Oddbean

Congratulations. Being a mother is wonderful. Breast feeding is healthiest for you and your baby and is more convenient (if you are home with the baby). It also saves in an emergency. I flew once with my first son and we missed the connecting flight home. Since I was breast feeding, I had all the milk he needed. If I'd been feeding him with a bottle I'd have been dragging a baby in a cab to stores near midnight trying to get formula. Teaching your baby to sleep without your help and even if there are noises will help life get back to normal and serve your child well. I recommend the book "Baby Wise" for more details. The basics are feed on a schedule. Feed your baby when you wake him up and not to get him to sleep. We were replacing the driveway and front porch of our house that had sunk when I brought home my first. We had ground compactors pounding for the first couple of days, and he learned to sleep through all of it. Remember that babies and young kids are tougher than you can imagine. I've had mine dive off the couch onto their face and try to roll off a changing table and they were all fine. Be careful, but don't worry. There are 2 theories on keeping a baby well. One is to protect the baby from all germs. The other is to expose their immune system to lots of germs and pets to train their immune system to recognize pathogens and self. Studies have shown that being around pets (and therefore germs) reduces the incidence of allergies & asthma. I went with the latter and my son's only fever in his first 5 years was caused by a vaccine. I researched vaccines on conventional sites, but with a holistic view. I decided on my first son to only give him the dTap vaccine and not till 1 years old. He only got 2 instead of the normal 5/6 . I did that one because I was afraid of tetanus which can be deadly, but I've since learned that tetanus is anaerobic and if you get a puncture wound to bleed and get peroxide into the wound, it isn't much of a risk. His only illness in his first 5 years were due to the vaccine. If I had it to do over again, I'd not give him any. I'd argue that zero vaccines is best, but at minimum, skip the vaccines at 2 & 4 months when the babies immune system isn't developed enough to respond well and when the dose/weight is higher. If you do your research, the danger of the vaccines is higher than the danger of the illness. I had the educated guess that the adjuvants in vaccines were causing the huge increase in allergies and autoimmune diseases. I later read an article and the same form of aluminum used in vaccines is used in animal studies to cause autoimmunity for autoimmunity studies. Once your child gets older, I believe nothing is better for your child than homeschooling. Before kids I though I'd homeschool in elementary and maybe middle school and send them to high school to transition to the real world. I've since changed my mind. Both of my kids were in public school for part or all of elementary school (but I live in a very conservative area with less indoctrination and there is less in the early years to begin with). I pulled my eldest out in 3rd grade and homeschooled him through highschool. He is now in college in the honors program with tuition paid based on his 35/36 ACT score. I pulled my younger son, who has Down Syndrome, later because he was harder to school and because he was taught by people I knew and trusted. He is making better progress now that I am homeschooling him. Babies don't understand things like falling off a height. Find opportunities for your kid to fail and fall where the consequences are minor, so they can learn without severe consequences. So often people protect a baby from any place they can fall even 6 inches and they don't learn to be careful around heights. This same principle exists when they get older with real life lessons such as being honest, being a good friend, being responsible, etc.