It is funny how many old wives’ tales there are about babies and we get used to them to the extent that we never even think they might be wrong.
I have gathered here facts that surprised me when I first heard about them - have a look, you might learn something new.

[...]

• Add Comment

When I was a new mom, my first worry was about whether or not the baby is getting enough milk. I was looking for some guidelines and found them. Some came from books, some from lactation consultants, some from other moms - but all of them worked for us and you too may find them useful.

• 2 Comments
Show Comments
Hide Comments | Add your comment
1. Add your URL to our Directory Listings…

   Add your parenting related website to our web directory…

   Trackback by Baby-Parenting.com — December 11, 2008 @ 10:06 am

2. baby food coupons…

   I found your post comments while searching Google. Very relevant especially as this is not an issue which a lot of peaople are conversant with….

   Trackback by baby food coupons — December 21, 2008 @ 4:20 am
Hide Comments | Add your comment

Anyone who is expecting or raising a baby knows - we get a lot of advice, whether we need it or not. All well-intentioned, because they are “trying” to help, but for some reason we just don’t feel grateful. In fact, we often feel like blowing up and letting them have it.

• 4 Comments
Show Comments
Hide Comments | Add your comment
1. [...] presents Seven Things I Would Never Say To a New Mom posted at [...]

   Pingback by Carnival of Family Life ~ Snowman edition : Suburban Wife’s Daily Dollar Diary — December 1, 2008 @ 2:23 am

2. When my son was born, my MIL kept giving a lot of advice about how to manage him. Some good, some not so good. But the thing is, she took offence whenever I rejected her advice. In the end, I took hubby’s advice and gave her the impression I was listening to her advice (even when I was totally ignoring it). So when she asked if I was doing something, I would reply, “Yes, Mum,” even when I wasn’t.

   It worked really well until one day she followed me up to the room when I was giving my son a bath and insisted on “helping” me apply “prickly powder” on my son. In case you’re not aware, the powder is supposed to help reduce the red rash he was developing in his joints because he was a hot and sweaty baby, although our paediatrician told us not to apply the powder because he said it would make it worse.

   I stood there totally mortified, unable to say a word because I had given her the impression I had been using the powder. After that, I told hubby, “She’s your Mum. Please tell her to butt out.”

   I know husbands don’t like confrontations between wife and their Mums but, hey, if it had been my Mum, I would have told her flat out.

   Comment by Shen-Li — December 4, 2008 @ 1:58 pm

3. I know exactly what you mean! This is why I was saying in the post that advice from family members should be handled differently. Sometimes confrontation is the only way to get them off your back, and I would have done the same thing as you.

   Off topic, when I read your blog, I thought “OMG, she is my identical twin.” I too used to do rock climbing before I had Eric and it was almost a religion foe me :) Keep the great stuff coming!

   Comment by Emma — December 4, 2008 @ 7:24 pm

4. I was doing the same thing even with my own mom. I just tell her, yes mum, i am doing what you taught me. But I am not really doing it! ;) I just tell her that so she won’t get angry with me. Luckily, she hasn’t caught me lying yet. Ohh! sooo bad of me :)

   Comment by Baby Formula — December 6, 2008 @ 8:35 am
Hide Comments | Add your comment

Once Eric was 2 months old, my mother came to meet her first grandson, she stayed with us for a month. I consciously postponed her visit because I wanted to use the first two months to bond with Eric, get used to this whole new situation, start to understand my baby’s needs. It is my understanding that if you start to rely on advice of “more experienced people” from the very beginning, then you do not develop your own ability to observe, understand what’s going on and make your own decisions - so I tried to avoid that as much as I could.

• Add Comment

know for a fact that many young and not so young couples rely on family (grandparents mainly) for babysitting and help with the kids. I also know how that a couple can do just fine on their own without any extra help – Rob and I did. My friends were talking about not being able to move to another city because they were terrified of loosing the support that Nan and Pop are providing and I thought - you can’t allow that kind of fears rule your life. So this post is all about how a couple can have a baby and survive - on their own, in a strange city, where they barely know 5 people.

• 2 Comments
Show Comments
Hide Comments | Add your comment
1. [...] As promised, the story goes on. This bit is about us (Emma the mom, Rob the daddy and Eric the baby) surviving from 2 to 6 months. You can read how we made it through the most difficult first two months here. [...]

   Pingback by First time parents, new baby, no help - how to survive (part 2) @ Baby-Log| Learning to be a Mother, raise a Baby and live as a Family — November 5, 2008 @ 5:13 am

2. [...] us surviving with a new baby, all that happened between his 6 to 12 months. You can read about the first two months here and 2 to 6 months [...]

   Pingback by First time parents, new baby, no help - how to survive (part 3) @ Baby-Log| Learning to be a Mother, raise a Baby and live as a Family — November 7, 2008 @ 11:09 pm
Hide Comments | Add your comment

Did you notice how quickly they outgrow practically everything? I had a couple of months when I was shopping for baby clothes every other week - and I hate shopping.

So here is some tips I came up with to reduce the shopping and the hassle to the minimum:

• 1 Comment
Show Comments
Hide Comments | Add your comment
1. District Cotton Logo Organic Apparel … join the district mailing list, win free stuff · Organic cotton · the district blog. The District …

   Comment by baby clothes — December 21, 2008 @ 5:20 pm
Hide Comments | Add your comment

I knew that it’s a great idea to do exercises with my baby. It is pretty obvious that a small baby that can’t move needs someone else to exercise him - but what exactly should I do, for how long, how often etc, I had no idea.

So I started to look for instructions online and found this great program by Carrie Myers-Smith. It’s a complete course on how to exercise your baby and yourself while you’re at it. It starts with easy to follow instructions for a baby massage and continues to the complete baby (and mom!) workout.

• Add Comment

It took me 6 months to get back in shape, six long months. During the 8 weeks after having the baby I tried my best to stay away form mirrors. A guy I know told me “Wow, you put a lot of weight on! If I met you on a street I wouldn’t have recognized you”– and I just wanted to disappear. Honestly, I didn’t believe that those 6 kilos of baby fat will ever leave me and buying clothes 2 sizes up was humiliating. I gained 18 kilos during pregnancy and was hoping that most of those belonged to the baby, but if we really think about it - 9 kilos were all the baby supplies, 3 to 4 kilos were Eric’s and all the rest were mine.

• Add Comment

Make no mistake: breastfeeding is natural but not easy. Even though at the hospital nurses and lactation consultants tried their best to train me (it was actually more like breastfeeding boot camp), the baby needs to figure out his own way. This is why the first 2 weeks were really stressful for me.

• Add Comment

I spent the first night walking through the corridors of the hospital, rocking Eric in my arms and trying to comfort him.

• Add Comment