Kids haven't changed much, but parents seem increasingly unhappy with the child raising phase of their lives.

A baby who cannot relax can be helped to do so by a variety of constant rhythmical stimuli. it will work if the trouble is some kind of general and diffuse irritability or tenseness which is preventing a tired baby relaxing into sleep. The burring sound of a fan or heater works excellently. So does the sound of a car engine.

Guilt is the most destructive of all emotions. It mourns what has been while playing no part in what may be, now or in the future.

There is no way out of the experience except through it, because it is not really your experience at all but the baby's. Your body is the child's instrument of birth.

Whatever you do to your child's body, you are doing to your child's mind too.

Your toddler will be "good" if he feels like doing what you happen to want him to do and does not happen to feel like doing anything you would dislike. With a little cleverness you can organize life as a whole, and issues in particular, so that you both want the same thing most of the time.

Children do not need superhuman, perfect parents. They have always managed with good enough parents: the parents they happened to have.