I gave birth to my son and my husband and I brought him home. We were both excited and nervous...BUT we had a plan. I nursed the baby, Daddy swaddled him, and we layed him in his bassinet to go to sleep...
HE HAD OTHER PLANS!
Apparently he wasn't down with that. After two days of him disagreeing with the "baby experts" (from our coveted library of baby how-to books), Michael and I decided to throw out our plans AND those silly books and go with our instincts.
At night we brought our son into the bed with us. He slept much better next to Mommy, where he could nurse on demand and feel comforted. During the day when he cried I knew that he was just talking to me and I tried to understand what he was saying and meet his needs accordingly. From then on everything went pretty smoothly.
BUT there was one hitch - he wanted to be held during his naps! I would swaddle, I would shush, I would sway, I would rock...the second I would lay him down his eyes would pop open and he would scream. So, guess what? He was held during nap time for the first 3 months of his life. It was exhausting, but I have never regretted doing it. My son needed to know I was there for him when he was awake AND asleep.
SKIP TO THREE YEARS LATER
When I was pregnant with my daughter I decided it would be impossible for me to hold her during naps AND wrangle a spirited toddler. But by then I had learned about babywearing. What a blessing! Really, it only makes sense to wear your baby on the outside of your body after birth. Especially when you consider that you've been wearing them on the inside of your body for 10 months.
I, once again, did an outrageous amount of research into baby carriers and discovered this gem - the Moby Wrap.
All I can say is, "GO GET ONE NOW!" My baby girl lived in this thing for 8 months. Now I wear her when I want to get things done around the house and when we go on outings. She is close to me, knows I am present for her and I don't go out of my mind.
Here is a quote from an article I found that says it all...
"Carry our babies to the car in a container, out of the car in a container, through the mall in a container, into the restaurant in a container, back to the car in a container, and home to a container, so that objects define our baby's existence more so than our body, is not just a step away from tradition. It is a cataclysmic change far out of step with the rhythmic pas de deux to which our babies' minds and bodies were choreographed... No species in a hundred years or so can turn the time-tested mother-baby relationship on its head without consequences. In the short term, diminished contact makes babies fussier than they need be and mothers more conflicted than they need be."
The Moby Wrap - the loving solution.
1 comment:
Oh how I wish I'd found your blog earlier. Avelyn is almost 5 months old now. I bought a sling and never felt like she was positioned safely and she hated being shoved in like a pea. I have a Bjorn that I've used a few times and it's okay but I can't sit down with it and I think it hurts her groin after a while. I am going to school full time and taking care of her in Houston while my husband works in SA during the week. Baby wearing sounds like something that would have made a HUGE difference for me! I wonder if it is too late for her to enjoy something like the Moby Wrap?
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