Quote Originally Posted by AmandaKDT View Post
I don't see anything wrong necessarily with AP, co-sleeping and nursing on demand. I have done all those things with my two girls at one point or another, I also applaud anyone still nursing after the 1st year especially if they have to go back to work outside the home. But I also recognized that my girls needed to be prepared for other people to care for them, it is not fair to put that responsibility on someone else.
The question isn't whether it is right or wrong in this situation as this is about what translates positively to group care and what doesnt. Also there is a big difference between on demand feeding a child under 6 months and having a 12mth old pull down your top for the breast not because he is hungry but because it soothes him. Also getting him back to sleep by nursing for an hour while co-sleeping at 12 months old is in my opinion not the best thing for the child's healthy psychosocial development. Nursing a child because they are hungry is one thing, nursing them as a method of soothing them is not what breast milk is for. It is sustenance not comfort. I know they come hand in hand for a very small baby but this child is 12 months old and as a result of this can not sooth himself AT ALL so how is it of any benefit to him? Aside from this which is not really the subject in terms of group care issues, she is the parent, the primary caregiver and to leave me to deal with the aftermath of these practices for 10 hours a day and then not reinforce what I have have worked hard on at home but to continue inhibiting his ability to self sooth is detrimental to the child in a group setting. Ongoing, I hazard a guess that if she does not make any kind of changes this child will be at high risk for social issues which will be much harder to resolve. This child can not even make it through the day with a single minute not being taken up by him screaming and wailing and when his mother arrives, he is in a state of bliss as the cotton wool gets wrapped back around him again.