By the Book Baby
Before I had Drake, I read some birth and baby books, some parenting articles, and took some classes. Once labor began, I quickly determined that most of that stuff was utter crap. That feeling continued through Drake’s babyhood. I was bewildered by the chasm between reality and what I’d been led to expect.
The books said Drake would have intense sucking needs that a pacifier would help. He never kept one in his mouth. They said when he made mouth movements he was hungry. He made mouth movements all the time, and only a few of them resulted in feedings. The books also said that Drake would sleep a lot at first. This was just not true. Guppy, though, barely opened his eyes for his first several weeks, and still sleeps away a good portion of the day. Guppy has also progressed to a six hour interval at night. (Don’t congratulate me; it starts at 8 p.m.) Early on with Guppy, I noticed periods where he’d be still and wide eyed. “That’s ‘quiet-alert’, I thought, remembering it from our birth class. I never saw Drake in that mode.
Guppy is the baby I was expecting when I had Drake. All the books and resources weren’t full of shit, but they weren’t useful the first time around. And I’m not sure they’re much more useful this time. What was useful was learning to ignore them and try to figure it out myself. That gave me at least some occasional insight into Drake, and has meant I’m continually appreciative of Guppy, the laid-back Buddha baby.