Also, don’t feel you have to slavishly follow current parenting trends if they don’t suit you op.
Somewhat controversially, I did sleep train my two for a brief period, because I felt that when they reached a stage when they became too tired, adrenaline kicked in and it was that which was keeping them awake.
Also I didn’t do baby led weaning as the mess gave me the ick (so shoot me 😆). I put my focus on food quality and variety and made home made purees and fed them with a spoon and a bib. And then when it was appropriate, moved them to a small table and chair set and fed them finger foods. They are both good eaters now as young adults!
So choose your own way op and have confidence in those choices! By all means read the latest research and science and keep an open mind but be aware that parenting fashions change like everything else and some come full circle.
What is often forgotten in our bid to do our absolute best for our dc, is the welfare of the mother, and how directly that impacts on the welfare of the child,
The expectations on women now are so ridiculously high. You have to hold down a job, breast feed for six months or longer, parent perfectly with exceptional emotional intelligence at all times , live in a pristine designer house, be lovingly emotionally present to your spouse and family, exercise and look good, facilitate your child’s education, hobbies and sports and extra curricular activities while providing healthy delicious food every night! It’s just impossible! The way through it op, is to choose a few things that are most important to you and contract out or lower your standards on the rest and have confidence in your choices. And allow those priorities to adapt and change as the years go on!
It’s easy to say from a distance of around twenty years, but many young women who think deeply about things like you op - which is definitely a positive btw - are prepared to sacrifice so much of themselves to give their babies and young dc the best care ever, when it would be better for those children imho, if their mothers chilled a bit more and focused on being more relaxed and happy
themselves.
There’s obviously a balance to be struck; there are serious and important sacrifices you have to make as a parent for your dc, but the whole experience shouldn’t feel like one long dreary punishment. It is gently relentless in the early years and the hardest thing for me was the fact that there were no breaks in the demands during weekends or holidays. But it’s amazing what you can get used to! And people don’t talk so much about the unconditional love and huge rewards that come with it.