Mayim Bialik - Beyond the Sling: A Real-Life Guide to Raising Confident, Loving Children the Attachment Parenting Way

Praise for

Beyond the Sling is a delightful look into the parenting journey Mayim is making with her husband. Her family-first stories are an inspiring reminder of how we navigated these waters ourselves. We have learned that when parents choose to parent with attachment in mind, they make a lot of other good, holistic decisions regarding the health and well-being of the family. She invites her readers to understand attachment parenting, see how it is working for her family, and choose what can work for their own.

WILLIAM SEARS, MD, AND MARTHA SEARS, RN, coauthors of The Baby Book and The Attachment Parenting Book

As an outspoken advocate for childbirth choices, I have worked tirelessly to educate parents about their birthing options. With Beyond the Sling, Mayim Bialik has developed a fantastic guide to birth and parenting that is packed with invaluable wisdom. At once conversational, informative, and progressive, this book should be compulsory reading for anyone who has even considered becoming a parent.

RICKI LAKE, executive producer of The Business of Being Born and author of Your Best Birth

Drawing on her education as a neuroscientist, her instinct as a mother, and a community of support, Mayim has passionately embraced attachment parenting principles for raising her children. In Beyond the Sling, she shows how the secure attachment relationship that she has developed with her children has given her the confidence to define her own natural parenting style.

BARBARA NICHOLSON AND LYSA PARKER, cofounders of Attachment Parenting International and coauthors of Attached at the Heart

Beyond the Sling goes beyond the scope of the standard books to enhance the parenting experience. Mayims warmth, dedication, and professionalism are felt throughout this wonderful book.

LAUREN FEDER, MD, author of Natural Baby and Childcare and The Parents Concise Guide to Childhood Vaccinations

M ayim Bialik was the child star of the popular 1990s TV sitcom Blossom, but she definitely didnt follow the typical child-star trajectory. Instead, Mayim got her PhD in neuroscience from UCLA, married her college sweetheart, and had two kids. Mayim then did what many new moms doshe read a lot of books, talked with other parents, and she soon started questioning a lot of the conventional wisdom she heard about the right way to raise a child. Thats when she turned to attachment parenting, a philosophy and lifestyle popularized by well-known physicians like Dr. William Sears and Dr. Jay Gordon.

To Mayim, attachment parentings natural, child-led approach not only felt right emotionally, it made sense intellectually and instinctually. She found that when she followed her intuition and relaxed into her role as a mother instead of following some rigid parenting script, both she and her children thrived. Drawing on both her experience as a mother and her scientific background, Mayim presents the major tenets of attachment parenting, including:

CO-SLEEPING

How to avoid sleep training and get a great nights sleep for the whole family.

BREASTFEEDING

Learn how to listen to your babys cues rather than sticking to a rigid scheduleand why people on airplanes love a nursing mother.

BABY WEARING

How to wear your baby in a sling or a wrap to develop a closer bond with your childs possible even for mamas with bad backs (and with big babies)!

GENTLE DISCIPLINE

How to get your child to behave without yelling, threats, or time-outsit really can be done.

Mayim describes the beauty, simplicity, and purposefulness of attachment parenting, and how it has become the guiding principle for her family. Much more than a simple how-to parenting guide, Beyond the Sling shows us that the core principles underlying attachment parenting are universal and can be appreciated no matter how you decide to raise your child.

DENISE HERRICK BORCHERT

Mayim Hoya Bialik is best known for her role as Blossom Russo in the 1990s television sitcom Blossom and her role as Amy Farrah Fowler on The Big Bang Theory . She earned a BS and a PhD in neuroscience from UCLA. Mayim and her husband live in Los Angeles with their two sons: Miles, born in 2005, and Frederick, born at home (unassisted until the final push) in 2008. She writes regularly for Kveller.com and is the spokesperson for the Holistic Moms Network.

visit her at mayimbialik.net.

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COPYRIGHT 2012 SIMON & SCHUSTER

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This publication contains the opinions and ideas of its author. It is intended to provide helpful and informative material on the subjects addressed in the publication. It is sold with the understanding that the author and publisher are not engaged in rendering medical, health, or any other kind of personal professional services in the book. The reader should consult his or her medical, health, or other competent professional before adopting any of the suggestions in this book or drawing inferences from it.

The author and publisher specifically disclaim all responsibility for any liability, loss or risk, personal or otherwise, which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this book.

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Copyright 2012 by Mayim Bialik

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Touchstone Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

First Touchstone trade paperback edition March 2012

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Photograph on page 16 designed by Maia Rosenfeld.
Other photographs courtesy of the author.

Designed by Ruth Lee-Mui

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bialik, Mayim.
Beyond the sling : a real-life guide to raising confident,
loving children the attachment parenting way / Mayim Bialik.