Attachment parenting focuses on building positive attachments with your child from the time of birth. While there are several variations, here are 8 principles generally agreed upon:

1. Preparing for Pregnancy, Birth and Parenting. Attachment Parenting (AP) encourages expecting parents to do everything they can to educate themselves on routine care of newborns (ie, feeding, diapering, cuddling). They also encourage parents to prepare themselves emotionally, often by dealing with any attachment issues of their own.
2. Feeding With Love and Respect. Basically, AP proponents encourage breastfeeding. But, if you do choose to bottle feed, AP proponents encourage adapting certain breastfeeding behaviors to bottle feeding, including cuddling the child closely while you feed her.
3. Responding With Sensitivity. Babies’ need for emotional attachment starts at the beginning of life, and when they express a need, usually by crying, parents should respond quickly and consistently. When parents respond with tenderness and care for a fussy baby, they begin to develop a sense of trust that will carry over much further in the child’s life.
4. Using Nurturing Touch. All people have a need for affection and connection, and babies have that need from the time they are born. Babies need to be touched, cuddled, and held. Carrying babies close, such as in a sling, is particularly encouraged in AP, as is skin to skin contact.
5. Ensuring Safe Sleep. Most proponents of AP suggest co sleeping, having your children sleep in bed with you. Others suggest that sleeping in the same room is sufficient for baby to feel secure and safe. Another important concept of AP is that babies need to be “parented” to sleep. This precludes the idea of allowing baby to “cry it out” when you lay her down.
6. Providing Loving and Consistent Care. In a nutshell, AP promotes the concept that young children need to have constant contact with an adult whom they have bonded with. This should usually be a parent, and others who care for the child should be limited to people the child has developed an attachment with.
7. Practicing Positive Discipline. This principle encourages parents to be proactive rather than reactive in their discipline style. When children misbehave, try to figure out what need is driving the misbehavior, and meet the need when appropriate. Even correction should be given in a positive, non punitive manner, focusing on natural consequences rather than punishment.
8. Striving for Balance in Family and Personal Life. Parents should set appropriate priorities, with people being more important than objects or social commitments. Each member of the family should strive to become aware of one another’s needs and meet them to the best of their ability, while still maintaining a healthy lifestyle for themselves.

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