Attachment Parenting

Have you heard of Attachment Parenting but is too shy to ask its meaning? Or too busy to look it up?

To understand the term you have to ask yourself what the word Attachment means to you?
1) Bond? 2)Closeness? 3)Emotionally Attached? 4) Fond?
If your reply is amongst the above, you are not far off.


With the growing number of mothers (usually stay home) adopting Attachment Parenting, I have taken the direct explanation to the term from a famous family doctor site, by way of explanation. We welcome your additional thoughts/view/comments on the subject.

• Attachment is a special bond between parent and child; a feeling that draws you magnet-like to your baby; a relationship that when felt to its deepest degree causes the mother to feel that the baby is a part of her. This feeling is so strong that, at least in the early months, the attached mother feels complete when she is with her baby and incomplete if they are apart.

• In most families the mother-infant attachment is more obvious. This does not mean that a father can't become deeply attached to the child, but it often seems to be a different type of attachment – not less or better than the mother's, just different.

• Attachment means that a mother and baby are in harmony with each other. Being in harmony with your baby is one of the most fulfilling feelings a mother can ever hope to have. Watch a mother and baby who are attached (in harmony) with each other. When the baby gives a cue, such as crying or facial expressions, signifying a need, the mother, because she is open to the baby's cues, responds.

• Initially, her responses may be a bit strained and not always what the baby needs. But as the mother-baby pair rehearses these cue-response interactions hundreds of times, after a few weeks or months into parenting this cue-response relationship becomes more natural and harmonious. The baby begins to anticipate the response that his mother will give and become further motivated to give more cues, because he learns that he will get a predictable response.

• Because the baby gives the mother the feedback that her mothering is appreciated, the mother-baby pair enjoys each other more. They get used to each other.



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