Can I Hold My Baby Too Much?

Can I hold my baby too much? A newborn baby is indeed a bundle of joy and happiness for the parents. However, giving birth to a baby comes with a number of responsibilities, challenges and there could also be many doubts.

Bringing up the newborn baby requires some bit of training, information, and knowledge. For time mothers, who do not have their parents or grandparents to fall back on for advice and suggestions, there certainly could be many queries running through their minds.

It could relate to the feeding habits, the kind of food that the infants should be given after a period of time.

Quite a few moms these days are also breadwinners for the family and therefore they may have to start working. While they are governed by generous maternity leave rules and regulations, many of them would not mind being productive as soon as possible.

Amongst the many questions, many parents would like to know whether it is right to carry the baby for long periods of time. In other words, they would like to know whether it is right on their part to hold their babies for long periods of time. Let us try and find answers for the article – Can I Hold My Baby Too Much?

Bonding between Mom and Baby is Vital

There is no denying the fact that there is a need to ensure that the mother and the new born baby have the right kind of bonding, emotional and physical. Towards this objective, physical contact between the baby and the mother is certainly quite important.

However, this cannot be the way forward and it would be a myth to suggest that the mom should always carry the baby around in her arms or the father should do it.

While some bit of cuddling and embracing is of course needed, as parents, you should know where to draw the line. While holding him or her to satisfy her basic needs like food and water is a must.

The newborn baby and infant should also be given the freedom to move their hands and legs around. This is a wonderful form of exercise and workout and this can happen only when the baby is allowed to be on its own.

Careful and Close attention is needed

However, we need to also bear in mind that during the first three to four months, the infant needs constant and close monitoring round the clock. This can happen with a judicious and well thought out mix of cuddling, holding the child while feeding and also playing it with it adequately.

At the same time, you also should also know when to leave the baby alone. This cannot happen overnight and there could be some mistakes, trials, and errors along the way and the same should be taken into account.

Can I let The Child Cry?

Quite often we hear some people mentioning that it is good for the baby to cry for a while before it is carried by the mother or the father or the babysitter. However, we need to know that there is a limit to crying.

An infant during the first three months will cry roughly for around three months. Anything more than that should be taken seriously and it would be wrong to leave the infant just like without finding out the reason for crying.

Know when to carry and when to leave them alone

The next important thing is to make sure that you should be able to find out when to leave your baby on its own and when to carry. Of course when you are moving out of your home and are travelling from one place to another, you have no other option but to carry your baby along.

However, when you are home, you should find out more avenues by which it is possible for you to allow the baby to spend more time on its own. But having said that it is important for you to make sure that you take care of the baby’s basic safety, hunger, feeding, and other requirements of the baby at all points in time.

Can I Hold My Baby Too Much? – Conclusion

It is clear from the above that there cannot be a straightjacket answer to the question as to how long a mom or dad should carry a baby or infant. The answer would depend on many factors such as the age of the child, its health, and other factors.

However, the objective should be to have the right balance between the warmth of the parent’s body and the need for the baby to grow up on its own.