No, this is not your typical advice column. There are tons of articles out there that will tell you exactly what all babies need. No, I just wanted to touch on how different every baby is.
Take, for instance the whole swaddling thing. My little man pretty much hated it right out of the gate. He is a free spirit who loves waving his arms and kicking his legs. I tried and tried, stuffing those little arms in blankets and those pre-made swaddlers. It only made him mad. He would scream, cry, and wriggle until his little arms were free once again.
Or what about the whole “don’t co-sleep” mandate touted by all the experts? It took months, but I finally came to the decision that it had to be done. For all those who are horrified by this, hear me out.
My baby started out in a bassinet, and he did OK. It took a while and a lot of blankets to get him warm and comfortable (always kept well away from his face for safety, but this is the only way he would sleep well).
When he got too big for the bassinet, we moved him to his crib. It took a bit of coaxing, but he finally felt comfortable and would sleep in there. He was basically still in our room, but a little further away than he was in the bassinet. That is when things started to go downhill.
By about six months old, he began getting up more and more frequently, only going back to sleep when I fed him. Eventually it got down to about one hour of sleep in between ‘feedings’ in which he didn’t really do much eating. I was delirious with the lack of sleep and he and I were both quite cranky. As a last straw, my husband and I decided to start putting him in bed with us for convenience, and presto, he began to sleep better.
What my baby needed was me. It’s a universal truth: Babies need love. What the experts touted as a solution never did work with him. What worked is what my heart yearned for – closeness with my baby.
So read all you want about what babies need, but understand that these solutions are not as universal as they would like you to believe. Has your baby ever proved the experts wrong? I would love to hear about it. What makes your baby unique? Leave a comment below.
