As a new parent, everything your baby does is a first. That means anything they do that seems just the slightest bit off is also a first. Cue the flood of anxiety and worry (which is fairly normal and expected), and away to Google we go!
Exactly how anxious are new parents? A survey of 2,000 parents with a child under two conducted by OnePoll on behalf of CeraVe found that parents worry about six times per day during that first year. They also Googled more than 2,000 baby-related questions within that time period.
The top searches included how to take care of baby’s skin (43%), feeding-related questions (40%), why the baby is crying (38%), and why the baby isn’t sleeping (37%). In terms of who parents wish they’d had more access to for answers, more than a third said a dermatologist to help identify and solve skin issues, 37% midwife, 36% a pediatrician, and 37% a sleep consultant (though we think parents with kids of all ages would benefit from this, honestly).
In addition to all that worrying over what they were doing right or wrong, the survey did show parents wished they’d been a little easier on themselves during those first years. In fact, almost half (47%) wished they could go back and tell themselves they’re doing a great job and 46% said they would remind themselves to be kinder to themselves because they’re not alone.
Just how great of a job are they doing? The average parent spends “over 1,600 hours holding their newborn, has 77 sleepless nights, and makes an average of 56 phone calls to their own parents and 67 to medical experts in that first year.”
And, you know, that’s not nothing!
