Aha! Babywearing

first, congrats on the new didy!!! which one did you get?
took me a long time to get the back carries down. thebabywearer.com has some links to video showing how to do it

the iris is so pretty, with a matching hat no less! cute

I wish I had some babywearing friends. my friends mostly think I'm spoiling my baby and not letting him develop independance.

Bah humbug to them Granolamom, but at least they are upfront about it and not tut-tutting behind your back. Don't you worry, he'll become independent soon enough! Then you can just smile wisely at them and have a chuckle to yourself.

Cheers

Louise

I have a huge group of ladies who wear their babies with style. The are part of an attachment parenting group. You can probably find one in your area.

Ah, my old child-raising hero, William Sears? I am so glad this is now an established movement. If parents need anything, it is more and better baby carriers and a group of likeminded humans, both male and female. And if babies need anything it is attached parents and plenty of boob for as long as they want it.

Now our three children have grown up my old and battered 1982 edition of Creative Parenting still has pride of place in my bookshelf, along with Saving the Wholewoman.

With love and joy.

Louise

good idea, I should try to find an ap group around here
and louise, my friends wouldn't tut-tut behind my back, I don't make friends like that. the rest of our acquaintences are doing that, but not our friends. we're the resident 'nuts' in the neighborhood, what with the 'risky homebirth' and the 'neurotic diets' and the 'spoiling of children'. hehehe. it amuses me really

and personally, I don't need any evidence of how children parented this way will turn out later. because the honest truth is, I parent this way for me as much as I do it for them. It feels right, it feels good, I enjoy it and no matter how they turn out I will honestly be able to say I did my best.

I am not sure "how they are" now, except to say that our boys are huggers, and DD is getting more huggable, though she never was very huggy, right from birth. I did have some doubts about immersion parenting when DS2 was about 10, and would still come and lie down with me, gently pummel my boob and lie his head down against it with a big smile on his face. He used to love smelling my boobs and playing with my nipples as a younger boy, like up to 6 or 7. I figured he would eventually become interested in other women's boobs. Well he has! Now he is 20, mine get no attention from him at all these days. So it has all worked out very nicely indeed as mine get enough attention from DH anyway.

They all slept in our bed for various periods, and of course were breastfed until they stopped (except for DS1 who was weaned suddenly at 16 months when I was hospitalised). They are all very heterosexual. None of them was ever attached to a pacifier, or even a blanket or soft toy. I was always the one looking for their teddies, not them.

I am waiting very patiently for grandchildren, as I think you don't really know how your kids have turned out until they reproduce and you can see how they treat their own children. I am quietly confident that they will all be very attached in their style, as this style of parenting is all they know, and I am happy that it is a very valuable style, besides I could never be bothered fighting my instinct to keep them close. They smell so lovely.

IMAO, There are too many children in this world who are basically encouraged to separate from their parents from birth, whether by letting them cry themselves to sleep, early weaning, put in playpens for long periods, put into unnecessary childcare, bathed by themselves, left with computer games and TV for long periods etc. I don't need to say more.

We have also adopted the principle of letting them make their own decisions from a very early age, and suffering the consequences if they make a bad decision. We found that doing this from a young age, we could help them over the stuff-up while they were still in the nest. We are now happy to trust them to be able to look after themselves quite capably.

As they all went to Boarding school from age 12 we had to let them go on a day to day basis. We knew they wouldn't always do as they were told while they were away at school (and they didn't) but trusted the schools to treat them fairly, and said a lot of prayers, as it was so hard to send them away. We were also happy that they had learnt about decision making from us, and were capable of dealing with almost any baddies who came their way. It is interesting that they can all detect a dickhead at 50 paces and have very active bullshit meters, so they do manage to keep out of trouble, and none of them is easily led.

Enough from me. Cheers

Louise