Health visitor
I remember one day when the health visitor came, and she said she thought he would sleep better and for longer in the pram. I gave her a sceptical look, and said of course we had tried it, but he screamed and screamed as soon as we put him in it. She said he only needed to get used to it, and that she was always puzzled and saddened when she saw a couple of parents, one lugging the baby, and the other pushing an empty pram… Hm… That was us! She offered to go out with me and try and to show me some tricks. I thought it couldn’t hurt, and was quite optimistic. She must know a few things, since she had been in the business for so many years!
I told you…
We went out and laid him in the pram, and, as expected, he began that heartrending crying. She suggested setting the baby alarm, so that we could go indoors and finish our talk. I could hear from her tone that she did not think we had tried hard enough. We must be a couple of those overprotective first-time parents who can’t stand it when their baby makes the slightest sound. I let her have her way. After ten minutes, when we could barely hear ourselves think (and I couldn’t concentrate… my baby was out there screaming for his mother!), she admitted, “No, I can see this is not really working.” I told you, I thought, but said nothing.
“I could hear from her tone that she did not think we had tried hard enough. We must be a couple of those overprotective first-time parents who can’t stand it when their baby makes the slightest sound”