"Trusting Our Instincts: Reflections on One Year of Parenting"

 

As I sit down to reflect on the past year, I am overwhelmed with emotions – pride, joy, and a sense of accomplishment. It's hard to believe that it's been a whole year since our precious Rael entered our lives and turned everything upside down, in the best possible way. In this blog post, I want to share our journey of parenting, the challenges we faced, the decisions we made, and the lessons we learned along the way.

Though my  husband and I were both well prepared  when Rael arrived, we questioned whether we were capable of taking care of her, of being her primary caregivers. However, we were determined to give it our all, to ensure that we were the ones providing her with the love, care, and attention she needed. Taking care of all her things right from the beginning all by ourselves was really beneficial in developing a beautiful bond with her. We were able to read her completely and knew exactly what she wanted, making it easy to handle her.

My husband had a strong belief that as parents, it was our responsibility to raise our child the way we wanted to, not according to the wishes or expectations of our parents. We wanted to create our own parenting style, one that aligned with our values and beliefs. This meant making decisions about everything from feeding to sleeping routines, ignoring the well-meaning but sometimes conflicting advice from our parents.

One of the first things I was adamant about was establishing a strict bedtime routine for Rael. From her first month, we followed a consistent bedtime schedule, ensuring that she slept between 7:30 PM and 8:30 PM every night. Wherever we were, whatever we did I never compromised her sleep schedule.I firmly believe that routine is key to a happy and well-rested baby, and sticking to her sleep cues and age-appropriate wake windows has made all the difference, making her happy and content. I have got lot of advices regarding her sleep timings like ' baby should be awake mostly during the day so that she will sleep peacefully at night', which is the most stupid advice I would say. Babies should get their age appropriate sleep or else they get over tired and it's very difficult to handle them.

Introducing books to Rael from her first month was another decision I'm proud of. Seeing her love for books grow and develop has been incredibly rewarding, and I know that fostering a love for reading from an early age will benefit her in so many ways. Now when I see Rael spending time with her books flipping through the pages I'm more than happy.

We also made choices about her diet, opting to feed her food that was free from sugar, salt, honey, and milk, despite the skepticism from our parents. We stood firm in our decision, knowing that we were doing what we believed was best for her health and development. My husband was very particular on whether she was rightly fed, be it the quantity or quality. He made sure she was never force fed or over fed. He always wanted to make her love the food and the feeding time and mostly he takes the charge of feeding her. 

Throughout this journey, we learned the importance of following our instincts and doing what felt right for our family, even if it went against conventional wisdom or the advice of others. We realized that creating a routine for Rael not only helped us in managing her day-to-day needs but also gave us a sense of structure and predictability in our lives.

Looking back, I'm grateful for the support and encouragement we received from friends and family, but I'm also proud of the decisions we made as parents. While we may not have all the answers, and we certainly don't claim to be experts, and for sure we are not perfect ,our experience has taught us that listening to our hearts and trusting our instincts is often the best approach. It's better to not involve too many people in taking care of the baby. If you can do it by yourself that's the best decision you can ever take for the good of your baby and your family.

As we celebrate one year of parenting, I'm filled with gratitude for the joy and love that Rael has brought into our lives. We are the proud, happy and blessed parents. She has taught us so much in just one year. Here's to many more milestones, adventures, and memories together. We are learning and growing with her!