Read Your Baby

Read Your Baby

Read your baby, not a book,
Go on give them a good look.
Listen to what they’re telling you,
Then you’ll know just what to do.

Trust your instincts, you know best,
Give the guilt and doubt a rest.
You know your baby inside out,
I know you do, you know, don’t doubt.

But ‘help’ you cry ‘I don’t know how,
I don’t know what to do right now.
I know, I’ll pick up a baby book,
I’ll only have one real quick look.’

‘Hold on, no wait this isn’t true,
What it says my baby doesn’t do,
Now I feel worse than I did before,
I don’t know if I’m a good mum anymore.’

It’s when you doubt and feel like this,
Throw out the books, give them a miss.
Sit down somewhere, think things through,
Hear your instincts speak to you.

They will tell you what to do,
If you trust them to help you through.
Do you need to hold baby tight?
Do your instincts tell you what’s right?

Do you need to ask a friend?
Do you need them wine to send?
Confidence and trust you need,
To use your instincts, sow the seed.

Why don’t you try, give it a go,
And if it works then let me know.
It might be hard first, at the start,
But it soon becomes part of your heart.

Prose for Thought

25 Comments on Read Your Baby

  1. Verily Victoria Vocalises
    April 18, 2013 at 11:19 am (11 years ago)

    I absolutely love this – and am so with you on forgetting what the books say and going with your instincts. This should be one massive tagline for your blog title. Another great poem from you lovely lady, thank you so much for linking up to Prose For Thought xx

    Reply
    • InstinctiveMum
      April 18, 2013 at 1:27 pm (11 years ago)

      Thank you lovely! I love Prose For Thought and my weekly poetry challenge! Xx

      Reply
  2. Karen Marquick
    April 18, 2013 at 12:33 pm (11 years ago)

    Beautiful, so very true, and very appropriate to your blog. #Prose4T xx

    Reply
    • InstinctiveMum
      April 18, 2013 at 1:26 pm (11 years ago)

      Thank you, and thank you for reading! 😉

      Reply
  3. Jaime Oliver
    April 18, 2013 at 1:18 pm (11 years ago)

    What a beautiful poem! and one so many can relate too!

    Reply
  4. judithkingston
    April 18, 2013 at 1:30 pm (11 years ago)

    I was also going to say that this post should be a sort of front page for your blog! Very good advice. x

    Reply
    • InstinctiveMum
      April 18, 2013 at 1:32 pm (11 years ago)

      Thank you! Now all I need to do is work out now to do that lol! Maybe I need to add a page? X

      Reply
      • judithkingston
        April 18, 2013 at 2:27 pm (11 years ago)

        Yes, that would work. Or I think you could make this post sticky, so it stays on top.

        Reply
  5. dragonsflypoppy
    April 18, 2013 at 4:31 pm (11 years ago)

    This is such a fantastic poem, and like the others I think this, or at least excerpts from it, should be on your homepage. It’s just brill. Quite right about the books. I think there’s a place for them, as when I was a new mum, before I had confidence to trust my instincts, they gave me ideas. But since having my second I haven’t opened them once :))
    Just a brill post xx

    Reply
    • InstinctiveMum
      April 19, 2013 at 8:37 pm (11 years ago)

      Thank you, so much! Am thinking of adding this poem onto a page, and doing some kind of instincts linky?! If I can work all that out of course lol! X

      Reply
  6. Natalie Ray
    April 18, 2013 at 7:29 pm (11 years ago)

    Beautiful and so true 🙂 I had a book once, totally pointless. I’m with you on the doing it by instinct thing, women have always brought up children, why would someone who has never met them know better than their mum?

    Reply
  7. Mummy Zen
    April 18, 2013 at 7:53 pm (11 years ago)

    Beautiful words that speak volumes. I’m definitely with you on instincts over books. I remember reading so much conflicting advice that I got sick of the lot of them and decided it was time for the books to go! A really lovely read! x

    Reply
    • InstinctiveMum
      April 19, 2013 at 8:39 pm (11 years ago)

      Ah thank you! Trusting your instincts can be hard but it makes parenting so much easier if you do, doesn’t it?! 🙂

      Reply
  8. Helen Braid
    April 18, 2013 at 9:13 pm (11 years ago)

    Oh what a breath of fresh air – this is SO true. I loathe all those baby books. My friends used them and were stressed to the max. You know your own baby and every baby is different. Who could possibly write a book on that? x

    Reply
    • InstinctiveMum
      April 19, 2013 at 8:40 pm (11 years ago)

      Couldn’t have put it better myself! (Although secretly I do kind of want to write a book on trusting your instincts lol) xx

      Reply
  9. Catching the Magic
    April 19, 2013 at 6:04 am (11 years ago)

    This is brilliant! It took me six months, with my first baby, to ditch the books & trust my instincts (always regret not doing so earlier!). This poem is a must read for new parents, never mind all those baby books!

    Reply
  10. Mummy Glitzer
    April 19, 2013 at 2:31 pm (11 years ago)

    Absolutely true and how I wish I had done that a lot sooner than I did. xx

    Reply
    • InstinctiveMum
      April 19, 2013 at 8:42 pm (11 years ago)

      Me too! Thank you,for reading x

      Reply

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