Weaning a two-and-a-half-year old is HARD :(

[Lee-Bee]

Sevenwatersdaughter:

Just keep in mind that many of us caregivers have had "AP" families bring us their children with no preparation for the daycare world. It is frustrating and very hard for caregivers to help transition a child that has never slept alone, doesn't have any self soothing skills etc.

As caregivers our views are skewed to what we know. There is a great deal of research that fully support AP parenting and shows that these children grow up to be fully confident children/teens/adults. But, it is hard on the child and hard on the caregiver to go from strong AP to group care without allowing time to prepare the child.

You nailed it on the head with the difference between AP and permissive parenting. As another poster commented many families call themselves AP due to their permissiveness. It does NOT imply all AP families are permissive. I have 2 in my daycare...they are great families but cannot allow their child to fuss at all without immediately stopping what they are doing and letting the child have their way. Many caregivers on here have experienced the same. As you mentioned this is not true AP. It does no one any good. As I mentioned in my previous post AP gets a bad rap...but it is due to the "permissive" parenting that gets grouped in with AP.

I don't doubt your daughter is a confident awesome child and I truly don't doubt that it is largely your parenting style that made her that way. My daughter is much the same...aside from her current insane separation anxiety period she is a very laid back, chill, brave and confident 13month old. We do our best to prepare her for the world. We baby wear, extend breastfeed, bedshare etc according to what fits our family.

If you are unhappy with your current breastfeeding relationship then adapt it to fit your needs. Feel free to keep asking such questions here...many will give their judgement and their beliefs based on their experiences with their children and their work with families. Ignore what you don't agree with and take from what you do agree with. There are many strong personalities on here...but from my short time here I don't think they try to attack or be mean they just voice what they feel based on their experiences.