Blog Description

2009 marks the second time the Bio-Psych class at North Shore Country Day School has participated in a simulated parenting project using Realityworks Real Care babies.

The babies are life sized, ten pound infants, implanted with micro-chips that record the manner in which they are handled.

Babies are programmed to need feeding, burping, holding and rocking, diaper changing and general attention. Each student/parent has a prescribed amount of time to attend to each baby function and the student/parent is timed by the microcomputer in the baby as to how successful they are at meeting the baby’s needs.

Each student will have a baby (of their choice) for three school days and one weekend. During that time they are expected to keep a blog discussing the experience.

The experiment is designed to help students have a first-hand experience involving development, and to encourage them to think broadly about questions of nature and nature.

Final Reflection

I don’t see a baby anywhere in my near future. This project consisted of time, effort and commitment to a small object which basically controlled my life for five days. The project was very successful in teaching conditioning. In just a few hours after receiving the baby my schedule had completely changed. I had become conditioned to be attentive and alert to the baby. The conditioning did not all happen at once. It took about a day to get use to the different crying noises, and the baby care routine. It took a while to figure out what sounds meant hungry or diaper change. But with time it gets easier to identify the sounds and know which proper actions to take. There were nights I felt like I had no sleep, because I was constantly attending to the baby. I feel as if many people grew a bond to their babies, but I never got there. Honestly speaking if I was asked to do this project again, I would have to decline the offer. For the most part it was a well learned experience, not just the scientific part of it all but also the human aspects and reactions.
As one can imagine, in this society it is frowned upon that someone my age would have a child. Throughout the project this was a very common reaction. I take public transportation to and from school and you can only imagine the amounts of people who take public transportation. Now imagine all these people staring at you and whispering to their nearby friends. Not only is this rude but very embarrassing. I was automatically judged, no one thought of the possibility that the baby was my brother or nephew. Many people that I would normally see on the bus were shocked to see me with a baby. A day after the project was over; a man on the bus asked “what, no baby today.” So as you can see I feel like I’ve been scared. Those who never got a chance to realize that the baby wasn’t real, now think that I have a baby. Even though people were quick to judge, as soon as they found out that it was a fake baby they all would laugh at themselves and say that they thought it was a great idea, that my school had such a class. People my age just looked at me like I was weird for agreeing to carry a fake baby around.
Even though the main purpose of the project was not serving as a birth control mechanism, I feel as if it also succeeded in doing that. Trust me when I say babies are not as fun as everyone thinks they are, because I certainly did not get that feeling. But then again I feel that if the baby were real I would have felt different towards it, maybe a little love and affection. Just to say, because I was neither happy nor excited about this project, and maybe it’s just me. I like sleeping through the night and only having to worry about me. Maybe that’s a little selfish, but I’m young and that’s all I should have to worry about.
Last but not least, I contemplated on why I really didn’t enjoy the project. Maybe I’m wrong, but I honestly think I got the baby from hell. It just would not stop crying. Maybe if I had C.B’s baby, I would have liked this project a whole lot better. A baby that doesn’t cry, I think that’s everyone’s dream.

Conditioned to React

On Monday night Reese would not stop crying he started crying at 2 in the morning, and almost every hour after that. It got to a point where my mom came and took him just so I could get some sleep. This was probably the worst night because. He would extremely loud, and the only thing that would work was feeding him, every other time he woke up.
It’s Tuesday morning and for the most part the crying has not been bad, he coos here and there and once in a while he cries, but right before community gathering and during, he would not stop, I had to leave the theater three time and got laughed at by the whole school. After the third time I decided not to go back into the theater.
After community gathering I had class with Mrs. M and she was very compassionate about the crying baby in her class room. She held him while I did my work, and took care of him when he was crying. Everyone in class was also very helpful and wanted to help when he got fussy. When he wasn’t crying everyone gathered around him and talked to him or played with him.
At this point I began to figure out that it helps to hold the baby. He seemed less fussy when he was being held. For the rest of the day he continued crying at predictable intervals, and at this point I had become conditioned to when he was going to crying and what I had to do. I was conditioned to react to his every sound. After a while, even though it’s tiring. I became use to it and just saw it as routine and necessary.
Later on I switched babies with C.B because her baby would not cry and mine had been crying all day and the night before. The new baby never made a sound the whole time I had her. I think I like he better.

Karma

On the second to last day of the project I was waiting at the Indian hill train stop with some friends and Reese was in his carrier on the bench. A lady coming up the stairs walked up to where I was standing, then stopped, she took a look at the baby and then said “Thank God I thought you had a little baby. Then she walked away. Then all my friends began to laugh. But at this point I am use to this reaction from people. On the train it was no different. Even people who had seen me the day before still stared and whispered as I walked by.
Juggling a baby with a sports bag and a school bag is very difficult, especially when you’re trying to catch a train. When the baby starts crying it completely ruins the flow of things. I honestly believe that Reese was just impossible. He was fussy most of the time, and he just cried, even after I had done everything I was supposes to do. Also he eats a lot for the first two days that I had him his crying was manageable but after that it just would get louder and his crying became more frequent. My mother thought it was hilarious.
I asked my mom why she thought me taking care of a baby was hilarious, especially when it cried. She said Karma. I was confused at first but then she explained that when I was a child I cried a lot and kept her up countless night, and now I was finally getting to see what it was like and how it would be.

DISAPROVING STARES

This morning Reese and I got ready to go to school, we left the house at 7:17 in order to catch our 7:25 bus. Upon arriving at the bus stop the bus drivers and the entire bus of passengers gave me the weirdest and most disapproving looks. Many people who I usually see on the bus also looked really confused as to why I had a baby. We soon arrived at the metra, where I received more stares from disapproving passengers.
During the night and in the morning he did not cry, but the minute he got turned on after Morning EX, he cried almost every hour and half. He would not stop crying during lunch. I did everything, changed his diaper, tried feeding him, rocked him, but nothing would work. I was barely able to eat my lunch because I had to take care of him. He seems to be really fussy and he eats a lot. Today I spent most of my time rocking him, but it didn’t really seem to be working.
Today was interesting experience, because of the reactions that I got from people around me. Either they disapproved or when they found out it was fake they applauded the idea of carrying around a baby. Some kids on the train even asked if they could hold my baby (of course I said no). I also got a lot of questions on how the baby acts and what I had to do if it started crying.
I’ve gotten use the routine of taking care of him but the sound of the crying doesn’t feel any better. At this point things have become easier, it only gets hard to cope when he is crying and nothing works, but besides that he is not that hard to take care of, I’m not sure if I enjoy it, but it’s defiantly not that hard.

Sleepless Night

He won’t stop crying. At about every hour starting around four on Saturday he cries, I try to feed him but he keeps on crying, I change his diaper but he keeps on crying. He cries for about fifteen minutes then he stops then ten minutes later he begins to cry again. This time I try feeding him again. He eats for a while, cries a little bit while eating, and then after he is full, he begins to coo. After this he goes to sleep. Then about an hour and half later he wakes up again and we would go through the whole process again this happened till about 10:30 in the morning. I barely got any sleep. But throughout the day he didn’t cry as much and then in the evening he began crying like he was in the morning. It’s becoming a routine. By this point I think I know exactly which cries are what and how to handle it.
Having a baby isn’t fun, way too much responsibility. I have only had it for a short while and already the way I do things has been altered. My life is being controlled by this baby, and he is so demanding. I’m tired, I can barley sleep, and I think I’m becoming paranoid. I’m hearing baby’s cries, even when he is not around me, and I don’t like other people touching my baby.

Reese's First Day

Today was Reese’s first day. We had a welcoming party for him in the academic center. Everyone was very excited to see him, and the god parents got to hold him for the first time. The party lasted till about 3:15, then Reese and I headed off to volleyball practice.
He was pretty quiet until the middle of volleyball practice, when the baby sitter dropped him off. He started to cry around 4:20 I changed his diaper and fed him, but he would still not stop, I rocked him for a little bit, then he quieted down. After about ten minutes he began to cry again, and this time he would not stop. After a while he stopped crying and by this time practice was over. On the way home he began to cry again, traffic was heavy and I really couldn’t pull over, so K.B got in the back sit and took care of him this was around 5: 20. After a while he also started making cooing sounds. When we got home he began to cry, and I fed him for about ten minutes and changed his diaper around 6:15. Since then he has been pretty much quiet until now. I just fed him again and it is now 7:35.
So far the first day has been just what I expected. When he cries, and I have done all there is to do and he won’t stop it gets a little frustrating. At first I felt like I was doing something wrong, or forgetting to do something, but I think I’m beginning to get the hang of it. I know when he is hungry or when he wants his diaper change. I’m beginning to hear the difference in the cries. The most annoying is the wailing, it just keeps getting louder and louder.