Well I Never!

I'm linking up for (my first) Toddle Along Tuesday with Growing Up Geeky. This week's topic: Things you thought you'd never do.






Having a degree in Early Childhood Education means I learned a lot about babies from birth - 8 years. Of course, all of this knowledge is clinical information, research based best practices for development. Having this 'knowledge' kind of skewed my perception of raising an baby. I don't think I've said there were things I'd never do, but there are things I 'should' or 'shouldn't' do that I've had to use my own parental judgement on.

Babies should sleep on their backs. Ok, I know this. The Pediatrician tells me this. It is even printed on her sleepsack 'back is best'. I do put Kate to sleep on her back, but I also put her to sleep on her stomach. She looks so comfortable scrunched up in her little ball and if I try to put her on her back she will likely wake up. But, I do know the risks so I only let her sleep on her tummy during the day when I'm awake and close enough to hear her.

Pacifiers can cause problems with baby's teeth. I didn't want to use a pacifier so I didn't register for any. But after seeing my nephew suffer from reflux and be soothed by a paci, I knew how helpful it could be. So I decided that if Kate needed one, I would use it. My sister got us the gumdrop pacifiers after Kate was born. I'll tell you, after 3 hours of Kate attached to my boobs, knowing she is just tired and wants to comfort nurse to fall asleep, the paci is very helpful.

Babies should sleep in their own bed/room. I never really understood co-sleeping. I always thought it was best for babies to get used to their own room from day 1. Kate has been sleeping in her pack-n-play in her room since we brought her home. And since she sleeps pretty well at night it's easy to get up and go to her when she's hungry. But since I had a c-section, I was pretty much confined to our bed for the first weeks home. Kate stayed in the bed with me for most of the day. I was so nice to be able to nurse lying down and to just have her next to me as she napped. I now totally understand why many people co-sleep.

Kate, asleep in my bed, with the paci

So I guess those were some things I thought I wouldn't do with my child but in the past 5 weeks I have been learning what works for Kate, and that is the important thing.