There are many books on what to expect when raising a child but there is no definite rule book on how to raise a child. This is because raising a child is a different and unique experience for each parent depending on social influences, environmental circumstances, religion, culture, and traditions. One of the many decisions new parents have to make is bedtime routines, sleeping arrangements, and choosing between breast-feeding vs. bottle-feeding.
Parents often receive advise from friends, family, and media but ultimately the choice is up to the parents on what habits they want to form with their infant. These decisions may be made based on the parents’ schedule, what is more convenient, or what they feel best is for the baby’s growth. While researching what preferences parents have I read the article titled, “Cultural Variations in Infants’ Sleeping Arrangements: …show more content…
For me, the first child, my mother wanted me to have the ability to fall asleep on my own with depending on a parent being present so I had my own room and never co-sleep in the same bed. My mom said “But that plan was difficult because you were a ‘colicy’ baby” (Michaelson, 2017). As described in Development through the Lifespan book by Laura E Beck she describes colic as a persistent crying with unknown causes that can make it hard to calm the crying baby. My sleeping arrangement was more complicated for the first few months of infancy because I would only fall asleep laying upright on my dad’s chest. My parents followed the same sleeping arrangement for my brother because we each got separate rooms to gain independence and learned to fall asleep on our own. My Last brother had a different sleeping arrangement because my mom wanted us to have closer relationships so I shared a room with my youngest brother until he was six months old then my brother shared with him until he was 10 years