I'm starting a new thread, cutting and pasting my reply to a poster on the "EC, have you tried it?" thread.. since that was getting sooooo long!
Here's the link and here's my response:
http://mothering.com/discussions/sho...727#post421727
--------------------------
EC and AP
Attachment Parenting is about responding to your baby's needs, believing that their cries mean something, and getting in tune with the needs on an intuitive level. (This is my sorta definition, let me know if you disagree)
Taking the *other side* of this first, I believe that diaper-training is NOT AP because you are not responding to the child's inherent need to eliminate and not soil themselves. Instead, you are providing a place for the child to pee and poop that is held on their body, and (often) is left on them for (sometimes) hours at a time. The frequent topic of absorbancy comes up here... what we're saying in effect is "how long can I get avoid changing the dirty diaper... how much pee can I pack into it".
I believe Elimination Communication, or Natural Infant Hygiene, is AP because at it's most basic, it is responding and being in tune with your child's needs. Just as mothers who practice AP will nurse their children when they need to nurse, and not on a schedule, so EC mothers respond to their child's need to eliminate as it happens, using a combination of intuition, communication and timing (like knowing that they usually pee after getting up from a nap).
Also, Attachment Parenting means to me, things that naturally flow from being human.... things that fit with our biological nature. Because EC was the ONLY thing available to mamas from the beginning of time, because it is *still* practiced all over the world by more "primitive" peoples, and because diapers are a modern invention of convenience, I believe it is biologically what babies are conditioned to expect.
I would further turn around your statement "why would someone want to do this" and "what is the benefit to baby" with "Why would someone want to diaper-train their baby" and "What is the benefit to baby of using diapers?".
It's a real paradigm shift, I'll admit. Most women today don't even know that this is what women have been doing for bazillions of years, all over the globe, so the possibility of something other than diapers wouldn't have occured to them.
Thanks for asking the question.. I'm sure many other mamas out there are thinking the same thing.
blessings!
Ahleemah
Here's the link and here's my response:
http://mothering.com/discussions/sho...727#post421727
--------------------------
EC and AP
Attachment Parenting is about responding to your baby's needs, believing that their cries mean something, and getting in tune with the needs on an intuitive level. (This is my sorta definition, let me know if you disagree)
Taking the *other side* of this first, I believe that diaper-training is NOT AP because you are not responding to the child's inherent need to eliminate and not soil themselves. Instead, you are providing a place for the child to pee and poop that is held on their body, and (often) is left on them for (sometimes) hours at a time. The frequent topic of absorbancy comes up here... what we're saying in effect is "how long can I get avoid changing the dirty diaper... how much pee can I pack into it".
I believe Elimination Communication, or Natural Infant Hygiene, is AP because at it's most basic, it is responding and being in tune with your child's needs. Just as mothers who practice AP will nurse their children when they need to nurse, and not on a schedule, so EC mothers respond to their child's need to eliminate as it happens, using a combination of intuition, communication and timing (like knowing that they usually pee after getting up from a nap).
Also, Attachment Parenting means to me, things that naturally flow from being human.... things that fit with our biological nature. Because EC was the ONLY thing available to mamas from the beginning of time, because it is *still* practiced all over the world by more "primitive" peoples, and because diapers are a modern invention of convenience, I believe it is biologically what babies are conditioned to expect.
I would further turn around your statement "why would someone want to do this" and "what is the benefit to baby" with "Why would someone want to diaper-train their baby" and "What is the benefit to baby of using diapers?".
It's a real paradigm shift, I'll admit. Most women today don't even know that this is what women have been doing for bazillions of years, all over the globe, so the possibility of something other than diapers wouldn't have occured to them.
Thanks for asking the question.. I'm sure many other mamas out there are thinking the same thing.
blessings!
Ahleemah
Seriously, imagine the complexes that HAVE to accompany having a buzzer attached to your crotch which goes off when you pee in your bed (something you're embarrassed about anyway), which wakes up the sibling who shares your room, who discusses it with Mom and Dad at the breakfast table, etc., etc., etc. Maybe I'm overreacting. Maybe not.
