Day 3: Physical Closeness

:: YOUR BABY NEEDS PHYSICAL CLOSENESS

When Charlie was a baby I tried to be an attachment parent. Now with Mia I am doing some attachment parenting style things (baby wearing and co-sleeping come to mind) but I've forgotten about the label and I'm just trying to parent the best way I know how without categorising ourselves.

Todays pearl comes from The Aware Baby  by Aletha J. Solter, and I'll have more to say about this book another day, but to expand on this pearl Solter goes on to say "... babies need physical closeness when falling asleep. I therefore recommend holding your baby or lying down with her until she falls asleep." p.109.

Not many people tell you that. In fact, the prevailing wisdom is all about how to get your baby to not need you to fall asleep. So there you go. If you're like me and still lying down with your three year old to put them to sleep at night you're not alone. And if your 8 month old wakes up every sleep cycle until you come to bed I can't help you, cause mine is too! Charlie was the same at this age, I thought it was from the upheaval of moving house but seems that's just what my babies do.

Today: I'm very happy with our day today :) We were out all day, and Charlie really was a sweetheart all day. And that included grocery shopping and a couple of hours at the hairdressers. We're only 3 days in but I'm going to draw a conclusion already. Charlie has actually been quite delightful the last two days and I think having a bit more time and physical closeness with me is helping. Oh, and I didn't yell today, though I had an opportunity to at bed time when I came in to the bedroom to find that Charlie had pulled more wallpaper off the wall. So glad I didn't. When I told him he wasn't supposed to do that, he said rubbish bin and picked up all the pieces and put them in the rubbish bin. That's a win right?

Mx