The Very Best Attachment Parenting Resources

Attachment Parenting
by Katie Allison Granju, Betsy Kennedy, R.N., M.S.N.

(Page 2 of 2)

Books (In addition to this one, of course!)

Our Babies, Ourselves: How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Parent. Small, Meredith F. New York: Doubleday, 1998.

Bonding: Building the Foundations of Secure Attachment and Independence. Klaus, Marshall, H., Phyllis H. Klaus, and John H. Kennell. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1995.

The Discipline Book: Everything You Need to Know to Have a Better-Behaved Child — From Birth to Age Ten. Sears, William M., and Martha Sears. New York: Little, Brown & Co., 1995.

The Vital Touch: How Intimate Contact with Your Baby Leads to Happier, Healthier Development. Heller, Sharon. New York: Henry Holt and Co., Inc., 1997.

Giving the Love That Heals: A Guide for Parents. Hendrix, Harville, and Helen Hunt. New York: Pocket Books, 1997.

Untouched: The Need for Genuine Affection in an Impersonal World. Caplan, Mariana. Prescott, AZ: Hohm Pr., 1998.

The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby — From Birth to Age Two. Sears, William M., and Martha Sears. New York: Little, Brown & Co., 1993.

Children First: What Our Society Must Do — And Is Not Doing — For Our Children Today. Leach, Penelope. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc, 1995.

Growing Together: A Parent's Guide to Baby's First Year. Sears, William. Schaumburg, IL: La Leche League, Intl., 1997.

The Continuum Concept. Liedloff, Jean. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1985.

The Complete Book of Christian Parenting & Child Care: A Medical & Moral Guide to Raising Children. Sears, William M., and Martha Sears. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1997.

Twenty-Five Things Every New Mother Should Know. Sears, Martha, and William Sears. Edited by Linda Ziedrich. Boston: Harvard Common Press, 1995.

A Secure Base. Bowlby, John. New York: Basic Books, 1990.

A Ride on Mother's Back: A Day of Baby-Carrying Around the World. Bernhard, Emery. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Children's Books, 1996.

Periodicals

Mothering Magazine Mothering Magazine P.O. Box 1690 Santa Fe, NM 87504 Phone: [phone] Subscriptions: [phone]

Mothering is the best and best known magazine for families who are interested in attachment parenting concepts. Describing itself as "the natural family living magazine," Mothering tackles parenting topics — from breastfeeding your toddler to cloth diapering to family bedding — in a thoughtful, thought provoking way.

Breast & Belly P.O. Box 395 Dover, NH 03821

Breast & Belly is a magazine of birth stories, gentle parenting, and breastfeeding advocacy.

Hip Mama P.O. Box 9097 Oakland, CA 94613 Phone: [phone] http://www.hipmama.com

Hip Mama is the most provocative parenting magazine in existence. Unlike many other parenting periodicals, Hip Mama doesn't leave out nontraditional and low income reader families.

Compleat Mother P.O. Box 2009 Minot, North Dakota 58702 http://www.compleatmother.com

Compleat Mother provides readers with support and information for the attachment style of parenting. Its views tend toward the radical.

New Beginnings La Leche League International 1400 N. Meacham Rd. P.O. Box 4079 Schaumburg, IL 60168-4079 http://www.lalecheleague.org

New Beginnings is the official magazine from La Leche League International, the world's foremost breastfeeding support volunteer organization. In the magazine you will find articles relating to every aspect of La Leche League's philosophy of "mothering through breastfeeding."

The Mother Is Me 64 Voorhis Road Lincoln Park, NJ 07035 http://www.motherisme.com E-mail: [e-mail]

The Mother Is Me is an innovative feminist quarterly chronicling both the extraordinary and the everyday experience of mothering.

Organizations

La Leche League International 1400 N. Meacham Rd. P.O. Box 4079 Schaumburg, IL 60168-4079 http://www.lalecheleague.org

La Leche League provides mother-to-mother support for breastfeeding families (see the expanded discussion of La Leche League on page 141).

I Am Your Child Foundation P.O. Box 15605 Beverly Hills, CA 90209 http://www.iamyourchild.org

This exciting organization has a goal of making sure that all parents are aware how critical the first three years of their children's lives are. They have a strong emphasis on encouraging responsive parenting.

Northwest Attachment Parenting (NAP) P.O. Box 2433 Port Orchard, WA 98366 E-mail: [e-mail]

NAP is a grassroots, nonprofit organization offering a growing number of attachment parenting support groups around the country, a newsletter, and attachment oriented mentoring and parenting classes for young parents.

Attachment Parenting International (API) 1508 Clairmont Place Nashville, Tennessee 37215 Phone or Fax: [phone] http://advicom.net/~parkers E-mail: [e-mail]

With the slogan "peaceful parenting for a peaceful world," API works to educate the public about the importance of parent-child attachment. API offers local attachment parenting support groups, an educational web site, a speaker's bureau, and more.

Apple Tree Family Ministries P.O. Box 2083 Artesia, CA 90702-2083 Phone or Fax: [phone] E-mail: [e-mail]

Apple Tree Family Ministries provides family life education from a Christian Biblical perspective. They offer books and study materials, training and certification for Christian childbirth educators, and one-on-one support on issues ranging from marriage to childbirth and early parenting. Their approach incorporates attachment parenting principles. Dr. William and Martha Sears are members of their board and recommend their materials.

The Liedloff Continuum Network P.O. Box 1634 Sausalito, CA 94966 http://continuum-concept.org E-mail: [e-mail]

Jean Liedloff, an American writer, spent several years living among a group of South American Indians, an experience which led her to write her book, The Continuum Concept. After observing the way in which this traditional culture raised their children, she became an advocate of attachment style parenting. Through her organization you can learn more about her views and connect with other "continuum" parents from around the world.

Internet E-Mail Lists

PARENT-L

The Parent-l List is a forum for discussing issues related to parenting the nursing baby or child. The topics for discussion vary widely, and include subjects related to life with a nursing toddler or baby, nursing during pregnancy, tandem nursing, societal attitudes towards breastfeeding, weaning, and any other related topics. To subscribe to parent-l, send the following command in the body of an e-mail message to: parent-l-request "subscribe parent-l" (no quotes).

The Attachment Parenting List

This list provides a gentle introduction to the attachment parenting style. You will find many expectant, new, and experienced parents here who can answer your questions and share your daily parenting joys and challenges. To subscribe, go to: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/Attachment-Parenting

APWORKS

APW is for parents who combine a career with attachment parenting. If you are interested in issues such as working and breastfeeding or finding attachment parenting-friendly caregivers, this list is the right place for you! To subscribe, go to the APW web page at: http://www2.cybernex.net/~gene/ap-works.html

FEM-AP

This is a list for feminist attachment parents. You can subscribe by sending mail to: listproc @listproc.bgsv.edu containing the line "subscribe Fem-APMas YOUR FULL NAME" (no quotes)

SAH-AP

The SAH-AP mailing list is a support and learning forum for moms or dads who make attachment style parenting a way of life. Many are stay-at-home parents. To subscribe send the command "subscribe" (no quotes) to: [e-mail]

PGAP SAH-AP

For parents interested in natural pregnancy and birth and attachment parenting. To subscribe, send an email to: [e-mail] and in the body of the message, put "SUBSCRIBE" (no quotes)

WOH2SAH-AP

A support group for attachment parenting working mothers contemplating a move to stay-at-home mothering. To subscribe send the command "subscribe woh2sah-ap" (no quotes) to: [e-mail]

RES-PAR

A list for attachment parents (of children past babyhood) who wish to continue to raise their kids in a respectful, gentle way. Send the command "subscribe res-par firstname lastname" (no quotes) to: [e-mail]

APS

Alternative Parenting Styles is for anyone who does not fit in with "mainstream" parents. Can be anything from unschooling, to vegetarian kids, attachment parenting, living off the land, etc. Send an e-mail message reading "subscribe APS" (no quotes) to [e-mail]

PARENTING AS MINISTRY (PAM)

A list for Christian attachment parents. You can subscribe automatically at the web page: http://www.mailing-list.net/redrhino

NAP-LIST

A discussion list for attachment parents offered by Northwest Attachment Parenting. To subscribe, send email to [e-mail] and in the body of the message, put "subscribe" (no quotes)

INTERNET WEB SITES

There are literally hundreds of attachment parenting oriented Web sites on the Internet today and the number grows each month. Here are a few of the best to get you started:

The Nurturing Parent
http://www.splatterwerx.com/tnp

The Attachment Parent
http://www.attachmentparent.com

Wears the Baby
http://www.wearsthebaby.com

The Breastfeeding and Parenting Resources Page
http://www.prairienet.org/community/health/laleche/other.html

Laura's Parenting Page
http://www.kjsl.com/~thisbe/parenting.html

The Nursing Baby
http://www.nursingbaby.com

Kelly's Attachment Parenting Page
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Prairie/3490/parenting.html

The No-Spanking Page
http://www.neverhitachild.org

The Natural Child Project
http://www.naturalchild.com

The Attachment Parenting WebRing Homepage
http://www.members.tripod.com/~JudyArnall/ring.html

The Willendorf Pages
http://wg.rnet.com/willie/WILLIE.html

The Kidz Are People Too Page
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/8148

Bestfed.com
http://www.bestfed.com

Nurtured.Com
http://www.nurtured.com

The Nature of Nurturing
http://www.seldomfar.com/nurturing/index.html

Attachment Parenting at Suite 101
http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/attachment-parenting

The Natural Parenting WebRing Homepage
http://www.kjsl.com/webring

Copyright © 1999 by Katie Allison Granju and Betsy Kennedy

About the Author

www.katieallisongranju.com
Katie Allison Granju is a writer whose work has appeared in The Chicago Tribune, Disney's Family.Com, Microsoft's Underwire, and Salon's very popular "Mothers Who Think" column. She is the mother of three attachment-parented young children.

Betsy Kennedy, R.N., M.S.N., is a clinical instructor in obstetrical and neonatal nursing at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. In addition to her experience working with Mother and babies in a family birthing center setting, she lectures nationally in her field. She is the mother of an attachment-parented toddler.