I agree BG that society in general quashes instinct. I blame capitalism in part, because when someone needs to work, they don't have the time/space to just listen to a baby...the baby needs to listen to them, be in a good routine and be sleeping through the night!!
... Its just a shame I and other women feel pressured to ignore our inner voices....

Then again, if we all lived in a village and saw parenting first hand, we wouldn't need to 'learn' about it from books or MCHN...we would just all follow our babies cues and we would have help when we needed it.
:yeahthat:

(this is not meant to be offensive)
This is a really good thread i read it and went off and thought about it. i think "now a days" we seem to think that babies once born will fit in to our 'normal' lives we had before a baby. that they'll sleep when they're "meant to" eat when they're "meant to" and just follow a clock. sadly babies dont know how to read a clock. we often listen to that person in a white coat rather then what our hearts/gut instincts tell us. or we have peer/family pressure to make sure a baby can do XYZ by such and such rather then allow them to grow as they want to. for me i realized that they're not always right - we had a rough start with DS, and with that came power -for me- that my son knew what he wanted and when, that what a text book says isnt always applicable. I think sometimes with all the well meant advice from both family and peers as well as books we forget that we have a little human, one who just like the rest of us has wants/ needs.

I feel that we all need to trust our selfs more, listen to our babies more and have a little faith that we may know what we need to and to rely on the outside world as much. besides, what did we do before Doctors and MCHN's became involved and so controlling of 'normal'? the human race made it this far...