My Type of Mothering

It's interesting for me to think about the type of mother that I am so far. While pregnant, when I would be asked what my plans were in regards to x, y, or z, I really didn't have an answer. I wanted to feel things out and see what felt right. Even in regards to whether or not I would breastfeed, I really had no idea and I didn't give it any prior thought. I did have one well-defined intention in parenting though that Casey and I discussed a bit. That was to do our best to anticipate Elle's needs before she knew she had them. Meaning, feed her before she felt a hunger pang. Put her to sleep before she felt the discomfort of tiredness. Change her diaper before it started to itch. More or less, our goal was to learn our baby and her cues to the best of our ability and be on her beck and call. I felt pretty strongly about this. Longterm, I'm under the impression that it helps build empathy in children. And by under the impression, I mean that this is an Eastern practice and is well-researched. You know, I really do think we've done a pretty good job with this. Casey and I certainly tried. What I didn't want was her to wail while we tried changing her diaper, rocking her, feeding her, putting her in her bouncer, and everything else you can attempt to soothe an infant. That idea seemed so clumsy and stressful to me. Otherwise, I read "The Happiest Baby on the Block" in my last week of pregnancy and was pretty sold on the notion of the 4th trimester and with that comes a lot of physical contact, nursing, swaddling, and white noise. 


Which brings me to my next point. I have a confession. Casey and I have been co-sleeping with Elle. This was something I had previously dismissed. We did it out of need one night because we knew the dogs would be barking up a storm late at night when Grandma Chris came over and we didn't want to wake up Elle. Again, I find ourselves doing things out of anticipation! It was just so much easier. Instead of straining my eyes staring at the monitor, or waking up in a panic because she was no longer in the camera's view because she had scooted her little diapered tush down her crib, I had my baby within an arm's reach and I could sooth her back to sleep without truly waking up. How blissful. We began with bringing her into our bed when she awoke at 4:00 so we could get a few more hours of sleep. More recently, we have been putting her to bed in our room at 6:00 and joining her a few hours lately. I really didn't think this was for us but it turns out, it is. Parenting is so much about doing what's right for you, your partner, and your child and there is no one-size fits all.


So what type of mother am I? I am a: co-sleeping, exclusive-breastfeeding, baby-wearing, swaddling, need-anticipating mother. I never knew I'd be so crunchy (read: granola) but that's how things turned out. And whether I like it or not, I am still pretty clumsy :)