Until the birth of our fourth baby, Martha and I really thought we knew everything it took to be good parents. After all, we were already raising three boys, and their needs had always been easy to identify and satisfy. In fact, I was starting to suspect that parents in my pediatric practice who complained about their demanding, temperamental babies were exaggerating.

Then came Hayden. With her, our job descriptions as parents were turned upside down. If Hayden wasn't constantly in-arms or at-breast, she was crying. We tried all of our old tricks  -- nothing worked. "I can't put her down" became Martha's mantra. What quickly became clear was that this baby needed constant connection in order to be happy. Our old parenting style just wasn't going to cut it. By forcing us to reevaluate and reshape our ideas of parenthood, Hayden taught us what being a parent is really all about. And it all comes down to just eight golden rules.

William Sears, M.D., is a contributing editor of BabyTalk magazine.

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