-“Clingiest toddler ever. Toddler who wines any time she is not being held. Holds on to your leg nonstop. With 2 other toddlers and the desparate inclination to scream and just hide somewhere, what do you do?”
That, my friend, is literally a post I shared last week in my favorite Mom group. I have a 1 yr old like this and I know I am not the only one. These fellow Moms, other than advising me to, well…”scream and hide”, actually had some pretty commonse sense advice on ideas such as baby gates, play pens, etc.
You see, I was raised by a Woman with so much authority in my life that she was literally an expert in making me make sense of and believe whatever she thought, did or said. I ended up telling these fellow Mamas that I had been raised by such a judgemental stepmother who terribly criticized Mothers who used anything like the baby items I am mentioning here today.
I was taught that Mothers who used certain baby items were bad/lazy moms who just didn’t want to tend to their babies and entertain them; that they were just Moms taking the “easy way out“. To her, play pens=baby prison, walkers=moms who don’t want to walk their own baby, baby barriers=a baby who can’t live in/roam their own home, baby gates=baby treated like a pet, etc.
(Come to realize now, this was easy for her to say ’cause *I* was her easy way out since I raised and tended to all 5 of her children). But that’s another story, lol.
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Here 8 baby items I should have bought from day one and for one reason or another, never did.
Baby monitor
What ever happened to actually looking out for your child? You know, regularly checking on them! Not if you have to memorize every squeaky part of your floors! Or love to see what they do when the awake😉
Playpen
God forbid I traumatize my baby during the time it takes me to mop up a floor or fix a meal!
Baby walker
My ultimate, most ultimate regret goes to not buying a walker! This would have saved my back a lot of pain while my babies were learning to walk.
Babyproofing supplies
Before you gasp at my irresponcibility, I did actually have safety supplies installed around my home, since my first was born. I opened a home daycare and my home stayed baby proof ever since then. It’s just that it was one of those factors I questioned since I was supposed to be “watching my kid nonstop” anyways.
A good breast pump and bottles
Just because I believed “breast is best” for my babies, I never prepared for something to go wrong in the process. OR just the fact that maybe, my child could drink out of a bottle if there was something I really needed to do.
Pacifiers
I have never liked the idea of pacifiers because you child needs you! They want you! But then, I had a baby that literally made IMPOSSIBLE for me to be out in public for any amount of time. And when that day came, I gave pacifiers a second thought.
Baby backpack
So between deciding whether I want to hear my 1 yr old screaming or getting something done without feeling like a terrible Mother in the process, then this is something that would have been a life saver for me.
Mobile
All 3 of my babies have been excellent at being tucked in for rest time and falling asleep on their own. I would have loved for them to have something nice and cute for them to wonder at while slept or while waiting for me to pick them up upon awaking😊
Final Thoughts
Every time I realized how much I needed something there was always an excuse for putting it off…”Well she’s about to be over this stage anyways”…”Nay, this is my last baby”…”She’s already gonna be _____________ by the time I get it”…etc.
The idea is, if you’re pregnant now, or if you know you are not done having children, and even if you know someone who can use it when baby grows out of it, do not hesitate to make your life easier! You will be beyond grateful to yourself!
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