It’s been a couple years since I’ve been a new mom, but I recently spent the weekend with my cousin, Jodie, and her new baby. It all came rushing back – the bottles, supplies, schedule, layers of clothing, middle-of-the-night feedings and new mom insecurities.

This is Jodie’s second baby, but the insecurities still exist. I don’t think she’s as nervous or by-the-book with her second as she was with her first, but the ‘what the heck am I doing’ feeling is still prevalent. Does it ever really go away?

We did what all good family would do with a new mom – we reassured her. Over and over and over again.

Should you take your 5-week old to your nephew’s district play-off football game?

Heck, yes. We’ll bundle him up and put him in the stroller so he sleeps through the entire thing. And, if he wakes up and you think it’s too cold for him, one of us will take him to the car or take him home.

Should you start putting him to sleep in his crib instead of his car seat?

Let me ask you this: Does he sleep well in his car seat and scream in his crib? Do YOU sleep well when he’s in his car seat? Enough said.

Except rational and logical leave your body with the placenta, so reasoning wasn’t working with her. She actually said, “Why don’t you blog about this and find out what other people think?” Yes, my smart, beautiful and successful cousin would rather let a bunch of strangers decide the fate of her baby’s sleep than listen to us. So, let me ask you all. Would you suggest she put him in his crib (where he screams) because it’s what the book says to do? And disrupt this?

I can’t really blame her because I’ve been in her shoes. We all have, right? Somewhere between hormones and no sleep, we question every single move we make as a new mom. Let’s be honest, I still question a lot of my parenting decisions. I’m pretty sure that will never change. But hang in there, new moms, because rational and logical do return. Slowly and sporadically, maybe, but they return.