Welcome to the World Little One!
We come into the world as brand new, tiny humans with three basic survival needs: food, shelter and sleep. Shelter represents safety. Food represents nourishment and growth. Sleep is the foundation of it all.
Your newly born baby isn’t able to control any of these things.
You, their parent, their giver of their life, is responsible for providing them shelter, both inside four walls of the home - and the safety of your arms.
You are responsible for providing them food, nutrition to meet their growing bodies demands.
And you are responsible for soothing them into restful sleep.
The first 12 weeks of your child’s life you have the skills necessary to meet all these needs. Your baby has none. They rely entirely on you.
That is why the first three months of parenthood are so overwhelming, so all-consuming, so exhausting.
Because not only are you responsible for keeping your child alive by meeting their three basic survival needs, you're responsible for keeping yourself well nourished, yourself feeling safe in your space, and - to the best of your ability- keeping yourself well rested when you get opportunities to catch a few zzz’s.
Especially if you’re doing double duty!
This is the expectation we walk into parenthood with. Ask 100 pregnant women and their partners on the street, “What is the one thing that you are most concerned about after you bring your baby home?” The answer: Lack of sleep. That's what we hear, repeatedly.
It’s a reality. But, it can be a short-term temporary reality.
And I know if you've already had kids and they’re a bit older and you still have a sleep issue, you're rolling your eyes and saying, Yeah, right. Short term temporary. What do you know that I don’t?
Well, it might not be that you don't know it. It’s more likely that you didn’t know it when your baby was 3-4 months old.
Because at that point in their, teeny-tiny, gorgeous little life they are capable of taking one of those survival needs off your plate.
Your baby can learn their first ‘self-skill’ as early as 12 weeks old!
Even though it doesn't look like or sound like it, they are able to learn their very first life skill at the tender age of 12-16 weeks.
Isn’t that great news! YES!
You have been their everything since the day they were born. It’s been 90+ days of baby-o-clock, around the clock. And yet, you have big goals for raising your child. You want them to be independent, confident, and socially contribute to this world. These are attributes of self, the foundation of which is the ability to self-soothe.
This blog series discusses the role you play, supporting your child to develop their best self - from birth. We’ll tackle science, logic, and the proven results from 25+ years of transitioning away from sleep training and focusing on sleep-soothing.
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