Newborn Babies: To Have and To Hold, Hold, Hold...

Klow - you may wish edit your post and to put your email addy as:

keathlow at aol dot com

so web spidies and lurkers and spammers do not pick up on your email and zap you with tons of crap you do not wish for.

Good luck!

And I thought this thread was going to be about the creepy realistic dolls.

I still can't put my toddler down. Also, I have to be restrained so I do not run over and hold other people's babies.

Okay, FINE, I'll respond by e-mail.

I'm a dad and I had three of them separated by a total of 2 1/2 years. I hate to tell you this but they were so different so as to make your original question fairly meaningless. Some kids need to be held all the time. Others don't like it as much. Some will be spoiled by it. Others will be ruined without it. There really is no blanket statement about holding babies, or not holding, or breast feeding, or bottle feeding, that you can make other than LOVING them. Babies are as different as the people on this forum because all the people on this forum were once babies. They are the same people now that they were then, they've just learned to control their fluids and picked up a lot of bad habits.

My mother often told me that when I was born she held me all the time. Then she became afraid that she love me sooo much that Go would punish her by taking me away from her. She proudly proclaimed that when I turned 6 mos. she put me down and didn't hold me unless I need feeding or a diaper change.

The result is that to this day I hate, I mean HATE, being touched.

For what it's worth, moms, dads, hold you young ones as long as they will permit. You won't regret it.
C

FWIW--a nurse told me recently that some infants are born with fluid in their ears, and that when they are in a supine position this causes them pain. When they are held upright, the pressure is relieved and they feel better. Hence some parents think their infants are collicky or difficult, always wanting held, but it's a physical comfort issue.

Anyone else ever hear this?

heyjude said:

FWIW--a nurse told me recently that some infants are born with fluid in their ears, and that when they are in a supine position this causes them pain. When they are held upright, the pressure is relieved and they feel better. Hence some parents think their infants are collicky or difficult, always wanting held, but it's a physical comfort issue.

Anyone else ever hear this?

Click to expand...

Yes and raising one end of the crib (bassenette, toddler bed) with extentions or books under the feet (ONE END ONLY - HEAD END) will cause that fluid to settle downward and release into the throat where the canal drains into the body. This relieves pressure - also allows the eustation tubes to clear and the with the fluid gone there is less incident of inflammation that holds fluid and fluid infection there. If you have such a child, try this. Do not add extra pillows or such to prop the head. For the child will move. Do the bed thing and the child will feel relief in their ears with the tilt that does not cause the fluid to build pressure.

Great advice willfulone. I wonder if my little one went through this and I was unaware. I just held him pretty much through infancy. And toddlerhood. And I'm still holding him three and a half years later.

This is a good thing for people to be aware of.

When my boy was an infant, we lived in a row of apartments with another row just across from us. All the doors were open with just the screendoors securing the apartment. Ours was the first newborn. Whenever little Rob would cry one of the young mothers-to-be would run in and pick him up. He (apparently) loved it. Of course he couldn't tell time and expected to be picked up and held whenever he cried, no matter what time it was. 2 AM, 4 AM, whatever. No matter how much my wife and I protested, the other women kept running in to pick the baby up and hold him during the day. We eventually had to install a lock on the screendoor.

I held my babies a lot, because I liked to, but was firm about putting them down when I needed to do something else.

What I don't understand is the infant altimeter. How the hell do they know when you're sitting down? And why do they care?

Babywear, babywear, babywear! You can get ALL sorts of things done, and have hands free. Baby will sleep and be settled more, parents will be less stressed and everyone is happy.

Babies NEED to be held, Its a biological imperative. Brain development depends on it. Skin contact from the mother, regulates her temp, and she helps a baby's system regulate its own heat. Studies also show, close contact with the mother helps a baby's breathing and heart rate stay steady. Overstimulated baby's will use the mothers scent and sound of her heart, to block out the outside world, so they can settle themselves.

www.whatbabieswant.com