Attach this.

So, for the first time, I read Attachment Parenting by Dr. William Sears. I wasn't impressed. It wasn't the ideas I had a problem with them. Actually, I think that attachment parenting makes a lot of sense. But the whole book could've been summed up with:

1. Breastfeed if you can for as long as you can.
2. Bedshare if you want to.
3. Carry your kid a lot.
4. If something's not working, try something else or get help.

I suppose the above wouldn't have sold well, but my problems with the book were as follows:

1. As with any book advocating something "unusual," it's preachy and defensive.
2. Much of the "evidence" it referred to was anecdotal, taken from Dr. Sears' practice. I think that some amount of this would've been helpful, but I know from prior research that a large and growing body of actual, scientific data backs up most of the ideas in the book. That was very frustrating because it seemed as though the author was too lazy to do any external research himself, almost as though he had all the answers already, or thought he did.
3. The suggestions Dr. Sears gives for decompressing are irritatingly stereotypical. For example, in several sections, he recommends that to relax, the mother go take a bubble bath or sew. I actually enjoy sewing and it does help me decompress when I think to do it, but... Honestly? Sew?
4. Some of the anecdotes in the book were completely unbelievable.
5. It was way, way, way too long for a book that offers just a few ideas and only anecdotes to back them up. I felt like the same thing was being pounded into my head over and over.

So there. Love the ideas in Attachment Parenting, hate the author's style.

So very tired.

I'm just about wiped out. Evelyn either had a really weird cold that involved only congestion, or she's teething. Regardless, in addition to lots of hand gnawing, said stuffy nose coincided with another little *click* in her brain. Normally that's delightful, but I've noticed that as children get older, clicks also mean that whatever you'd been doing before that was guaranteed to get them to sleep suddenly doesn't work anymore. Seriously - one day it works, then the next day it never works again ever. So frustrating!

Anyway, until Thursday night I've been able to just carry her around for five minutes, jiggling her gently, to get her to sleep. Then Thursday night, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, yesterday and now today, I've spent two hours or more alternately carrying her and gently laying her down while I walk away for a few minutes so I don't get too tense from carrying around a screaming baby, then coming back to pick her up. Only after she's wiped herself out a bit will she sleep. It sucks because she's never been a screamer and she doesn't get upset about anything else. She screamed so much yesterday, I was convinced that she had an ear infection from all of last week's congestion and took her to acute care, only to be told that she was completely healthy.

Anyway, none of this is particularly important. I'm really putting this here because it bothered me that every time I come to this page, the first thing I see is the post about having to put my cat to sleep. I really ought to be going to bed. Last night I got the most sleep I've gotten in one stretch in a week and that was only four hours without interruption. Sad, isn't it, when four hours of sleep is cause for celebration? Huh.