I have a newborn, and granted I tend to go against the "mainstream" on some of my parenting decisions, however I tend to think that demand feeding, and letting newborns sleep when they need to, and not introducing cereal before 4-6 months is pretty standard practice. However, I may be wrong.

I have to say that I'm shocked to see how quickly some babies are put on schedules with feeding and sleeping - often following the ill-advice of one Mr. Ezzo and his parenting method "Babywise". I'm amazed at the pace at which cereal is put into bottles, and the crying-it-out method of sleep training is employed. I'd never knock a parent their decision to do so (use cry-it-out, or decide to add cereal to a bottle), but these are practices for when the babies are older, aren't they?

According to my favourite developmental psychologist, Erikson, the entire first year of life is devoted to the battle between trust and mistrust. An infant must learn to trust the caregivers around her (I'm using her because that's what I have) that her basic needs will be met. Those basic needs include being fed, and comfortable, and loved. If they don't have those needs met they develop a sense of mistrust in their parents and the environment in which they are in.

I see crying it out like this - when they are forced, especially so early in infancy, to not be fed or held (basic needs at this age), and to stay in a crib for X hours in a night, they will learn to mistrust their cribs, their rooms and most importantly, their parents. Now, granted, there is a time and a place for everything, but in newborns??? To me the answer seems obvious, that it's entirely inappropriate.

The cereal one is based in physiology - their guts are not mature enough to handle such large proteins at this age, it's too permeable. Predisposes these babies to allergies, diabetes and obesity.

So, while I would love my daughter to nap on time, eat on time, and sleep all night, right now is not the time. As it is, I'm trying to figure out if she is starting to work out her own semi-predictable schedule. Sadly, for now, she is not.... but I have faith that the time will come.