No amount of scouring forums, devouring guide books and interrogating mum friends can prepare you for the challenges of raising a baby. Sure, you can devise a list of 'rules' in advance (I'll breastfeed for six months, I won't give her a dummy, I'll prepare all my own baby food, I won't resort to controlled crying...).
But the sheer unpredictability of those little people drives most of us to abandon our well-intentioned principles in favour of the 'scattergun' approach. In other words, trying every parenting trick in the book until you find something that works for you and your baby, regardless of all those promises you made earlier.
Yes, it's chaos, and yes, nine times out of 10 you'll get it wrong. But it's all about celebrating the little victories. Because when you do find a solution and get something right, few things beat that feeling of parental pride.
We asked you to reveal the little parenting decisions that made the biggest impact for you.