Congratulations on becoming a new mother! I bet you are loving this! I, too, am expecting my first baby in July (a girl!), and I wondered if you had an advice for a new mother? I am curious as to what I will expect… Do you have any great advice? Can you pass it on? I’ll take all I can get, I’m scared crapless!
Signed: Bertha Cummings
Dear Bertha,
Ohhh, how I wish this parenting thing came with a handbook. And even if it DID come with a handbook, throw it out. It’s useless. There is a WORLD of advice out there, but we are all built different so what works for a dozen of your friends baby’s, will not work for your daughter. (Congratulations by the way! This is going to start your life over in a way that you never expected, but the best way EVER!)
She will soon be a puzzle that you put together every day, one piece at a time. And just when you think your puzzle is put together, you look, and there’s a piece missing. It can be frustrating, but also very rewarding, for you now have a little being who will love you unconditionally for the rest of your life. Isn’t that the best feeling in the world? It is for me.
The best advice handed down to me (and welcomed): You can’t hold your baby too much, and no matter HOW long you hold her, she can never be spoiled. I was given the book “The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding” by a friend and I loved that book. It’s not all about just breastfeeding though its target is the nursing mother. The book had a quote in it that put me to ease, it read like this: “Baby your baby. You can’t spoil a baby, his wants are his needs. The need to be lovingly held when he is upset is as strong and as important as his need to be fed and kept warm and dry. So, if your infant stops crying when you pick him up and hold him, just keep on holding him and be happy that you are there to satisfy this important emotional need… by all means, baby your baby”
So love her, kiss her, hold her, feed her, rock her, snuggle her, comfort her, caress her, bathe her, dress her, and admire her every second of every day for the rest of her life, and you can’t ever go wrong… that’s my only advice and to enjoy this amazing new chapter in your life.
