“Parenting caring for a child is simple, and I know everything about it,” everyone thinks so, until he himself becomes a parent. When the baby is born, there are a lot of tasks that require outside advice, and sometimes help.
Breastfeeding up to a year or ... to school
When I decided on a baby and became pregnant, I began to make plans for how I would raise my baby. I had many friends with children, and I had someone to consult with. I looked closely at the young mothers and decided what I would do as well, and in what situations I would do otherwise. As for breastfeeding, I was of the opinion that it is necessary to breastfeed the baby, but not more than up to a year. In further feeding, I did not see the point, since the child should be accustomed to normal food, and I did not see any tangible benefit from breast milk after a year. Before my eyes, there were practically no examples of successful long-term breastfeeding, with the exception of my best friend, but I looked at it as her personal sweet quirk. In addition, many of my friends breast-fed children for up to three to four months, and switched to mixtures. If someone fed for more than six months, then he already considered himself almost a heroine mother.
When the baby appeared and I learned to breastfeed, I thought that I could not last three months. For the week that I learned to breastfeed, I was visited by different thoughts: “God, how to find the strength to endure a whole year?”, And “I guess I can handle it all the same”. In fact, it is difficult, and sometimes painful. When my daughter and I adapted, it turned out that not everything was so bad. I began to read the literature on breastfeeding and compare the pros and cons. I began to carefully study the latest research on breast milk, its effect on the health of the child and mother. "World Health Organization”Is inclined to believe that the child needs breast milk before the age of two, and I liked it. Why should I deprive my precious child and myself of those minutes of unity, when we are both happy. If the WHO conducts additional research and proves that breastfeeding is beneficial before school, it is possible that I will!
We also read: fundamental advice to nursing mothers
Go to bed baby
When I was expecting a baby, I imagined the following picture: my baby is in a bed, I sing him a lullaby, he falls asleep sweetly, and I go to sleep on my bed. In all books and programs on parenting, they constantly said that the child should sleep separately from the mother. And the future grandmother taught me this, and, most importantly, my husband insisted that the child should sleep in his crib. It also seemed to me that this was right and good for everyone: both for the baby and for his parents. In reality, everything turned out to be not so simple.
I forgot about the existence of the crib, which we so enthusiastically chose, even in the hospital, and I understood immediately that the crib would be with us just for beauty. My daughter, so nice and calm next to me, cried heartbrokenly in a maternity hospital plastic cradle on wheels. Doctors and nannies grumbled at me, seeing that she was sleeping with me. While waiting for the medical staff, I put the baby in the crib and tried to calm her down. When the door closed behind the doctors, took the baby back to her couch, we magically calmed down and fell asleep sweetly. Of course, she was so small that I was very afraid that I could crush her in a dream, but I also did not have the strength to listen to the child's angry cries.
On the first day after discharge from the hospital, I put my husband before the fact that the baby will sleep with us. But he was so moved by our tiny daughter and did not leave her a single step that he enthusiastically accepted my idea and did not argue. So we began to sleep three together on our double bed. When meeting with other young fathers, the husband does not forget to proudly boast that the three of us sleep, saying that it is very useful for the child’s nervous system and does not prevent dad from getting enough sleep.
We also read:
- Sleeping with your child - together or apart: the pros, cons, tips
- How I taught a baby to sleep in my crib
- Infant sleeping with mom - is it dangerous or not?
- Sharing a dream with a child - benefit or harm?
Being pregnant, I read a lot of literature about parenting and made certain conclusions for myself. In my head, I built an ideal plan for raising my daughter: I will feed for up to a year, the child will sleep in a separate bed, and kindergarten we will not go. But mom suggests, and the child touches. And as a result, I do as it will be better for me and the baby. Now my ideas have turned into a joke, which on occasion I tell my friends. And at the expense of kindergarten, I’ll think about it ...
Everything is purely individual. Personally, my child always slept in his crib, but I myself was afraid, suddenly accidentally crush at night. Breast-feeding the baby throughout the year. I see no more sense.
You can breastfeed up to a year or two, but I myself think the maximum term is 1.5 years. Itself survived, unfortunately, only 3 months, then the milk went away. But regarding sleep with the baby, I can say that there is nothing wrong with that. You just don't have to do it all the time. All the same, the main place of his sleep should be his own bed.
I am for sleeping with a child at lunchtime, but at night everyone should be in their places: the child in the crib, mom and dad in their own. So it will be more correct, I think, and safer for the child. The crib will better protect the baby during baby sleep, when the baby tosses and turns and can fall out of an ordinary adult bed.
I was always envious of those mothers who fed babies up to a year. I had to stop feeding breast milk after six months, because all this time I was decanting the milk, and it took a lot of time. And after a year I see no reason to feed, because the child already has a lot of “adult” food. Although ... in Israel (at least in biblical times) children were breast-fed until the age of 2-3. Maybe because the Jews are so smart? 🙂