Welcome to the February Carnival of Natural Parenting: Love and partners!

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month we’re writing about how a co-parent has or has not supported us in our dedication to natural parenting. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.

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We’ve been doing a lot of things differently with the third baby. I don’t know if it’s because I am home full time or because I’m more confident in my parenting skills or because I know more about Natural Parenting now than I did five, or even three, years ago. Probably a combination of these, plus my new dedication to putting my kids before all else.

At first, my husband was skeptical of some of the “new” approaches (which are in actuality very old). But I wasn’t giving in and insisted we at least try cloth diapers, bedsharing and (for the older two) the Time-In method. Once he saw how easy and effective they all were, he was sold.

He was most skeptical about the diapers. But I was no more interested in folding and pinning than he was, so I forked out the big bucks for one-size all-in-ones. These things are awesome. Not only are they just like disposables as far as ease of use, but they grow with the baby. Serieses of snaps make them adjust to fit teeny weenies like our Ellie all the way through potty-trainers. I haven’t tried using them on Connor because we just don’t have enough of them for it to be worth it but, in theory, I could. Ellie even wears them at night with no leakage. Once Mark saw how easy this was — that they weren‘t “George of the Jungle loincloths — he made no complaint about using them. He says he’s still questions whether all the water used to wash them makes them less green and economical. I’ve told him it is, but he’s not quite sold. As long as he uses them, I don’t really care if he is.

One-size cloth diapers

I decided to have Ellie in our bed after reading an issue of Mothering that was devoted almost solely to bedsharing and co-sleeping. The arguments for it made sense to me. After our bedtime issues with Grace, the one I was most interested in was that bedsharing makes sleep/bed more appealing to babies so it’s not a scary thing/place and once it’s time to sleep alone, they’ll do so without fuss. It took Mark a few weeks to adjust to it. He said he couldn’t sleep well because he was worried about rolling over onto her and because her grunts and rooting noises woke him up. I just asked him what he thinks of it now after two months of part-time bedsharing, funny enough, he says it allows him to sleep MORE because if she cries, it takes me only seconds to calm her. He still is a bit nervous about harm somehow coming to her, especially because he doesn’t always know when she’s in our bed because she often starts the night in her bassinet and comes to bed at the first feeding.

He wasn’t skeptical about the Time-In method so much as he wasn’t sure we’d stick to it. But we’ve really made an effort to do so. We both find times that it just doesn’t work and the kids are defiant and we do need to use a time-out. But I’ve see many times were Mark starts saying something and then amends it to conform to the Act/Ask/Attend/Amend tools.

On a side note, while talking to Mark about this blog post, he said that these days, I treat him as a co-parent and less as another dependent. I’m not sure what to make of that. Maybe he has just finally grown up. *wink*

If you want to know more about what Natural Parenting entails, check out the explanation at the bottom of this post. If you have questions about our thoughts on any other Natural Parenting principles/practices, feel free to ask in the comments or by e-mail to therecoveringprocrastinator@gmail.com.

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Carnival of Natural Parenting -- Hobo Mama and Code Name: MamaVisit Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

(This list will be updated Feb. 9 with all the carnival links, and all links should be active by noon EST. Go to Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama for the most recently updated list.)