Beyond the Sling

A Real-Life Guide to Raising Confident, Loving Children the Attachment Parenting Way

By: Mayim Bialik

Narrated by: Emily Durante

Length: 8 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

Mayim Bialik was the child star of the popular 1990s TV sitcom Blossom, but she definitely didn't follow the typical child-star trajectory. Instead, Mayim got her Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA, married her college sweetheart, and had two kids. Mayim then did what many new moms do - she 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.

That's 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 parenting's 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 explores the major tenets of attachment parenting, including:

• Co-sleeping: How to avoid "sleep training" and get a great night's sleep for the whole family.
• Breastfeeding: Learn how to listen to your baby's cues rather than sticking to a rigid schedule - and 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 child-it's 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-outs - it 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.

©2012 Mayim Bialik, Ph.D. (P)2012 Tantor

Critic reviews

"At once conversational, informative, and progressive, this book should be compulsory reading for anyone who has even considered becoming a parent." (Ricki Lake)

not really for me

What did you like best about Beyond the Sling? What did you like least?

I really like attachment parenting. This book, however, made it sound like "your life will be nothing but kids 24/7 and your marriage and friends will have to wait until your kids are teenagers if they want any of your attention". I'm all about baby wearing, breastfeeding, cosleeping, but when she started talking about elimination communication and not sleeping in the same bed as your spouse for years, she lost me.

What did you like best about this story?

I will give her this, she's comes off as non-judgemental. She tells you that this is the way she does it, but she knows it's not for everyone. She gives good birth, breastfeeding, and baby wearing advice.

Was Beyond the Sling worth the listening time?

Yes, the parts that weren't extreme, I took something home from. Even the extreme parts, I learned something from.

Great Parenting Book

I really enjoyed this book. It was a great knowledge resource for me after having my son that fit my more “natural” approach to life. Loved it.

Everyone should read this book, even if not a parent

Excellent book. Bravo. I identified myself so much. I needed this book so much as I travel in this world so opposit of the ways I think. Thank you!

Enjoyable & non-judgemental

Listened to this while pregnant and got a lot of good information and ideas about how I would like myself & husband to raise our children. Probably won't implement every idea, i.e. still skeptical about elimination communication, but still enjoyed hearing about the idea of it. Written in a very down to earth style.

great jumping off point

good place to start for a comprehensive view of attachment parenting. left a few questions unanswered

Explains her style without condemning others

I loved this book, even though I don't plan to be an "attachment parent." Mayim says a few times in this book that she doesn't judge... and it's true. She really doesn't. She just lays out her parenting style for those of us who are curious. I really appreciated the laidback philosophy. It's obvious that she loves her kids. From co-sleeping (impractical?) to baby-wearing (sorta cool - I may steal this one) to diaperless babies (ew), her ideas were interesting and educational. She drew a picture of a life that embraces a child rather than treating him like an add-on.

Loved it

The book gave me an explanation as to why I kept insisting on some parenting decisions (that felt so right to me ) even though they seemed unpopular with some family members' thoughts about how my child should be raised. I am glad I stumbled upon this book. Very encouraging.

Good except the anti-vax part

A lot of good anecdotal info here, but when she, as a scientist, decided not to vaccinate her children, she lost a lot of credibility with me.

Good introduction for those unfamiliar...

I think this would be an excellent introduction to many of these principles for those unfamiliar this type of parenting.

As someone who already intends to practice many of these elements/styles of parenting, I was surprised at the number of times I was turned off by her. I read this book expecting to learn more and be taken deeper into the concepts of attachment parenting by learning from someone's every day experience.

Instead I was turned off by being educated as to what my "parental intuition" was "going to be". I guess I expected more of "figure out what works for you - here is what worked well for us" and less, "if you do it this way it will feel right to you".

I appreciated her non-judgmental stance on the various parenting styles and fully embrace her ideas about accepting that different things will work well for different families.

Positive blunt perspective

The voice was calming and conversational, great for walking with. Content was well choosen by author to demonstrate the method of child rearing selected. Not an extremely in depth review of all subjects covered, but the author recommended additional research in the areas that interest the reader.