Friday, July 10, 2009

to swing or not to swing...

this world of parenting is full of questions. do you think he's too warm? too cold? is he hungry? gassy? why is ben crying? are we talking to him enough? should we be cuddling more? how do i cut his nails? what makes us "bonded" and are we? will he really stop eating when he's full because he seems to eat as much as we'll put in his bottle. but here is the latest question: is there such thing as too much swing?

today we discovered that the swing that we borrowed from our friends is a fantastic, fantastic device. it doesn't matter how upset ben is when we put him in it, he will be calm and content within moments. so today, we put him in the swing...umm...5 times. oh dear. i kept saying to tim, "we can't put him in the swing again! what if we can never get him to sleep without the swing?" tim looks at me as though i am crazy because why wouldn't we put him in our surefire sleep maker? am i crazy? should swing time be limited? if i put him in the swing too often, will it make some kind of bad habit of needing the swing?

parenting is questions... and i'm betting the questions will never end... :)

5 comments:

theRachel said...

Hmmm...I have no clue. Have you tried googling it?

Unknown said...

oh rebecca .. you're so right. the questions NEVER end. they just get bigger! :)

i vote there's never too much swing!

theRachel said...

How are there not more comments on this? Come on, parents, share your wisdom!

Ang said...

I'd say let him swing.
I wouldn't mind spending most of my day swinging to sleep.
Unless the doctor says it's bad, I don't think you will encourage a swing dependency.
Besides you can always ween him off the swing with things like candy and video games.

JaniceM said...

Let him swing!!! Rachel lived in the swing until she outgrew it. I couldn't get her to sleep any other way. I was SO afraid, what would I do when she no longer fit in the swing. I thought she's going to be starting to school and still in it. But i worried for nothing. She started sleeping fine without it and has been a great sleeper!!