Vikki's Story
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Before having a child I never gave much thought to how you feed a baby or where a baby would sleep. Surrounded by a society that uses bottles, pushchairs and cots I just assumed that was what you did!
During pregnancy I started to think about it much more but was, once again, swayed by the media image of having a baby and lovingly prepared the nursery and bought all the gadgets! This turned out to be the biggest waste of money as we used hardly any of the things I had spent so long choosing and researching. I wish I had invested in a bigger bed, decent sling and saved as much money as possible.
I was lucky to have a friend as my mid wife so was well cared for throughout pregnancy and birth. She encouraged me to have a home birth and to breast feed. She also encouraged me to bring Anna into the bed from the moment she was born as she knew this would help the breastfeeding relationship. So we actually had a pretty good start due to my friend’s support.
Breastfeeding wasn’t easy to begin with but we got through it and went onto to have the most beautiful breastfeeding relationship which became the centre of my mothering. I had no idea how rewarding breastfeeding would be and how well it could meet most of Anna’s needs.
Despite people’s warnings that we were spoiling our baby by feeding her on demand, co-sleeping and never putting her down we decided to follow our instincts and what Anna was telling us. This was much harder than it sounds as I was constantly worried about whether I was doing something wrong as people seemed so bothered by our parenting style. I remember one occasion when someone said to me ‘ You are making that baby really dependent on you, how selfish!’ Later that day I googled ‘Can you be too attached to your baby?’ and came across the term ‘Attachment Parenting’ for the first time. I came across Doctor Sears and his books and immediately ordered some online.
Those books will always be special to me as they really helped me through a difficult time of self doubt. It was so good to hear that what I was doing was actually a positive thing for my baby rather than negative which is what most people lead me to believe. I’ve never looked back since and continue to breastfeed and co-sleep now Anna is 4. Most people don’t get it which is why I am grateful for the API support group. It’s just great to know you are surrounded by people that understand how you have chosen to parent and encourage you to trust your baby/child and your instincts.
Before having a child I never gave much thought to how you feed a baby or where a baby would sleep. Surrounded by a society that uses bottles, pushchairs and cots I just assumed that was what you did!
During pregnancy I started to think about it much more but was, once again, swayed by the media image of having a baby and lovingly prepared the nursery and bought all the gadgets! This turned out to be the biggest waste of money as we used hardly any of the things I had spent so long choosing and researching. I wish I had invested in a bigger bed, decent sling and saved as much money as possible.
I was lucky to have a friend as my mid wife so was well cared for throughout pregnancy and birth. She encouraged me to have a home birth and to breast feed. She also encouraged me to bring Anna into the bed from the moment she was born as she knew this would help the breastfeeding relationship. So we actually had a pretty good start due to my friend’s support.
Breastfeeding wasn’t easy to begin with but we got through it and went onto to have the most beautiful breastfeeding relationship which became the centre of my mothering. I had no idea how rewarding breastfeeding would be and how well it could meet most of Anna’s needs.
Despite people’s warnings that we were spoiling our baby by feeding her on demand, co-sleeping and never putting her down we decided to follow our instincts and what Anna was telling us. This was much harder than it sounds as I was constantly worried about whether I was doing something wrong as people seemed so bothered by our parenting style. I remember one occasion when someone said to me ‘ You are making that baby really dependent on you, how selfish!’ Later that day I googled ‘Can you be too attached to your baby?’ and came across the term ‘Attachment Parenting’ for the first time. I came across Doctor Sears and his books and immediately ordered some online.
Those books will always be special to me as they really helped me through a difficult time of self doubt. It was so good to hear that what I was doing was actually a positive thing for my baby rather than negative which is what most people lead me to believe. I’ve never looked back since and continue to breastfeed and co-sleep now Anna is 4. Most people don’t get it which is why I am grateful for the API support group. It’s just great to know you are surrounded by people that understand how you have chosen to parent and encourage you to trust your baby/child and your instincts.