baby sleep. I started with following many of the ideas in Dr. Sears’s books which advocates co-sleeping. I was, however pretty upset to find that I couldn’t sleep with my baby. I found I only ever went into a very light sleep when he was in the bed with me and while he slept well, I unfortunately did not.

Attachment parenting is an approach based on responsive parenting whereby you take your cues from your baby. As with any approach it is important to see it as an approach and not just a set of rules to follow.

Attachment Parenting – Books by Dr William Sears