It’s amazing what you learn as a parent…

It’s hard work writing articles for My Baby Survival Guide, so over the weekend my husband and I took our baby to the beach to escape the heat. Before we headed into the water, we decided to blow up a small floatation ring that my mother-in-law had given to our son as a present. It was in the shape of a race car and even had a spoiler, steering wheel and horn – very cool.

But what amazed me was what came to my mind when I looked at the picture on the box. The picture was just like any that you might find on the front of a box for a swim ring. The little baby was perched inside the ring and the mother was gently towing the baby through the water. There was however one notable difference in the picture – the baby was pulling on his ear. I immediately showed my husband and pointed out “That baby is tired”.

I didn’t think anything of my comment until a few hours later when I sat back and realized that just a few short months ago, I would have never given that image a second thought. And I definitely wouldn’t have been able to identify that the child was tired just by looking at the picture. I now know that ear pulling is a classic tired sign in babies. It just goes to show how much baby related knowledge you learn so quickly when you become a parent, often without even consciously doing so. Even if you are a new mother, before long you will build up your own repertoire of knowledge and have your own baby survival guide to refer back to .

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