All Things Motherhood
The last miscarriage was in the summer of 2007 and by that point I had accepted I would be a mum to just my son who was now 6 years old. I was sad for him as I hated the idea that he wouldn’t have a brother or sister. I was an only child and always felt so lonely and never really felt like I had that person that had my back.
Based on these and the questions from Part 1, the general topics that seem to arise surround stress management, childhood experiences and handling interactions with extended family/in-laws.
Around thoughts of weaning, my baby’s turned 1 and I knew I’d want to mark that somehow. A cake smash photoshoot was it for me. At first, I wanted to do it myself. Then I remembered that I wasn’t able to muster up the energy to set up a newborn photoshoot at home. Yes. I …
Some people think, seemingly mainly in North America, that the stigma around breastfeeding in the black community may have its origins in this.
I feel obligated to say as well that if you were like I was before I had a baby, don’t think you need to do a total 180 on your idealism. You might end up with a baby who never cries, is happy to be in anyone’s arms, will happily drink from a bottle as well as your boob even though they’re exclusively breast milk-fed and loves their sleep.
The weaning process started for us when my little girl turned 5 months. I started with tablespoon quantities of apple puree and the occasional mashed banana. Both went down well the first couple of days and then it was all just a big game of hit and miss!
I waited till I was 5 months before sharing. For one, I wanted to make sure I made it through my first trimester before breaking the news, which doctors suggest.
Those are types of things I heard in the first few months after I gave birth that made me think really hard about what I might have been doing wrong. I never once considered the possibility that my child would be any but calm and peaceful.
I do believe there’s a nurture vs nature issue here because as they grow older, babies are able to learn how to manage their emotions better and that could lead to them having more balanced emotions. According to research, though, it all starts during pregnancy.
We’ve come such a long way since my little girl’s first bath. She’s not as tiny and fragile as she used to be, thank God. She’s a lot bigger and can sit and stand without support. Still SUPER wriggly when she wants to be though, especially during shampoo time, which she hates. Over the nine …
