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PARENTING                 

The day you bring your baby home from hospital is momentous. She's fallen asleep in the car, and you carry her into the nursery. It's freshly painted, with a beautiful new bassinet and maybe even a rocking chair for nighttime feeding. You put her down, ever so gently, breathing a sigh of relief; it's been a big day and you're dying for a cuppa. Her eyes open a little. By the time you're at the door she's wimpering and, before you even get the kettle on she's crying and you pick her up. Maybe she's hungry. She falls asleep as you feed her, and the scene is replayed. You can't figure it out. Maybe you're not wrapping her up enough (but then there's the fear of SIDS) Maybe you're not burping her properly. Maybe she's having the wrong sort of milk, or not enough, or too much…

In a few days time you wonder if you're not spoiling her by picking her up, as you've been warned, but you've been pacing the floor at night to settle her and you're desperate for some peace and quiet. Your partner is sleeping in the spare room, because he's on the day shift. She's still wanting to feed all the time and you haven't even had time to hang out yesterday's washing. Welcome to parenthood, your friends say.

But it's a strange thing. After a few weeks you find yourself becoming adept at housekeeping- or at least putting on the kettle- one-handed. And the hours in the rocking chair are a dreamy and increasingly delicious time, when there's only you and her, and the bliss on her face as she falls asleep, drunk with milk, makes you ignore the perils of feeding her to sleep. You've even had her in bed a few times, though you haven't told anyone, and you managed to catch up on some sleep as well; and your parenting manual, which warns against these things, is gathering dust under the bed somewhere. You're not living in a cave, but you're discovering the wisdom of stone-age parenting.

For the millions of years that humans have been on this earth, we have reared our babies in this way, and it has worked because it is what babies-and mothers-are adapted to, hormonally, physiologically and developmentally. We are not a "caching" species, adapted to long absences from our mothers in nests and burrows; such animals do not cry (or they would attract predators) and their milk is extremely high in protein and fat, to sustain the young for long periods. We are in every way much closer to the continuous-feeding, carrying mammals, as were our stone-age ancestors, and our babies remind us of this when they cry to be carried, to be fed frequently, and to be nestled up against our bodies in sleep. In fact continuous carrying (usually in specially designed slings and carriers), frequent and extended breastfeeding, and mothers co-sleeping with their babies are the norm in most non-western cultures, as they were in our culture 150 years ago, and westerners are often amazed by the levels of quiet contentment among these babies.

Dr William Sears, an American paediatrician, and author, has coined the phrase "attachment parenting" which describes both the style and the outcome when babies are cared for in this way. Attachment, for a baby, means security and love. In attachment parenting we trust the messages that our babies give us and attend to their needs until they are settled: contrary to ideas of "spoiling", research has shown that babies whose cries are quickly attended to are more contented and cry less in later infancy. Many parents have, in this way, learnt the wisdom of "wearing" a baby in a sling or carrier, which has also been shown to help prevent colic and fussy behaviour.

Tine Thevenin's writing on "The family bed" lends support to parents who find that co-sleeping works well for them, and, with many others, dispels the myth that co-sleeping increases the risk of Sudden Infant Death. (In fact, some of the lowest rates of SIDS are found amongst cultures where co-sleeping is predominant; however smoking, alcohol or drug use by a co-sleeping parent does increase this risk.)

For low-risk co-sleeping,parents also need to ensure that their baby's head does not become covered by bedding, that the baby cannot sink into an overly soft mattress (water beds are not recommended) and that the baby does not become overheated.

Extended breastfeeding has also been a part of traditional cultures, and it is now known that the nutritional and immunological benefits of breast milk continue well past the first year. The World Health Organization estimates that the average age of weaning, worldwide, is 4 years old.

In a society that is obsessed with individualism and independence, ideas that are inimical to babies, it is reassuring to know that developing a secure attachment with your baby in infancy leads to emotional security and independence in later years. And those years arrive sooner than you'd dream of, as you're feeding you're baby to sleep, again, at 4 a.m.

An edited version of this paper was published in the Courier Mail, Brisbane "Don't be fooled by the manual", 17/6/98.

Author - Sarah Buckley, GP and experienced homebirth Mother

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