Is What 'They' Say True?!

The omnipotent THEY seems to haunt new parents everywhere. . . "They say your baby has to breast feed to bond with you." "They say not to ever place a baby on his or her belly to sleep." "They say a baby cannot be spoiled in the first couple of months." THEY say a lot, now don't they: Some of which is true, and others not so much. I'm a new parent and if I wasn't older (and stubborn as hell), I might be utterly overwhelmed with all THEY tell me to do, and not to do. We have received so many different opinions just from our doctors alone; let me just say, none of them are very consistent. So who is a new parent to trust?? And how in the hell do teen moms not kill their kids with all these mixed messages?? As much as I trust our doctors and friends, as a mom you know what to do. And just like adults, not all babies are alike!

We read a good many books, especially on sleep training, and we pick and choose what we think will work.  We tried the cookie cutter plan that THEY say works for all babies: swaddle them to sleep.  Yeah, so that worked for all of two days the first week, and not even well. The little guy turned into the Hulk, and we could hear him grunting and ripping the Velcro apart with his baby-man arms.. He screamed bloody murder, and that was that. One day we flipped the sucker over like a pancake and Viola!; he sleeps like, well,  a baby (which makes no sense to say)...  Go ahead, judge us! Please judge us and our one month old that sleeps four consecutive hours (give or take a bit) per night, and in his own room.  He wakes up, eats like a champ, and bellies back down to sleep!  Yes, I said in his own crib since he was 2.5 weeks. Should you go run and flip you baby and toss him in his crib at two and a half weeks because I say so? Hell no, unless you enjoy being a sheep (bah bah)...

My point (I'm sure you were waiting for it); do what works for YOUR baby! And I in no way condone dismissing your practitioner's feedback and advice. You listen, and listen well, but keep in mind that your baby may not agree.  Atticus did not 'like' his original formula, and it seemed it took an act of congress to get the doctor to agree to let us change it.  The bottom line is we are his parents, and if we feel something is best then we go for it, wisely of course.  He also had a reaction to his diapers, which the docs said was normal.. Really, I don't prefer our son to have bright red nether regions... So, we switched the diapers and now he's golden. One doctor said not to give him water for his constipation, to get suppositories; the other doctor said to give him water twice a day... Do you see the dilemma?!  So we went with what made sense to us... Water, duh. I'm not torturing the guy with a slimey bullet in his rear everyday when he can drink water (and yes we did try the suppository). But the noodle was still grunting like a pissed off warthog, so we gave him water. And guess what? He now poops as he should... Shocker.

Do I sound like some crazy nonconformist?! Ok, don't answer that...  We have a wonderful Pediatrician whose opinion we value; however, if you are conditioned to always take the first advice you hear, from anyone, you may miss out on an amazing self teaching moment.  There are times when we just want to call someone with kids (who has kept them alive), and verify that we aren't endangering the little guy.

 So far parenting is a dash of knowledge, a large dallop of 'wing it,' and a shat ton of OMG.

I write this post late at night while staring at the video monitor, thinking... What will our son teach us next.

"When a child asks you something, answer him, for goodness sake." -Atticus Finch