By Claudia M. Gold MD, September 7, 2021
Among the most common sources of suffering for new parents – sleep deprivation- may lead to a desperate search for certainty. Lack of sleep can strain relationships between parents, siblings, and grandparents. It may aggravate or even precipitate depression. Once parents find their way to my pediatrics practice where I specialize in infant-parent mental health, they have typically tried all sorts of methods and prepackaged sets of instructions. They ask “What do you think of Suzie Expert’s blog? How about Dr. Authority’s book? When we relax into the open space of not knowing, we make important discoveries.
In my decades practicing pediatrics while studying and teaching contemporary developmental science, I have come to understand uncertainty as the force that drives healthy individuals and healthy relationships forward. Throughout our lives, waves of not knowing are followed by calm of knowing, followed by another wave of uncertainty in an ongoing process of growth and change over time.
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