Womb to Bloom - Maternity & Beyond

Did you know that self-esteem is a product of innate personality in combination with external and internal stimuli?  This means that self-esteem building begins in the womb and carries on throughout an entire lifetime.  The best foundation for a healthy child is a loving beginning.

One of the most important things you can do for your baby’s self esteem is to react to her cries in a prompt way.  You might hear a lot about leaving a baby to “cry it out” or getting her on a schedule by simply ignoring her needs and forcing her into your timeframe, but these are both potential self-esteem busters.  It’s simple to see if you look at it from the baby’s point of view.

Imagine that you’re a soft, sweet baby in your crib crying.  You cry and you cry because you have a need and no one comes.  You wait and you cry and you work yourself into a frightened frenzy.  What lesson do you think you’d be learning? 

Most childhood experts now agree that picking up a crying baby is not spoiling it.  When you’re baby has a need and you lovingly tend to it, you are teaching that baby that she is loved and provided for.  This is an important building block for future growth.

Another important self-esteem builder for your baby is what experts call “bonding” – it’s that time that you spend simply holding your baby and looking into its eyes.  It may be hard to believe, but this one simple act, which you probably love doing anyway, is important to your baby’s ability to grow in a healthy way.

Your instincts will most likely tell you to pick up your baby when it cries and you’re greatest desire will probably be to sit and rock and stare into your baby’s incredible eyes.  These two impulses are Nature’s way of ensuring that your baby is cared for in the best way possible and your loving kindness will be the basis that your baby’s self-esteem will be built on for all of her life.