Baby Instructions...

Every parent will tell you they wish their child came with instructions. I never really knew how true that was until Emily arrived. There are so many books out there that think they are the long lost instruction manual everyone is looking for. Funny thing is - they all say something totally different but promise you their method will work for your child.

One says feed your child any time she cries - no matter how long it's been, another says wait exactly 3 hours (no more, no less) before feeding and another says wait 2.5 - 3.5 hours and feed her only if she's showing signs of being hungry. One book says every 3 hour cycle should be eat, activity, sleep and baby should be awake for 1.5 hours and sleep 1.5 hours of the cycle. Another book says activity, eat and then sleep.

And don't even get me started on rocking vs letting her cry herself to sleep; letting her cry or comforting her when she cries. Is carrying her in a sling or letting her fall asleep in the swing okay? And what about swaddling - should you swaddle your baby at night? If so, when do you stop? Read 3 different books and you'll get 3 very different opinions.

Confused yet? I know I am.

So now what... what should I do? Well, we've tried a lot of different things and we still have a baby who loves to scream her little head off for about 2 hours every night. Emily eats every 2.5 - 3.5 hours, she's awake a good part of day, she gets good naps and is happy and alert during the day (unless we are in the car, then she screaming). So according to all of the books she should be happy all of the time.

I call B.S. on all of the books! As Brad said last night, "Not one of those authors has met Emily."

I've decided if I want to rock Emily to sleep, I will. If I want to swaddle her until she's 3, I will. I'm going to do what I should have done a long time ago - raise my child the way Brad and I want, not the way a book says to.

Now if you'll excuse me - my child is crying and I'm going to comfort her (and I'm not going to feel bad about picking her up when she's crying).