Moms of Babies

One of my daughter's friends is getting ready to have a baby and I thought this would be good to repost from before.
 To say I was a novice when my first daughter was born is an understatement. I was eighteen when she was born and didn't have a lot of guidance from my mother. She was very sick and passed away soon after my daughter's birth. One thing she told me makes me giggle even now. "It's not a clean baby until you smell the Baby Magic." I have to say I agree with her!
I thought I would make a list of things that I have learned over the years with my children.

1. If baby is asleep, you sleep. Do not try to catch up on housework, etc. That can wait. You need rest. You just brought this bundle of joy into the world, which is an amazing feat. Sleep.

2. Babies do know when they are hungry. Never wake a sleeping baby to eat. Unless it's been like 12 hours, which I've never had happen. I made the mistake with my first of waking her every 4 hours, under my dr's directions. She would have slept through the night from the time we came home if I hadn't.

3. You don't need all those gadgets. There are new products on the market every day for babies. New trends, the new must haves. You don't need them. Or toys for that matter. The kid can't even really see past its nose for the first month. Save your money and buy what is necessary. Food, diapers, clothes. And Baby Magic.

4. Babies are not manipulators. When my son was born, my third child, the first night in the hospital, he was cranky and wouldn't stop crying. I had tried changing, feeding, rocking, nothing was helping. I had forgot to pack a pacifier so I called down to the nurses' station for one. The nurse who brought it was an older lady who when she heard my son cry from the bassinet, told me "Don't pick him up. You're gonna spoil him." Can you imagine? Less than one day old and this lady thinks that the kid is going to catch on to the idea that he cries, I pick him up. This made me angry. I told her, "I'm pretty sure he's not spoiled. And if picking him up to comfort him is spoiling, I'm good with that." I then thanked her and showed her the door. At this age, all they know is they are uncomfortable, gassy, hungry, wet, etc. They have no concept of being spoiled or any such horse hockey. If your baby cries, go to them. Period.

5. Be your child's advocate with your dr. Our second child was diagnosed as lactose intolerant. But, it was 2-3 months before we got that diagnosis. The dr kept telling me that she was colicky. This child would scream from the time she woke up till the time she went to sleep. It became so hard to get her to eat, that I would literally sit on the couch with her in my lap, one hand with the gas drops dropper and the other hand a dropper full of formula. I would alternate. I kept pushing the dr and finally, quite by accident, we found out the cause.  She came down with rotovirus and was switched to soy formula for 3 days. I had the best behaved baby. I called my husband at work and told him that if he didn't come home with cans of that, we were getting a divorce! If you have a feeling that your dr is wrong, speak up. You know your child better than anyone in the world. There's a lot to say about mother's intuition. I had to speak up and throw a fit for my oldest. The nurse practitioner tried to diagnose her with rotovirus and send us home. (This was a different time.) I knew she was wrong. We ended up at the ER with her where they were trying to tell us she was fine, just a virus. Come to find out, she had E. Coli O157 which  turned into Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome. I won't go into the whole fiasco, but if my husband and I hadn't pushed, Lord knows what would have happened. Mamas do know their children.

6. Enjoy this time. This time right now will seem like it will never end. But, it does. So, snuggle with that baby. Breathe in that lovely baby smell. All too soon, they are grown and gone. This is precious time. Enjoy every second.