On November 22nd, 2013, I became a father. As many might agree, having a newborn join your life can be one of the most breathtaking (and sleepless) experiences. And surely, I can attest to that after a week of parenting. In the past 7 days, I've learned so much about newborn babies and everything relating to them. This is inevitable because as a parent, you must ensure the safety, well-being and survival of your baby. However, I cannot stop feeling that every parent (including myself) will go through similar trial-and-errors, sleepless nights and agony before getting it right. This is clearly inefficient. There has to be a better way.
During the 2 days at the maternity ward, we had many nurses and doctors visit telling us what to do and not do with the baby. The amount of information provided was simply overwhelming. Not only that, the guide to handling a baby was given as directives - i.e. the car-seat must be rear-facing, feed the baby at least once every 3 hours, hold the baby upright for a burp... and there was no end to it. No wonder learning how to become a caring parent is inefficient.
As an engineer, I know that memorization and following rules is the worst form of digesting information to solve problems. A better way is to understand the inherent cause and engineer a solution around it. I believe handling babies are no different. There is a reason why the car-seat is better rear-facing. There is a reason why sometimes the baby simply can't sleep for 3 hours. But no book or baby guide focuses on the reason. This means I have to find it by trial-and-error or else I have to worry and search for an answer every time I face a situation that I don't have directives for. This is frustrating.
I want to record my findings and realization from raising my son on this blog. I do not intend to write yet another rule of things you should do or not do with your baby. For that, there are myriad books out there you can read. Rather, I aspire to keep this blog short and simple, placing emphasis on the WHY and understanding the fundamental reason behind why certain baby things are done in certain ways.
I want to write an engineer's way of understanding how babies function so that you may come up with your own solution, best fit for your baby.
During the 2 days at the maternity ward, we had many nurses and doctors visit telling us what to do and not do with the baby. The amount of information provided was simply overwhelming. Not only that, the guide to handling a baby was given as directives - i.e. the car-seat must be rear-facing, feed the baby at least once every 3 hours, hold the baby upright for a burp... and there was no end to it. No wonder learning how to become a caring parent is inefficient.
As an engineer, I know that memorization and following rules is the worst form of digesting information to solve problems. A better way is to understand the inherent cause and engineer a solution around it. I believe handling babies are no different. There is a reason why the car-seat is better rear-facing. There is a reason why sometimes the baby simply can't sleep for 3 hours. But no book or baby guide focuses on the reason. This means I have to find it by trial-and-error or else I have to worry and search for an answer every time I face a situation that I don't have directives for. This is frustrating.
I want to record my findings and realization from raising my son on this blog. I do not intend to write yet another rule of things you should do or not do with your baby. For that, there are myriad books out there you can read. Rather, I aspire to keep this blog short and simple, placing emphasis on the WHY and understanding the fundamental reason behind why certain baby things are done in certain ways.
I want to write an engineer's way of understanding how babies function so that you may come up with your own solution, best fit for your baby.
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