There are two times in your life where you’ll learn what others think about you and your decisions. The first is if you run for a political office. The other is after you have a child.
After my daughter was born, my wife and I quickly learned every single person on this planet had a strong opinion about some area of parenting. Each of them has chosen to ‘bless’ us with said advice. So much information, I determined one thing: there is no right way.
Disclaimer: Obviously when it comes to safety, the writing is black and white. However, just about everything else is gray. For example, breastfeeding. There are those who shy away from it because it’s too difficult and time consuming. I thought it would be best to nurse, but that is easy for me to say. My wife had to make that decision, and I’m thankful she chose to and is still after five and a half months.
Another heated topic is the pacifier. Some friends are in utter disbelief we chose to give a ‘paci’ to our daughter. Others refuse to consider any other alternative. The experts are on both sides of the fence.
In fact, I found that on just about every single topic. Some books scorn mothers for choosing disposable diapers while others call you a fool for using cloth ones. There are those who say to let a baby cry themselves to sleep and going in the room will spoil them. Then some say it’s impossible to spoil a baby.
Talk about a headache! What to do then? Believe it or not, your instincts will kick into gear. I never thought mine would until I held my daughter for the first time. It was then I realized I could do this. My wife’s did the exact same thing.
Most of what we ‘planned’ to do from reading books has been abandoned with experience. The bottom line of this article is not to consider others to be the experts with your child, only you can be the real expert. Trust your instincts.