Dear Linda, Sue and Chan:

This very afternoon I did a house call and found a mother who needed much
more psychological emotional support than any real techinical experise.
Which is a-ok by me. One of her big ?'s was:
"My friends tell me that is is not natural for me to have the baby sleep
with me in bed...that the baby will become accustomed to this contact."

 Linda wrote:

>You're right-on about the needs of babies for their mothers. In my opinion,
>our society is very anti-child, and woe be the mother who LIKES continuous
>contact for several years which appears to biologically driven

I answered this sweet mom of an adorable 2 wk. old girl:

"UN-natural would be if your baby *didn't* like sleeping with you!
UN-natural would be if your (future) teenager *still* slept with you."

Everything in its own time. Why, oh why, are we in sure a hurry to rush
life along? We want our children to be independent from infancy
onward....when they are not yet able to cope with independence.

Yet we with-hold independence later on during the teenage years (I've got a
wonderful 17 yr. old son who is emerging victorious from the black-hole of
immaturity) when our offspring require...nay, demand, their own space.

When will we ever get it right?

oppps....just fell off the soap box!

Roberta