Skinship

All about sleeping

Sleeping is probably the most controversial topic between young parents as well as between experts. I have tried to sum up some of the "old thruths" about sleeping and back it up with some of the latest research on this topic (mainly from neuroscience). The article is in Slovenian and it was recently published in a parenting magazine Iskrice (you can see and read the magazine by clicking on the link).

You can read it my article here.

Good night :-)

Co-sleepers

For all of you who are trying to find an appropriate crib that will allow you to co-sleep with your baby, here are some options:

Foppapedretti, the Italian brand that can be bought all around Italy and also in some other countries offers a wide array of cribs, that can be easity turned into a co-sleeper and safely attached to your bed. You will find them under "Lettini Divanetto" and they come in all different colours and sizes.

The original Arm's Reach co-sleeper is probably the most known brand and it can be bought all around the world. I didn't really like their design but recently they have introduced several new designs, including a wooden one.

I have just found out that Ikea's cribs can be now turned into co-sleepers.

There are also several other producers that offer the option of completely removing one side of the crib so it can be attached to parents' bed. Or you can even make it yourself if you have some do-it-yourself skills :-)

We have one of Foppapedretti's co-sleepers but we haven't really started using it. We allways end up sqeezing in our bed but the co-sleeper serves perfectly as an extension of our little kingdom...giving us some extra space on the side and also protecting Jun from rolling off the bed when he is not sleeping between the two of us.

Skinship groups

Dear readers,

I would like to invite you to join us at Mother's click. I've created two goups for parents who believe in attachment parenting, want to share their ideas, ask for advice or just have a chat with similarly minded parents.

First group is called Skinship and can be found here. It is open for all English speaking readers who share passion for connected and respectful parenting, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, babywearing, cloth diapers or elimination communication and much more.

Since many of Skinship readers come from Slovenia and feel more comfortable communicating in Slovenian I've created a Slovene group called "Moja Mami". You can join us at MojaMami web page.

To join any of the groups you have to register here. You can also upload your picture. The web platform used at Mother's click enables us to use several services from posting notes, activities, managing group calendar, posting photos, posting reviews, and much more.

I wish you a great fun using the service and hope to meet you online soon.

Anja

Mothering Magazine

I've finally got it...a subscription to the Mothering magazine. The Magazine recently celebrated it's 30th anniversary and for all those years it has been an amazing source of information on natural family living for (expectant) parents. They advocate breastfeeding, co-sleeping, babywearing, cloth diapers and other natural parenting choices. But what is best about Mothering is that they do not pose guilt on those who (from whichever reason) chose alternatives. They believe in informed parenting decisions that incorporate specific family situation. They provide parents with all necessary information, offer advice and gentle guidance through the challenging path of parenting.

You can watch a video about Mothering here:

I especially like the section called Quiet Place by Peggy O'Mara which can also be read on line. On their web page you can also join their community where you can discuss with similarly minded parents.

I really recommend this magazine to all parents who practice attachment parenting as well as those who feel in their heart that "mainstream" parenting is not the right thing but need more information before converting from conventional parenting practices to more natural approaches.

Reading list

I've just added my reading list at Amazon.com. You can find it on the right side bar of the blog. By clicking on it you can access the list of the books that I recommend to pregnant women and parents. I hope you will find them useful. I am also adding book reviews to the blog. You can access them by clicking on "Books" under the "Categories".

As you probably noticed there is a countless number of books on pregnancy, birth and babies available on the market. They are often written by authors, who are not necessarily specialised in parenting and developmental psychology. There are many baby trainers out there giving detachment advice like "Get him on a schedule", "Don'ty carry her in a sling so much", "You shouldn't breastfeed for more than 10 min", "He should sleep through the night at 4 months" or "You should let her cry until she falls a sleep" and other quick-fix solutions. Such advice can lead to a short-term success but we should be aware of the long-term consequences of our parenting style. With the advances in neuro science, brain scans and developmental psychology we shouldn't be ignorant anymore. As parents we have a responsibility to educate ourselves. However, we should be careful when choosing our literature and other sources.

In my reading list you will mostly find books by reknown authors that support the principles of attachment parenting, build on the latest research in neuroscience and positive psychology. Most of the books are based on years of scientific research. Sometimes I will also recommend some books that are not necessarily related to baby issues, but might be valueable for parents as well.

I will be very happy to read about books that you liked. You can reccomend them to other readers by posting "Comments". I look forward to read about your favourite books :-)

Interesting study on co-sleeping

Here you can read the resulty of the study by James J. McKenna, Ph.D. who is researching the patterns and benefits of co-sleeping.

http://www.drfeder.com/children/co-sleeping.htm

Sweet dreams :-)

The Baby Book

For the last six months I have been reading this book: The Baby Book

It is a fantastic book about attachment parenting. It is not just another "how to" kind of book. It is written from personal and professional experience od dr. William and Martha Sears (highly renowned parenting experts). They follow the concept of attachment parenting, which is about creating and nurturing a strong bond with your child. They don't give strict advices, they just help you to reach a deep understaning of your baby and her needs, which will help you parent your baby in the most natural way with great respect to her individuality (not in a general way like baby trainers suggest).

They promote breastfeeding, co-sleeping, babywearing and many other parenting concepts that helped us survive for centuries. However, they are very gentle and allways give a look on the alternatives (like for example bottlefeeding with love).

It is not a kind of book that you read from cover to cover. I contact the book every time I face a question, but more often I just read it for the inspiration. It has so much warmth and love between the lines that it helps you get into that beatiful "parenting feeling".

What I most like about this book are the thoughts that Martha gives as a mother. The one that I remember almost every night is about how she enjoyed breastfeeding one of her (eight) children during the night, when the house was quiet and calm and she enjoyed a true conectedness to her little baby. And every night when I wake up for Xth time and I feel so tired I just think of her sitting in a bouncer and quietly breasfeeding her baby. It makes every nightfeeding such and enjoyable and emotional moment for me and my baby.

This book made our parenting experience so much more enjoyable and it helped us to follow our instinct for natural parenting even when pediatritians, relatives and well-meaning experts were trying to suggest us "crying-out", strollers, formula feeding and other "common" parenting practices.

I highly recommend this book.