Although I have listed Askdrsears as a useful resource for parenting, I feel I have grossly underestimated just how useful this website has been.  With a style of parenting that resonates with my own instincts, I have found the articles and answers to questions on this website to be extremely insightful and reassuring whenever I am uncertain about Gavin’s developments or if I’ve suddenly had doubts with the parenting approach I’ve adopted with Gavin.

For instance, I have noticed that ever since we came back from Australia, Gavin’s been more clingy and constantly in need of comfort through the night where he used to sleep very well through the night.  This was what Dr Bob Sears had to say about 8 month olds and nightwaking:

“I hear this almost every day in my office. Many infants sleep well for the first 5 months of life, and then teething sets in, and the night waking begins. This is so common, I have concluded that this is actually the norm, and 8-month-olds who DO sleep through the night are the minority.  Read more…”

Another fear that had cropped up more often than not is whether Gavin will ever learn to fall asleep on his own since I often rock him or nurse him to sleep with the sound of music in the back. 

“The majority of babies this age still need to be “parented” to sleep (nursing, rocking, cuddling, etc.). Pretty much guaranteed, that at some point in the future, you will tuck her into bed, give her a kiss, and say goodnight. Some babies just learned to fall asleep very easily, but many need to be taught…pick a good strategy for teaching them how to get to sleep…if you do it right, you will have an older child that enjoys going to sleep. My two children learned to fall asleep on their own sometime between their second and third birthday.  Read more…”

A while back when Gavin was only four months old, there was a push from my parents and my in laws to start feeding Gavin solids because it appeared that he wanted to eat what we were eating since he would watch us avidly everytime we were eating something or holding food in our hands.  I kept explaining that it wasn’t advisable to start solids until baby was at least 6 months or even older in the case of babies who have a high potential for developing allergies.  Of course, the general comment from our parents generation has always been, “Yeah, but you were fed solids early and you are fine.”  To which I would usually be stumped until I read what Dr Jim Sears had to say to doting grandmas who think infants need to be started on solids earlier:

“Much has been learned over the past thirty years about infant nutrition and development. Many practices that were common three decades ago are now known to be unhealthy, maybe even dangerous to a young infant. I know that the experts told you to start feeding your babies cereal after a few weeks of life; and you followed their advice because you loved your children. Now we know that an infant’s gut is not ready for solid foods until around six months of age. If you start a food too early, he is much more likely to become allergic to it. This can result in damage to the intestines, weight loss, blood in the stool, and malnutrition. You might argue, “Well, my kids started solid foods at three weeks, and they turned out just fine.” The truth is, very few adults have perfectly working digestive tracts. Just look at all the commercials for heartburn remedies and stool softeners… “ever feel gassy and bloated after a meal?”

Here is what the experts are saying now:

• Breastfeed for at least one year.
• Start cereal and other solids after six months of age.

Grammy, please let your daughters follow this advice, because they love your grandchildren as much as you do.”

These are just some of the useful bits of advice I found (there were much more I found to be relevant to Gavin and me).  Of course, if I copied and pasted everything I found useful, I would probably end up reproducing their website, so I suggest you just visit Askdrsears whenever you’ve got some unanswered questions.

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