Thursday 7 July 2011

"too” attached to your child

I was aware from very early on, while we were still in the hospital that my baby was calmer and more content while she was with me. We were in hospital for 3 days following the birth as I had a c-section despite planning a home birth. I was surprised in the 6 bed ward I was in during the day most of the other mums sat on the bed or chair reading or on phones while their baby slept in the cot. I always had hold of my daughter even if she was sleep and I was reading a magazine. One of the other mums commented that my baby didn’t cry much; to me it was obvious that keeping her close achieved this.

The day after we first came home from hospital when she was 4 days old my mum and my aunt came to help with some house work. They told me to go into the living room to rest while they cleaned the kitchen. My mum kept coming in and telling me to put the baby in the mosses basket so I could rest, at one point she said “why have you got hold of that baby again” I replied with “because she is my baby and I love her”. When I hear about people having their baby taken to other rooms shortly after giving birth and the mum sleeping I can’t imagine I’d have been able to sleep without her near me.

While my daughter was very young she was with me at all times, I didn’t feel any desire to be apart from her and it was natural and automatic to be close to her. There were times when I felt frustrated as I thought I should want time away from her so felt that I was being to attached to her, I now know that that was from listening to others opinions and that you can’t be “too” attached to your child.