Time's current cover story takes on attachment parenting. A video synopsis here. Why Hanna Rosin objects to the movement:
Attachment parenting demands not just certain actions you take with your baby but also certain emotional states to accompany those actions. So, it’s not just enough to breast-feed but one has to experience "breast-feeding induced maternal nirvana." And it’s not enough to snuggle—you have to snuggle enough to achieve a spiritual high. As Badinter has said, once women were just expected to tolerate their babies, Betty Draper style, but now they are expected to experience "jouissance" loosely translated as "orgasm." And this is what makes the movement truly oppressive.
Susanna Schrobsdorff reflects on her own experiences:
As it turns out, public breast-feeding is the gateway drug to attachment parenting. If your child happens to take to breast-feeding, you do end up pretty attached, and keeping that newborn fed isn’t just a 20-minute refueling every two or three hours. It’s a nonstop buffet.
Naturally, after a while, dragging yourself out of bed to slump in a rocker for half the night seems ridiculous. I think you know where I’m going here. Yes, the family bed. It’s like moving from pot to cocaine. You are so tired, and it’s so easy. Of course, if you’re an accidental attachment parent like me, you kept the crib for daytime napping and as a fig leaf in case someone from out of state visited. So many of these so-called choices are nothing more than a slow stumble into a habit that doesn’t seem like such a big deal if you run with a certain crowd.
The Dish 