During Thanksgiving dinner, I sat next to my cousin, Peggy, who has a baby that was born about two weeks before Caitlyn. As we talked about our babies, I asked how hers was with strangers. She said that her baby had no problems being held by other people. As a test, I asked to hold her, and sure enough, her baby was just as calm in my arms as her mom’s.
This just highlighted our already glaring problem of Caitlyn crying whenever she’s with people other than the wife and me. Peggy, as well as numerous other people, has said the way to fix this problem is to take her out often and let her interact with as many different people as possible.
However, that’s exactly what we do. On weekdays, the wife dutifully takes the baby out for spins around the neighborhood, and at night, we go to Jessie’s parent’s house to interact with her family members. On weekends, we take her to the park, shopping mall, and restaurants to get used to different scenes. We also visit different people or invite people to come to visit us. However, these don’t seem to be helping much.
I think the problem for us is consistency. Having a person hold Caitlyn for one day and then not seeing that person for another week or more doesn’t do much to ingrain that person into her memory. It took Jessie’s mom almost a month of constantly seeing and holding the baby before Caitlyn finally allowed her to hold her without crying. But most people don’t have the luxury of living so close to us as to come and visit every day.
Another problem is that when people hold Caitlyn, the instant she starts crying, they hand her right back. People seem to value their hearing a bit more than making sure our baby is accustomed to them. Caitlyn has fine-tuned a piercing shriek that would make anyone that’s not hard of hearing cringe. Perhaps we should set-up a rewards program where people earn points for every minute they’re able to hold Caitlyn. Or maybe we should give out earplugs before they attempt to hold her.
It also seems that having a nanny helps a baby become more accustomed to different people. The majority of people we know with well-balanced babies all send them to a nanny’s. This time apart probably allows the baby to not become so attached to the mom. Caitlyn sees the wife 24 hours a day. It’s no surprise that’s the only person she wants.
A few days ago, we were talking to my parents on the phone and bemoaning the fact that Caitlyn still clings to her mom like super glue. My dad confidently chimes in and says that when they come to visit in about a month, he’ll have Caitlyn begging him to hold her within two days. Bwahahaha! Such innocent and naïve talk. This will definitely be entertaining to see.
This just highlighted our already glaring problem of Caitlyn crying whenever she’s with people other than the wife and me. Peggy, as well as numerous other people, has said the way to fix this problem is to take her out often and let her interact with as many different people as possible.
However, that’s exactly what we do. On weekdays, the wife dutifully takes the baby out for spins around the neighborhood, and at night, we go to Jessie’s parent’s house to interact with her family members. On weekends, we take her to the park, shopping mall, and restaurants to get used to different scenes. We also visit different people or invite people to come to visit us. However, these don’t seem to be helping much.
I think the problem for us is consistency. Having a person hold Caitlyn for one day and then not seeing that person for another week or more doesn’t do much to ingrain that person into her memory. It took Jessie’s mom almost a month of constantly seeing and holding the baby before Caitlyn finally allowed her to hold her without crying. But most people don’t have the luxury of living so close to us as to come and visit every day.
Another problem is that when people hold Caitlyn, the instant she starts crying, they hand her right back. People seem to value their hearing a bit more than making sure our baby is accustomed to them. Caitlyn has fine-tuned a piercing shriek that would make anyone that’s not hard of hearing cringe. Perhaps we should set-up a rewards program where people earn points for every minute they’re able to hold Caitlyn. Or maybe we should give out earplugs before they attempt to hold her.
It also seems that having a nanny helps a baby become more accustomed to different people. The majority of people we know with well-balanced babies all send them to a nanny’s. This time apart probably allows the baby to not become so attached to the mom. Caitlyn sees the wife 24 hours a day. It’s no surprise that’s the only person she wants.
A few days ago, we were talking to my parents on the phone and bemoaning the fact that Caitlyn still clings to her mom like super glue. My dad confidently chimes in and says that when they come to visit in about a month, he’ll have Caitlyn begging him to hold her within two days. Bwahahaha! Such innocent and naïve talk. This will definitely be entertaining to see.
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| A few family members |
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| Let the training begin! |
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| Happy in Mommy's arms |
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| Thinking about it... |
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| Thinking about it... |
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| WAH!!! |
Playing with her crinkly paper
The next Mozart
Getting acquainted time
Taiwanese women around babies are so annoying. "保保! 保保!" This last video just reminded me of that.
ReplyDeleteTime to get a 保母 and tell the wife to go back to work, Ed. Caitlyn will be fine in no time.