“What a precious little angel!” your mother-in-law will exclaim. “Life is all sunshine and rainbows once you have this sweet creature in your life.” The truth of the matter is, you have been trying not to pull your hair out every night. Both relatives and strangers love to gush over a brand new baby, but the bleary-eyed parents are the ones dealing with the tough parts. Hours of listening to your baby cry makes one thing quite clear. Babies don’t wait to be fed, changed, or put to sleep. You’re desperate to try anything, including wrapping your baby in a swaddle blanket. What is a parent to do?
As difficult as it may be, you must try to increase your patience as much as possible. It is hard being a new parent, but it is equally hard being a baby new to the world, and it will not last forever. The more in tune you can be with him or her, the more quickly you can soothe the crying. Being able to tell the difference between your baby’s different types of cries will help you calm him or her much more quickly. This can be a daunting task, especially for first-time parents. Next time your baby cries, try a few different things and make note of what works. No matter whether a baby receiving blanket, feeding, burping, or rocking seems to help your baby, try and associate it with the particular type of crying that it soothed.
When it comes to interpreting their baby’s communication attempts, mothers tend to be the experts. Like it or not, fathers do not have the same “motherly intuition” in this area. That is the beauty of having two parents! Once you can interpret your baby’s cries, Mothers, you should share this valuable knowledge with your husbands. Communicate with your husband when you learn some things that work for soothing your infant; he may begin to feel more confident when he has some tricks up his sleeve for calming baby. And above all, remember that age-old calming trick, special baby blankets for your little one. Now if your mother-in-law visits and intones, “Look at that perfect little baby!” you and your husband can share a smile, and agree.





