Like many other moms, my first night home with my baby was a nightmare. He cried, I cried, and my husband cried. I felt like I didn’t know what I was doing when it came to anything, and the only way he’d drift off to sleep was if I fed him.
At his one-week checkup, my pediatrician asked me about our routine. When I got to the part about him only sleeping if he was being nursed, he told me to stop doing that immediately: “He needs to self-soothe, so you should be putting him in his crib when he’s awake.”
Those first few weeks were tough though. I stressed myself out so much trying to fight my intuition that I made myself sick.
Now my three kids are teenagers, and I’ve taken that lesson with me on this parenting journey now. I will tell you, from a mom who has been there and done that, listen to your gut when it comes to parenting and caring for your children. I don’t care if they are 2 days old or 2 years old. When you do something you aren’t comfortable with, no one wins.
You know your child and yourself better than anyone. If someone gives you advice you don’t like, or you try something and it doesn’t work (even if everyone else is doing it), you don’t have to do it.
Trust me, your whole family will be so much happier if you stick to what feels right and forget all the rest.
