A Baby is Contentment (about Jane)

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by Marian Joy Crockett Brereton

I’m not an expert—not a psychiatrist, not a pediatrician, not a social worker—just a mother. When Jane goes for a check-up instead of crying she thinks the stethoscope is a device to tickle and giggles coyly at her Doctor. While other mothers are walking the church foyer with their infant, she smiles at the little boy on the seat behind her, begging for a smile in return. How do I amuse the compliments on her like:

“What a good baby!”

“Doesn’t she ever cry?”

I meekly reply something like, “she is a pretty good baby.” The truth is, I am dying to tell one and all about my secret for a contented baby and mother are:

1. Love your baby—don’t feel guilty about over population or having to give up being a den mother. Put your baby’s cheek next to yours, hum her a little song and enjoy feeling from how she responds with you, while being and loves you back.

2. Be old fashioned and nurse your baby. The few times I have had to suggest this as a reason for my happy baby, I find I have put my listeners immediately on the defense. She has a thousand reasons why she could not nurse: the truth is she has missed one of the most true rewarding and fulfilling function a woman can perform, they have missed the moving joy with a little one sucking and sleeping next to her. A baby given the peace will not need to suck its thumb or a pacifier.

3. A full baby is a happy baby. Not being fond of getting up in the night, I prepared a bottle of cereal and fruit or veggies and feed Jane, in her sleep, just after I go to bed. She seldom is up and night and wakes cooing and smiling.