I didn't read many (hmm...any?) parenting books before Jackson was born.
I was looking at pregnancy books.
A far more pressing need.
I would look up what size fruit he was which week.
Which medicines i could get away with taking for my shooting back and hip pain.
What baby items we would need to find for the house.
My husband on the other hand got started early.
What a wonderful book.
I think i had once seen it on Oprah.
It is a popular book for a reason.
I knew it was the book for us.
More than any other book, it shaped our first 3 months.
The "fourth" trimester.
The five Ss.
Swaddling, shushing, swinging, sucking, sideways.
The key to a happy baby.
We would have to agree.
It definitely has worked for Jackson.
This is our swaddled baby:
At first he was swaddled almost all the time.
Now it's just at sleep times.
My mom sometimes laughs on Skype to see him bundled.
I laugh when I see that an arm has escaped.
I realize i need to get a picture and video of that.
One arm flapping wildly while the other is tucked in.
Cutest thing ever.
It all starts with an escaping hand though--
One time he somehow got his pants off while in his swaddle.
That took talent.
As for the other Ss, Jonathan has done the shushing when Jackson is upset and crying.
After only a couple days, I yelled desperately for Jonathan to bring a pacifier for him to suck on.
And after a month of spending hours in his vibrating chair, he grew into his swing and adores it.
The vibrating chair:
Sleeping in his swing:
Yes, he's okay.
He just really liked to be in weird positions at first.
Here's a shot when Jonathan was playing with him.
You can see our baby is quite happy.
We were/are *so* thankful for this book of strategies.