By the time you gave birth to your baby, you’d probably gotten pretty good at being an expectant mom or dad. In the process, you may have read thousands of pages about pregnancy and childbirth, and may have even taken childbirth classes.
It doesn’t take long after your baby is born to understand the truth behind the cliché—nothing ever really prepares you for what the first year with a baby is really like. Physical pain for moms and sleep deprivation and depression for both moms and dads are a lot more normal than the pictures of self-satisfied and totally rested parents presented on baby birth shows and in baby-product ads.
We promise that in the process of this year a day will finally come when you’ll both get 8 hours of sleep in a 24-hour period—give or take a couple of hours. You will have overcome birthing woes and severe sleep deprivation, and your baby will slowly transform from an around-the-clock milk-sucking and crying machine into a responsive, very aware little person.
What we’ve learned as parents, as you will, during this first amazing year, is that there truthfully is no right or wrong way to “do” parenting. In fact, there are as many ways to be a parent as there are babies and children. If the tactics you adopt keep you sane and your baby is thriving, then that’s the right way for you.
Your love for your baby can take a lot of different directions. It can be a rush of huge affection and tenderness that nearly floats you away, but love is also in the details—what you do every day and the sacrifices you make. Even though you may have heard, “There’s no such thing as a perfect mom or dad,” we disagree. You are your baby’s perfect and best parent, and no one can do the job better than you.
Real parenting, not the “book learning” kind, means weighing your options as you go along. You’ll eventually learn the art of assessing your baby’s and your family’s needs and how to balance these against your own.
We have written Great Expectations: Baby’s First Year to help you get through the challenges of your new life with a baby during the first 12 months. We are real moms who have been there and done that. Our book is designed to be the most baby-friendly and parent-friendly resource available. Rather than trying to force someone else’s ideas down your throat, we have written the book to honor you as an intelligent, thinking person. We have done this by offering you lots of options from which to choose.
We’ve also created a wonderful week-by-week and month-by-month baby tracker with easy-to-access tables that enable you to capture at a glance where your baby is at any given stage, where you will be in your parenting journey, and what you can expect in the months ahead.
Next, you’ll find practical advice for baby-care basics, such as how to bathe, diaper, and feed your baby, as well as lots of help on choosing the safest and most durable baby products and toys. You will find hundreds of practical management tips to make your parenting job easier—whether it’s how to budget your finances, deal with work issues, or ways to enhance your relationship with your partner. There’s an in-depth Medical and Safety Guide to help you through the trying times when your baby gets sick, has shots, starts teething— or starts getting into trouble around the house.
Toward the end of the book, you’ll find a detailed resource guide with over 250 Web addresses. In our Parents’ Dictionary on MEDICAL AND OUTREACH you’ll find definitions of hundreds of medical and baby-oriented terms that appear throughout the book in bold italics. You’ll also find an extremely detailed index at the end of the book, since we know you’ll never have more than a few minutes to look up anything during that first busy year of watching over your baby.
A Note to Parents Who Are Still “Expecting”
It’s great that you’re boning up on babies before yours arrives. If you like what you’re reading here, we’d also suggest that you take a look at our two pregnancy volumes in the on-going Great Expectations series: Great Expectations: Your All-in-One Resource for Pregnancy & Childbirth and our Great Expectations Pregnancy Planner & Organizer. Both books offer a lot more details about pregnancy, and practical information and support about birth and newborn care. You can find both books in most major bookstores, including Barnes & Noble stores, and online at www.bn.com.
Someday, having a child in your life will feel as natural to you as having fingers. Meanwhile there’s a lot to get used to and to learn. Just as it was hard for your parents to remember what it felt like to be childless, you’ll eventually have trouble remembering what it was like not to be a parent. And you’re likely to discover you wouldn’t have it any other way. “Until you’re a parent you live in a world of black-and-white. Then suddenly, there’s a spectrum of color,” one dad has quipped, “particularly about half an hour after your baby’s had a large meal.”
We always welcome comments and feedback from you. Please feel free to write to us in care of our publisher. Although it may be impossible for us to respond to each of you individually, we are eager to hear your comments, and we will try to implement your suggestions in the next edition of this book.
May you have lots of hours of uninterrupted sleep tonight. If not that, then may you be granted lots of small moments of restful, quiet tenderness with your baby.
Sandy Jones & Marcie Jones