I’ve found new wisdom from my newborn. When you have a baby you’re provided all this general advice. Some actual guidelines from our healthcare provider:

In the first 24 hours, your baby will be sleepy
After the first day, your new baby will need to eat at least 8 to 12 times a day
It’s normal for babies to feed several times closer together, or “cluster feed”
Expect to change about 7 to 10 diapers a day
Crying is your baby’s way of talking to you
Baby will be noisy with grunts, sneezes, and hiccups, they are learning & developing their digestion
Touch is their primary communication language, the first way they learn about their environment and themselves, so do skin to skin as much as possible

Learning all this as a first-time parent, something struck me. There is no accounting for race, ethnicity, culture or gender. None of those characteristics affect baby behavior or guidelines for their care. Babies are babies.

In a way, this reinforces we are more similar than different. We all begin from the same starting place. We grow and change and blossom into distinct individuals, but we all start the same. Individual babies may have specific behaviors and preferences, but holistically, they all eat, sleep and poop. They prove we are, in fact, all equal. We’re all human.

In a world focused on differences, it helps to remember we all entered this world alike. Our sameness precedes our distinctions. Babies, show us the way.