ABSTRACT
Parents had months to prepare for the baby’s arrival and the changes it would bring to their lives. Besides all the physical preparations, parents prepared themselves and younger children. Parents told older children about the impending arrival of the baby. Once the baby came home from the hospital, parents accepted full-time responsibility for their baby. Mothers devoted almost all their time to feeding, changing, cuddling, and caring for him/her. Parents or sitters checked on the baby for one of three reasons: parents routinely checked the baby as part of their parental responsibility, parents felt concerned because the baby had not followed his or her usual routine; or parents were worried because the baby had been sick. When the baby had been sick, parental checking took on a different quality. Parents either kept the child near them so they could monitor the situation continually or they increased the frequency of their checking.
