As a lone parent, any help offered me by family and friends is very welcome. It’s not easy to raise a child and especially when you are alone most of the time. It’s not easy for even those people who are married and living with a partner. When the child/ren is small one parent has to sacrifice and stay home with the baby for at least 3 months. Here in the Uk you get to have 6 months maternity leave which can be extended to 9 months with reduced pay.
Unlike in my home country Kenya childcare is very expensive and not so many can afford to have a child minder. So mums end up staying at home while dads work. It’s difficult for that parent who is always changing diapers, doing feeds and getting a telling from this cute little ones.
Anyway, I was going to say, there’s this friend of mine who loves to help me out at least once a week. She’s lovely and goes out of her way for me a lot and for no pay. She will do my shopping, clean, cook and babysit all for nothing!
As much as I appreciate her, she has this idea that soothing a baby to sleep means shaking the baby a bit too much. I have tried to stop her kindly and even told her that the baby will be sick but a second later she forgets and goes back to swinging and shaking the baby. This is done even when she’s not crying! No matter how many times I tell her to be gentle she just doesn’t get it! I end up taking my baby from her (in a nice way of cos) but she will want her back. She loves kids so much and she hasn’t got any herself so it pains me to take baby away from her. In general, she’s rough with baby and am thinking that’s just the way she is.
I need her but eish, I have to keep finding good reasons why she should hand my baby back to her me.
Farmgal 
haiya!…thats a wierd little story …lol..why would someone want to shake a baby to sleep??..does that even work??…I know you want to be nice to ur pal,but maybe you should think of making.. putting the baby to sleep as ‘mummy time with the baby’…and watch ur pal like a hawk…cos that seems like plain cresse lady behavior right there …hehehe
Yella, am trying to work out how to help her handle the baby better…she is way too rough. She yanked off her (baby R) sweater an I as horrified! Thing is I need her and she’s available so we have to work it out.
Its nice to have someone going out of their way to help you with your baby, but its another thing to have the same person risk the health of your child. you should sit her down and try explaining to her the consequences that might occur if she kept on shaking the baby vigorously to sleep and even try and make up something to show that the baby’s health will be at risk coz once damage is done to a child theres no refixing.
That’s a tough one. The tough part being that you need her… hope it all works out with training her.
Sunshine, I have tried all ways to make her stop and unfortunately taking the baby off her seems to work best. Though leaves me feeling horrible
Mrembo, I appreciate her help lots so will try and find a God given approach. *praying*
I think that during our time the shake shake thing worked. I suppose that babies are not made the same nowadays. It’s been ages since I heard of a baby biting someone they didn’t know, but during our days it was the norm. You hold me and I don’t like you, I bite then piss at you. Thank God for diapers.