Treat Your Newborn As Though You Have Four Other Children!

This is the wise statement of a mother of five! She has effectively communicated what all other parents of several children took years to learn.

That is invaluable knowledge born out of necessity, which was often the only effective way!

She saw that the two most important things were that her infant slept well and ate well. That allowed her to make everything else work.

How exactly does this idea work?

1.Infants know how to eat and sleep. Do not mess it up!
     a.Feed your infant when they are hungry, let them sleep when they are tired.
     b.Do not disturb their natural body needs.
     c.Do not wake them up to feed.
     d.If you are a nursing mom, it is important that you follow the nursing mom’s diet at all times. No exceptions – no treats. You will pay a price for that choice because your infant will probably not be able to digest what you have treated yourself to. It is not worth it.
     e.Usually by three or four months, you infant will be having a shorter morning nap and a longer afternoon nap. Especially in the afternoon, they may sometimes turn it into a catnap by making the sleep shorter. Either let them put themselves back to sleep or if they need help, a tap on the but to their bottom rhythmically will help.
     f.Whatever you do, do not get into the habit of feeding them every time they cry. They can quickly become “snackers”. Every cry is not a hungry one!
     g.They should be on three meals a day and a night feed.
     h.Make sure when you put them to bed they are full and they will sleep soundly.

2.Do not rush to pick them up as soon as they squeak or every cry. They often will settle down and get used to waiting. If they are waking up from naps crying, this often means they are still tired.

3.Do not carry them around when they are awake or provide them with some sort of motion all the time.

4.Keep them in a their home environment as much as possible. Your social life can wait! Nothing takes priority over the needs of your infant!

5.Talk! Talk! Talk! Talk! Tell them what is happening! They will get used to familiar phrases. If they wake up and you can’t get them right away, tell them that. Your voice will reassure them! Introduce them to music, especially by singing to them.

6.Part of the day should be a safe place where they can practice turning over, crawling and pulling themselves up.

7.They need time every day to entertain themselves. Ideally, on a floormat with appropriate toys to entertain and stimulate them. Let them work to reach the toys.

8.Step back! Let your infant show you their personality and skills! They can’t learn when you are doing everything for them.

Just think how busy you would be if you had four other children! So relax and give them some time and space! Sometimes they will have to figure it out.

Enjoy and good luck!