Newsflash, babies are not mindless drones. You can’t program them to follow a specific schedule or even to act a certain way. They are people.
Now with that newsflash out of the way, let us get to the root. I always thought that my self-discipline and desire to strive for excellence would be the key to parenthood. I am a very patient person who will persevere until I get where I want to be. However, my four-month-old daughter has turned me into her whipping post numerous times.
My wife is a career woman, and we are both sold on the benefits of breastfeeding. She feeds her when she is home and then pumps when she is not. We give her that milk in a bottle when she is working. Therefore, it is important to keep our daughter on a schedule to ensure the pumping and feeding times are very close. Camryn sometimes disagrees.
Her sleeping habits are hit and miss. Five days out of the week, she is right on the money and the other two…not so much. No matter how hard we try to get her to sleep, she will wake up the second her head touches the crib. Then other days we just lay her down, and she puts herself to sleep.
At first, I was frustrated. I am not one to give up easily. Then it dawned on me, she is a person. I can impose my will and try to force her to succumb to my desires, but she has the last word. There is no way to force her to sleep or eat.
I smile because when she is older, I will get my revenge. I already have the spaghetti string tank top and biker short outfit purchased to greet her friends at the door. Until then, we, as parents, have to take a deep cleansing breath and realize we have very little control.
Some children fall right into a schedule, and others are stronger willed. Don’t feel as if you are a failure, we can’t win every battle.