It’s 10:30 in the morning. I’m half lying, half sitting in bed, with the computer next to me, working on my new article… Suddenly it hits me how quiet it is! Where are the children? Yeah, my elder daughter’s in kindergarten. And my three-week-old daughter? She’s right here on my chest. And I’m absorbed in writing an article. So much so that I suddenly don’t know where I am.
I’m enjoying not having to think and plan how we’re going to be in the next minute or hour. I don’t have to give up everything I love to do. I don’t have to worry about when I’m going to feed her or how I’m going to calm her. I don’t have to figure out how I’m going to get the chores done. I don’t have to worry about how I’m going to put her to sleep.
I breastfeed her and she’ll calm down. I breastfeed her and her hunger is satisfied. I breastfeed her and her pain goes away. I breastfeed her and she stops crying. I breastfeed her and she falls asleep. I breastfeed her and she goes back to sleep.
And while she’s breathing on my chest, I can write this article. Or I can put her in a carrier and do my chores. Or I can go pick up her big sister from kindergarden. Or I can cook the dinner. She’s always with me. I don’t spend my day choosing between taking care of her or playing a card game with her big sister. I don’t have to give up coffee with my girlfriend because I don’t know how to take care of her on the go. I don’t have to tiptoe around the house so she won’t wake. I don’t have to run home from a program because it’s nap time. She’s with us all day long. She’s in the family life every moment.
And at night?
With babies, you have to get up at night, walk around, because they wake up and cry a lot, right? And it’s a hassle to put them back to sleep, and the family is always sleepless… We prefer to sleep together and stay in bed all night. My little girl wakes up several times. I can help her quickly, because she’s right here: I pull her close to me to nurse and we go back to sleep. I get enough sleep at night. Enough to handle the day.
I don’t worry, I just enjoy being with my baby.
I get asked three or four times a day, „Is she a good baby?” – What can I say? I not only feel it, but I know that it is a normal need for a baby to be in-arms day and night. So no matter what anyone says, I no longer budge when I hear that I’m spoiling her by having her with me all the time and cosleeping.
I not only feel it, but I know now that every baby needs help to fall asleep. So I’m not worried about how and when she will fall asleep on her own. I have experienced with my elder daughter that she will be ready in her own time. Without me having to teach her anything through tears, CIO, or other harsh parenting practices. So I don’t worry. I am happy and just enjoy my baby.
Yes, she is a good baby. A perfect one.