This is my husband and me with Baby #4, almost ten years ago, at a Stake Valentine’s Day Dance. We like to take our baby with us on dates.

Just as a tree has seasons when it’s attached to the fruit, and then when it is not, so does a mother. Healthy babies begin by being attached to their mothers, first in utero, then through babywearing, breastfeeding, and co-sleeping. As the child grows other attachment-promoting behaviors replace the intensely physical ones of babyhood. Things like reading books together, talking, sharing jokes, eating mealtime together, and working and playing together.

It was 18 years ago this past September that I discovered Dr. Sears and Martha Sears’  The Baby Book, right before my oldest child was born. The ideas totally resonated with me so much so that Attachment parenting (AP) is almost like a religion to me. After seven babies, I still think AP is the way to go although it involves more from the mother than the mainstream philosophy of child rearing, which is to get kids to be as independent and isolated from the parent as soon as possible. But the return on the investment is much greater. Kids who are emotionally attached are more likely to be healthy and happy.

The LDS religion says that “families are forever.” Attachment parenting shows how to make that bonding/sealing/attachment start with birth.

October is Attachment Parenting month! In honor of that, I will be blogging a few times about my journey of AP with seven children. I’ve been in no way a perfect mother, but I’ve found some tips and tricks along the way to ease the give-a-thon involved in AP.