I am just back from a trip to the local Baby store. I needed a few items for my business but every time I visit I have to look and see what Baby/Breastfeeding products they are selling now. Some of these new things I had already heard of from clients or fellow Lactation Consultants but the scope amazed me. Monitors will tell you how often you baby kicks in your uterus and let you listen to the babies heart beating. After the baby is born you can buy monitors for their sleeping area to not only listen and see you baby but to know if they haven’t moved in 20 seconds. There are gadgets to record your babies feedings, output, waking, sleeping and more. These supposedly help you learn your babies patterns and needs.
When I was pregnant with our first child, I learned through La Leche League that the only thing a baby really needs is loving arms and warm milk right from our bodies. All the rest is trimming. Babies have survived with little more then this since the beginning of mankind. Yes; clothing, car seats and a few more things may be essential for babies in our climate and society, but how much else can we really say we couldn’t do without if need be.
I have no problem with luxuries for those who can afford them and some extras that make parenthood a little more convenient but I feel all these gadgets are promoting an atmosphere of fear around babies. So many parents I see these days are so worried about their baby and their safety that they are forgetting to enjoy the Magical Days of being new parents and falling in love with their sweet little ones. I’m sure that some of these gadgets have saved a few babies and their parents tout them to everyone who will listen but listening with our hearts has also saved many babies.
Mothers have an amazing sense of when their baby is sick or something is wrong with their child, even when the doctor or others are telling them they are wrong. If parents become to tuned in to the gadgets instead of their babies are we loosing this sense? If we need timers to tell us about our babies needs are we loosing that most important interpersonal communication that teaches us not only to trust our selves and our babies but teaches our babies to trust us? As we learn to read our babies body language and their sounds we grow in confidence in our new role as their parents and guides.
Hold your baby, talk to your baby, smile at your baby, smell your baby and you will learn to trust the miracle that each new life is. Leave the car seat in the car, simplify your life with the real necessities and a few special favorite baby things and enjoy the fleeting moments of babyhood.