Listen to Your Baby

As you hold your precious child whose main way of communicating his needs to you is by crying, you try to figure out how best to meet those needs and the questions fly through your head. "Why is he crying?" "Is he hungry again already?!" "Am I spoiling him?" Often complicationg the situation, people and books offer conflicting advice and give dire warnings of things that will happen if you don't do it their way. It's enough to make a new parent's head spin, not to mention cause a big guilt trip.

As a new parent, sure you have a lot to learn, but you've got the best teacher in the world right in your arms--your baby. Get to know your baby and help him know you by being there for him and responding to him from the heart. Soon you will know your baby so well that you are able to anticipate many of his needs, and he will begin to depend on you and trust that you will meet his needs. Babies are not manipulative creatures who want to control their parents. They are simply trying to survive and have their needs met.

The often overwhelming first days will go by more smoothly if you relax, enjoy your baby, and remember "this too shall pass." Ask for help when you need it, but do not add worry to your life by trying to follow parenting rules set by other people. Your baby is a unique individual with unique needs. When parents stop placing unnatural expectations on their babies and begin listening to their babies and to their hearts, life with a new baby becomes much more simple and enjoyable.

Reprinted from my pages at Suite101.com