A MOTHER'S INSTINCT
Now this is an incredible thing. It’s something that many of us believe we do not have when we are pregnant with our first. I remember friends asking me when I was pregnant “Are you nervous or scared about giving birth?” To which I would reply “No not at all, I can’t wait to give birth, but I’m absolutely terrified about becoming someone’s mum!”
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It’s true. I had only ever held one baby in my life, I had never changed a nappy, I didn’t have any younger siblings and I was totally at a loss of ‘how on earth am I going to know what to do?’
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Do you know what the answer is? Trust your instinct. Just like when you hypnobirth your baby into this world in a way that feels right for you, trust your instinct.
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There are 1001 ways to parent a child and raise a family and your way is the right way. With today’s technology we have Dr Google at the press of a button when we are feeding our babies in the night and want answers, we have Apps that tell us our babies will be going through a thundercloud next week, and we have support networks in forms of Facebook groups where lots of opinions are sifted out. There is a lot of advice out there, but is it really of any value to you?
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Your instinct is the best judge of how to raise your baby. An App can advise you how much milk your baby should be having, but your baby will easily let you know if that App advice suits his/her needs or not. Get my drift?
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What I’m trying to say is, I’m not a googler. I didn’t download any Apps either. I did however turn to support groups online in the middle of the night feeds (mainly to stop myself from falling asleep!) but it was my instinct that told me when to feed my baby. It was my instinct that decided when to put my baby down for a nap. It was my instinct that decided to go past my 6 month ‘goal’ and actually breast feed for 12 months.
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My instinct was so powerful, and I never realised I even had it. And the best thing about it is…..? It’s all mine. No one else’s. So, no one else’s opinions matter. Dr Google can do one. That thundercloud App that turns parents into a tizzy because they’re going to have ‘the worse two weeks ever coming up’ never bothered me in the slightest because I listened to my baby’s ques and trusted my judgement and went along with what my own mum used to say… “mother knows best.”
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Are you an instinct mother or a technology mother? I have friends who are both and we are all doing our best in a way that feels right for us. No one way is better than the other, as I said before, your way is the right way.
