Before you have children, no one tells you about all of the stress that comes with be
ing a parent. It starts as soon as you find out you're pregnant. You get all of those pregnancy books that soon open your eyes to all that can possibly go wrong with this new life that you're carrying. Knowledge can be a dangerous thing and you soon become a huge worry wart.
That stress never really goes away. The baby is born and as a first time parent, you want to try and make it where they don't cry. That is not always so easy. My son cried almost all the time because he had reflux and other craziness that we had to get under control.
I remember sitting there and crying with him when he was a few days old. I was a basket of nerves and as a mom, I wanted to be able to make my baby stop crying. I didn't even want visitors because I felt they would think I was a huge failure. It seemed like my mom could get him to stop crying easier than I could.
I had a huge "ah ha" moment when he was about a month old. We were in a restaurant and he was crying-again. I could feel my stress level rise and I was frantically trying to do everything I could to make him stop. I just *knew* he was annoying everyone.
Someone that I was sitting with(maybe my mom-I'm not sure because I was too busy freaking out) told me to calm down and look around. What I saw is that no one was looking at us. They were all enjoying their meal and no one was paying any attention to my baby crying. As soon as I quit trying to make him stop crying-he did.
Someone once told me that babies can sense stress and this makes them even more upset. I'm not really sure why I never listened to them(or believed them), but they were right. Don't get me wrong, Evan still cried-a lot, but I learned to start laughing it off. The reason my mom could get him to calm down easier than I could is that she didn't let the crying get to her or worry about how his crying was affecting other people. At first, all I could think is that other people thought my baby was annoying. That isn't the case-people know babies cry and are OK with it. As soon as *I* learned to be OK with the fact that he cried, I could get him to calm down pretty quickly.
I learned not to worry so much about my baby crying, but to just enjoy him and give him lots of love. My daughter didn't cry as much as my son, but when she did, I was sure to not let it get to me and make her even more upset.
By guest blogger Dee of http://www.twoofakindworkingonafullhouse.com
