So, that TIME cover...

[pezzae]

The most recent cover of the US version of TIME magazine had a picture of a woman breastfeeding. This is controversial enough in the US, but additionally, the breastfeeding child was 3 years old, male, and standing on a chair so he could reach her breast as she stood. The accompanying headline: 'Are you MOM ENOUGH? Why attachment parenting drives

Comments

[pezzae]

About the judgement thing - this happens online, but I've yet to see or hear it in real life. No 'attached parenting' mum has ever said to me 'I can't believe you weaned your two year old, you're such a bad mother'! So it's mostly a media beat-up.

[traeemery]

I've held off commenting here because it took me a while to actually get a hold of the original Time article, rather than just the reaction pieces and blogs. Firstly, Time US has quite the history of running covers that are designed to be provocative to an American audience. There is even websites devoted to Time US vs world cover differences. I think that they've pushed the posing of the cover to the point of profane to try and compensate for what is in fact a rather bland, unsensational article

[pezzae]

I came across attachment theory in my psych degree, annd the main researcher was John Bowlby back in the 60s. You could look up his work if you are interested in the research? I'd also recommend the more recent 'The science of parenting' by Margot Sunderland, who references every statement. For how-to books, Elizabeth Pantley is the guru :)

What do you do if you've breastfed, are wearing your baby and responding to it's cries and it's had colic for 3 weeks, is screaming it's head off and you're losing your mind with fatigue and stress that your not being responsive enough?Repeat 'this will pass', know that it's perfectly normal baby behaviour and there is nothing you can do except wait till they grow out of it, and keep walking the floor and patting while fantasising about your warm comfy bed. I've been there, done that, and after 18 months of broken sleep I was still glad we never resorted to sleep training. I wrote a post on what it feels like to have a baby who just won't stop crying... it is easy in the stress of new parenthood

[traeemery]

Thanks for the additional references. Will definitely look into them. My limited understanding was that attachment theory and Sears style AP have a loose association. Which is the main scientific criticism of Sears. I'd be really interested in your opinion if you do pick up a copy of Sears AP. (I'd lend you mine but it's on Kindle.)