Lately my wife and I have been having a rough time with feeling like we are “failing” our son, for lack of a better term.
He’s 9 months old, born 3 weeks premature, had jaundice which required light therapy, ended up having torticollis which he is in physical therapy for (and has progressed extremely well), wore a DocBand helmet for 10 weeks to treat a flat spot from facing only one side while sleeping.
I only mention all of this because I use it to tell myself that our son has had some minor tribulations to overcome.
At 9 months, he sits unassisted, holds a bottle with both hands (plays with it rather than feeds himself), rolls to either side, jumps in his bouncer, sleeps through the night consistently, babbles constantly, and is currently learning to wave (or maybe he’s just flailing his arms in response to our waves!)
My BiL’s child is 4 weeks ahead of our son (technically 7?) and he’s been crawling for a while, pulling himself up on furniture, damn near walking.
I feel like my wife and I have been so focused on making sure that we do everything by the book, everything right, whereas my BiL and his girlfriend have a very tumultuous, unstructured household and their son seems to be exceeding, not to say that our son isn’t. It’s just hard to not be envious or jealous of visible progression.
I guess I was wondering if I could hear from some other dads that have experienced this to know that I (we) are not alone. The pediatrician, physical therapist, and everyone we talk to don’t seem worried… I know the first year can be different for every baby. My wife has been “feeling like a failure” lately and I want to help reassure, and myself, that it’s perfectly normal.
Cheers, Dads & Lurkers, enjoy the weekend!
He’s 9 months old, born 3 weeks premature, had jaundice which required light therapy, ended up having torticollis which he is in physical therapy for (and has progressed extremely well), wore a DocBand helmet for 10 weeks to treat a flat spot from facing only one side while sleeping.
I only mention all of this because I use it to tell myself that our son has had some minor tribulations to overcome.
At 9 months, he sits unassisted, holds a bottle with both hands (plays with it rather than feeds himself), rolls to either side, jumps in his bouncer, sleeps through the night consistently, babbles constantly, and is currently learning to wave (or maybe he’s just flailing his arms in response to our waves!)
My BiL’s child is 4 weeks ahead of our son (technically 7?) and he’s been crawling for a while, pulling himself up on furniture, damn near walking.
I feel like my wife and I have been so focused on making sure that we do everything by the book, everything right, whereas my BiL and his girlfriend have a very tumultuous, unstructured household and their son seems to be exceeding, not to say that our son isn’t. It’s just hard to not be envious or jealous of visible progression.
I guess I was wondering if I could hear from some other dads that have experienced this to know that I (we) are not alone. The pediatrician, physical therapist, and everyone we talk to don’t seem worried… I know the first year can be different for every baby. My wife has been “feeling like a failure” lately and I want to help reassure, and myself, that it’s perfectly normal.
Cheers, Dads & Lurkers, enjoy the weekend!