I’m a new mom and I can admit that, while going into this I thought I was prepared, I’m not. I don’t think that anything can prepare you for having a new baby, not even “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” (sorry if you have already bought yourself a copy.) Thankfully, I have been blessed with several other moms in my life who have been through motherhood and are trained veterans ready to deal out advice. Unfortunately, I have been given so much advice it will take about the next 18 years to try out all the “get your baby to sleep techniques” I have been given, and by then he better be sleeping through the night.
So what do you do? I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings by telling them they can keep their advice because I’ve had enough to keep me busy for years, or at least until my maternity leave is over. At first, being the paranoid and desperate new mom that I was, I was soaking up advice like a sponge. There would be nights that my son probably thought I was crazy because I was cramming everyone’s advice on how to get him to sleep into a 2 hour period. No wonder it didn’t work, I mean, there’s only so much white noise, swaddling, swinging and riding around in a car a new baby can take. Now, I have finally gotten to the point where I know my baby a little more and can usually figure out what he needs, though that doesn’t always stop the crying.
Due to my need for ideas in the beginning, I am still getting the advice pouring in from other moms. While I appreciate it all, I have reached a point where I just may have to tell someone “that may have worked for you, but my baby is different”, and that’s alright. Some ideas are just silly (seriously, not wearing deodorant will help my fussy baby??), while others have been helpful (like taking my baby to the chiropractor), and it is now my job to weed through the good advice and to politely thank those who give me advice that I know I won’t take and let it quickly escape my mind. It’s okay to need help and it’s okay to admit to people when you don’t need as much help anymore.
The funny thing is, I now find myself giving out advice to new moms, who may or may not want it. And the cycle continues…