Pick Your Poison

Thursday, March 21, 2013

As a mom, and a new one at that, I have received TONS of advice, opinions, thoughts, and "don't do's".  I always appreciate advice, there is wisdom in the multitude of council, BUT some "advice" is more bossing and judgement based.

I rock my baby to sleep. Yup that's right, I spend anywhere from 5 minutes to, a couple times, 1 hour rocking my sweet little chunk cheeks to sleep. Go ahead, judge away. So many people told me, "whether you snuggle him to sleep, hold him, rock him, or any method other than self soothing from birth, you're picking your own poison" or "don't you even start the habit of rocking your baby, you will spoil him and have to do it for the rest of your life." Yes, Little A is used to me rocking him to sleep, and he depends on it. Do I regret starting it, there are a few nights when I wish I could lay him down and he could just slip into a sweet dream-filled sleep, but at the end of the day, my baby is only a baby for a short time. When he is 10 years old, will I look back and say,"Man it was so nice to lay him down while he put himself to sleep" most likely not. My baby is growing SO fast and I want to cherish every single second. I prayed and prayed and prayed for a baby in God's timing, (and who am I kidding, I wanted a baby RIGHT THEN!), I welcomed the thought of sleepless nights if it meant kisses sweet baby cheeks. I want to look back on Little A's infancy and know that I soaked up every single second, snuggle, and kiss that I could have. 

Whether it's putting your baby to sleep, your method of feeding, what clothes you put your baby in, whether you homeschool, do preschool, or let your kid eat bugs, at the end of the day YOU are the mother of YOUR child. God gave us mothers instinct specific for our own child. Every baby is different and every mother is different. 

I have friends who parent very differently than I do, is it my place to judge? Absolutely NOT. How different would your time with other mom's be if you stopped judging? Of course I understand there are some situations when some intervention is necessary due to the safety and well-being of a child, in that case, by all means, go ahead mama bear. If it's not a matter of life or death, let that mama be mama. 

Give advice when it's asked for, be a good friend, but let's take the judgement glasses off and just enjoy our babies while we can. 

Be sweet y'all! 

1 comment:

  1. I couldn't agree more!! You will never regret rocking him to sleep, trust me I know!! LOL

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