Understanding How to Cope with a Newborn Baby
Nine months seems a long time to prepare for the leap into parenthood but nothing prepares a parent for the rush of feelings that accompany the birth of a newborn baby. It is a much anticipated moment, after months of listening to heartbeats and feeling the baby’s movement in the womb, when a mother holds a newborn baby in her arms. A flood of joy, hope, and awe mingled with an acute awareness of the enormous responsibility of being a parent fills the heart.
Fathers present at birth fall far more easily under the baby’s spell, having witnessed the miracle of birth. Mothers, still battling with the pain and trauma of labor, may take a while to bond with the baby. Parents often feel overwhelmed by the baby’s dependency on them for their very survival. A newborn baby may cry for a number of reasons, and parents often feel alarmed because they can’t understand why the baby is crying.
Making the transition from pregnancy to parenthood is a learning period, no matter how many preparatory sessions parents attend or how many parenting books and parenting websites they refer to. It is the time to understand the specific needs of the newborn baby and it is the time for the newborn baby to learn and understand its environment and its parents.
During this transition, it really helps to have a support system, a loving circle of family and friends who can help the new father with the mundane tasks of running a household while the mother focuses on taking care of her body and feeding the baby. Fatigue and weariness are common among post-partum mothers, and some may even feel guilty about their need to take a nap, but they should take care of themselves without feeling that they are selfish. What is important is to establish a connection with the child and making it feel secure by holding and talking to the baby.
