Mothering Styles During Labor All

Mothering Styles During labor all I could do was think about the pain that I was experiencing and pray that the agony would cease. This is a familiar story to women who have given birth and most of us know that the pain is forgotten as soon as the baby is laid in our arms. This experience and how we mother our children however, differ greatly.

Mothers can be classified as type -- a mothers who adhere to strict schedules for both themselves and their children, and free-spirited mothers who allow their children to dictate their schedules for them. Type a mothers have probably read every parenting book they could get their hands on, likely far before the baby is even born. Their baby will be brought home to an immaculate and perfectly decorated nursery, still smelling every so slightly of wet paint.

Every last detail is matched and coordinated with a theme that they chose months before their due date. Their babies will be fed at the same time, morning, noon, night. These babies will also be put down for a nap at the same time every day, and they will have the very same bedtime no matter what. A routine has been so carefully constructed based on what the pediatrician, or What to Expect the First Year has told them, that there is no time for error.

Though the babies of type -- a moms have the security of a schedule, which is extremely valuable at such a young age (at least that's what the books say), the moms have a very high potential to get quite flustered when they find that a baby isn't going to always adhere to a schedule perfectly.

If they base their day around the baby having a nap at 11am, their whole day is going to be thrown off when their adorable bundle decides that they don't want to nap at that time. Waking a baby up in the middle of the night for a feeding that they may or may not be ready for can lead to grumpy babies.

Then again, the baby will likely eventually adapt to a schedule, and as long as the mother stays consistent, this could develop some very valuable sensibilities in their child that could be extremely useful throughout their lifetime. It could also be a huge benefit to know what time certain tasks, like an important phone call, can take place. On the other side of the scale is the mom that takes a more relaxed approach to parenting.

They rely on the fact that when the baby is hungry, the baby will let them know. When the baby is sleepy, they will let them know that too. The parenting books may be dog-eared here and there, but none of them have been read from cover to cover. The nursery decor is a mix of the patterns, fabrics, and toys that they found cute, but don't necessarily match.

Then again, it's entirely possible that the baby doesn't even sleep in the nursery, but in the rocker or bed with mom when they both finally fell asleep. This method has its ups and downs as well. Even though there is no strict schedule, mom might still feel a little frazzled since they are always on the lookout for signs that the baby wants or needs something.

There's likely very little time for grown-up activities because much of the day is consumed with taking care of the baby or simply being ready to take care of the baby. Regardless of schedule though the baby still gets what she needs, and there's a little less frustration when the baby doesn't want to sleep at a particular time because there was no expectation for them to sleep at that particular time in the first place.