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I'm the mother of a 9-month-old. I feel too protective of my baby. I mean I can't leave him for a minute on its own, I feel that I have to constantly watch over my precious child.

Is it normal for a mother to feel this way?

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3 Answers 3

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This is the most beautiful feeling you will ever feel. All good and normal parents do feel protective. Just know that you have to balance this with your child's needs. It is alright to feel protective, but it will be wrong to keep him locked up. Let him explore in a good way. Know that feeling protective over your child will only add to your and his happiness.

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Being protective like this is completely normal. With my first child, I tried not to let anything happen to him and ran to him for every cry. I wanted nothing but the best for my baby. I now have three boys and my wife is pregnant again. The boys are always hurting themselves by falling down, running into things, fighting with each other. Children, and even infants, are more resilient than you would think.

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I will disagree with the above answers is one respect.

Feeling overprotective of your first baby is normal, but not if it is disrupting your life or if it causes you significant stress. There is protection ("Is my baby too hot in those pajamas?"), overprotection ("I'd better check the baby for signs of overheating," every 15 minutes), and distressing overprotection ("Why can't I stop checking the baby for signs of overheating every few minutes? Why do I feel the need to watch him every minute?)

The latter is normal when there has been a life threatening event in the baby's intrauterine or extrauterine) life, the baby has a significant medical problem, you've experienced death of a baby close to you in some way, or there was difficulty in conceiving and there is reason to believe this will be your only child. In that case, it's a normal adaptive response to these events (normal meaning happens to a significant degree, not that it's not distressing. All worry is distressing to some degree.)

However, it is not normal in the absence of these or other similar circumstances and the worry causes you more than mild distress. In that case, I would bring the issue up with either the baby's doctor or your own.

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