I am reading many a book about babies lately. Most of them were given to me during pregnancy. They are good, but seem to conflict with each other about baby advice. Here are some examples:
The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding says:
-Share a bed with your newborn. It's the only way to get great sleep at night. You won't even know when they're nursing and they will feel safe and secure.
-Nurse your child as often as they want to. Don't worry about a baby eating too much or gaining too much weight. They will regulate themselves and how much they should eat- much like we decide if we are going to have a large meal or snack on a bowl of cereal.
What to Expect the First Year says:
-Put your baby in another room after 1 or 2 weeks. It helps you to get more sleep because you don't hear all of their baby noises and it helps your baby to get more sleep because you are not checking on all of their baby noises.
- Nurse your baby every 2-3 hours. When they cry because they want to eat all the time ( a page about a woman feeding her child every hour) it could be because they are greedy and want to eat more than they need. Distract them with other things to try to stretch the time between feedings.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg. The books all contradict each other on major topics. I think just experimenting and finding what Jason and I can live with on these topics is the best way.The books have good ideas, but are not the expert on my little guy. As long as Ethan is clean, fed, and happy then we are doing a great job.
I think that's a smart idea on yall's part. Everyone (and every book) seems to have their own opinions, but when it comes down to it, you have to do what works best for you. We had Sadie sleeping in her crib through most of the night by the time I got back to work (10 weeks) but from time to time we still put her in bed with us when she's extra fussy and I've heard that's not good to do either. To each his own :)
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