Caring for Newborns: How in the world do you do it?

Well, we took our first childbirth class last night. I really enjoyed it a lot! There are two other babies due within just a couple days of Isaiah so that's really exciting. Believe it or not, Will is excited about this class and he really liked it. In case you don't know him too well, he's not the type of person to like any kind of social gathering even if he's learning something from it. So for him to be excited about this class makes me very happy. It shows me that he really wants to know as much as possible about helping me through labor and being a good support buddy for me. He is also really excited about learning how to be a good daddy and take care of our little boy after he's born. He thinks he's not going to be a good dad, but I know he'll be a GREAT one! If someone is as eager to learn about caring for babies as he is, then they are bound to do a great job! I keep telling him that NOBODY knows how to care for a newborn baby until they've done it themselves. I've been working in childcare with infants and toddlers for 6 years and I still have no idea how to take care of a newborn, except for what I have read (and reading is nothing compared to real life experiences). Babies don't come to me until they are at least 6 weeks old and they are usually older than that. So it's something that we can learn together.

I have been reading this book called On Becoming Baby Wise: Giving Your Infant the Gift of Nighttime Sleep by Gery Ezzo, M.A. and Robert Bucknam, M.D. and I highly recommend it. The authors emphasize the importance of having an infant on a flexible schedule to begin training their bodies to respond to feedings and nap times in a way that they will be sleeping through the night at 7 to 9 weeks of age. It is at 7 weeks old that their little bodies are capable of sleeping through the night but a lot of babies are not sleeping through the night until much older, making a full night's rest elusive for so many tired moms and dads. They emphasize giving your infant a full meal every time they eat so they aren't just snacking every hour to hour and a half, which will keep their tummies full until the next scheduled feeding (unless they show signs of hunger a little before the scheduled feeding, that's why it's a flexible schedule). The authors also give examples of different types of cries and discuss how important it is to recognize the cries so you don't assume they are hungry every time they begin to wimper and wail. There are some schools of thought which teach that every time the baby cries, he needs to be fed. That way he will feel loved because you responded immediately to his needs. But they don't need food every time they cry. Sometimes babies just have fussy times when they feel like crying for no reason at all, or they are tired, or starting to become ill, or have gas. It's philosophies like that that teach people to comfort themselves with food when they get older, which only leads to obesity. Some of the things I explained seem like they should be common sense, but there is so much more to this book than what I can possibly explain well. Anyway, this is an excellent book and I can't wait to see how it all works. I guess I won't know until Isaiah gets here! You can find the book at Barnes & Noble and Books a Million for only $13.95 but I think that most libraries have it. I borrowed mine from a friend but will end up buying it for myself just so that I can read the important parts again after Isaiah is born.