Parenting like a middle child

This isn't really an epiphany. Just a thought I've had for the last five minutes and figured was interesting enough for a brief blog. I think birth order has equal parts LOTS and LITTLE to do with personality. At this moment I am thinking it does have some to do with how I parent a baby and I bet it will continue to influence how I parent a toddler, child, adolescent, etc.

As a middle child I don't believe that any one way is THE way. And I have no problem differentiating myself from my peers, well except when I get self conscious (wanting to be different but wanting approval--classic middle child). But in the end I figure I'll do whatever seems right based on little A's personality (and WHAT a personality it is). So on stuff like this:

Baby wearing v. sticking baby somewhere v. letting baby run wild
Cloth diapers v. disposable
On-demand feeding v. schedule
Early solids v. later solids
Jarred baby food v. make-your-own v. baby-led weaning (which means they feed themselves from the beginning, soft but not mushy stuff)
Cry-it-out v. No tears sleep solution
No TV v. festival of cartoons

(Yeah, I had no idea there were going to be so many decisions about what to do with a baby)

I am all over the map with a combination of absolutely everything. I'm sure more rigid parents would think I am inconsistent. The less rigid ones would say I am overanalyzing. My favorite ones would of course say as long as the child is healthy and happy, the rest is my business. I hope that is what I would say about anyone else.

Sometimes I think it's because I don't quite trust myself that I take a little from column A, B, and C, but then I always land somewhere and when I do it often feels oh so right. And so I give my baby a slice of peach to scarf down on her own while I am mixing the cereal I will feed her with a spoon (which she will grab approximately 18 zillion times during the feeding). Of course Little A has A LOT of input into this stuff as she is quite the willful little almost eight-month-old. In fact I think where I land is often where she wants me, the little devil, which makes sense as getting upstaged is also classic middle child.

Things that make you go hmmm....