The first few months of baby’s life go a long way towards setting the tone in your home. How you parent your infant now will determine what she expects of you, even when she is much older. Different parents have differing parenting styles, and there’s nothing wrong with that, as long as you understand and realize that you are setting patterns which will continue to be expected as your baby grows into an older child.

What’s your parenting style? Do you come running at the first sound of baby crying, every time? Or do you let your little one cry it out for a little while first? Do you hold your baby constantly, or do you lie her down in her crib or playpen for much of the day?

There really aren’t right and wrong answers to these questions. There is an ungodly amount of debate amongst parents and professionals alike concerning which is best for baby, but the real evidence indicates that both babies who are attended immediately and those who are allowed to cry for a while grow up to be children and, later, adults. Contrary to the hype tossed out there by vocal proponents of either position, there’s no strong evidence to show that babies raised either way have any serious consequences later in life.

The same is true for babies who are held constantly or those who are allowed to lay in their cribs or playpens. And for breastfed babies or bottle fed babies. We’re not saying there aren’t some significant benefits to one over the other, but let’s be realistic. Babies grow to be who they are due to a number of factors, including natural temperament, nurture in the home, and other social influences which have very little to do with how many times you picked her favorite rattle back up and gave it to her.

What will be affected most by the way you parent your newborn is the short term future. If you come running every time your infant whimpers, expect to be doing that throughout baby’s development, at least until she outgrows the need. If you allow baby to cry it out, expect him to develop the ability to soothe himself to some degree.

Babies quickly develop a set of expectations based on what they’ve experienced from us up until now. And they do carry those expectations into their childhood. So, the best advice anyone can give you regarding parenting your baby is to model your parenting style to fit the kind of parenting you’re going to want to do with your child when he gets older.

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