Bad Mom Confession:

At some checkup (4 months?) my daughter's doctor told me that it was now okay to stop sterilizing bottles. I nodded, but the little voice inside my head said "Uh. I was supposed to be sterilizing the bottles?"

I sterilized them before using them the first time, but that was it. So. Yeah.

Fortunately, for me, we didn't use bottles very often, so I just brushed it under the rug, the first of many "I'm supposed to do what?" mistakes.

Sweet Springy Shar Sig!

We never gave Conner peanuts or peanut butter, just because I was always told not to before age 2. We discovered through the allergy testing for other things that he did have a minor peanut allergy, which he has since outgrown. The first time Michael gave him hazelnut cream cheese, I freaked. Then he was okay. But to this day he refuses to eat peanut butter.

I have another friend whose son should have no peanut butter and should drink rice milk. He eats peanut butter all the time, and never drinks rice milk. He has horrible excema.

Tribe is pushing up my daisies!

I agree with no peanuts/peanut butter until 2 years because a lot of kids have allergies to peanuts. That's been around forever and its a proven fact. I have no problem with that.

The back-to-sleep campaign.... Let me start by saying that both my girls have always been back sleepers so I'm not trying to defend a personal position here BUT the reason SIDS is down is not completely due to back sleeping. The reason SIDS is down is because research is more advanced now and baby deaths are being diagnosed with a problem and not just claimed as "SIDS". Back in the day they didn't do autopsies on infants to discover cause of death they just marked it as SIDS. The back sleeping supporters are just taking credit for the drop in numbers.

My future Rockers!

I don't know that they are designed to be true "scare tactics." I think that we are benefits of a lot of history and research that just wasn't available back when we were babies. And as time has changed, as our environment has changed, as our lives in general have changed, advice and recommendations have changed.

Before my son was born, I had never heard of a nebulizer. Now, 9 out of every 10 children I know have had to use a nebulizer in their lives. We live in a world of convenience, a world of technology, a world of chemistry, pollutants, a wider and bigger world of exposure.

Interestingly, the campaign that really bugs the heck out of me is the whole "breast is best" campaign. I call them the breastfeeding nazis. I tried it, it didn't work. It's only best if it works. Out of four of us (me and three friends), I breasfed for 3 weeks. Two did it past one year. And one for about six months. While my child was sick a lot during his first two years, he is much healthier than the other children now. (And I attribute him being sick more to him being a preemie than me not breastfeeding). My son is developmentally ahead by a lot than the other three. I won't say I have a closer bond with my child than they do, but I know that I have a very strong bond with my son.

I think there have been studies to show how some of these "don'ts" really are better. I believe there has been a signifcan't drop in SIDS deaths after the "back to sleep" campaign came into play. I can understand the extra crib fluff and, based on my own sleeping habits, I never felt comfortable co-sleeping.

I don't always agree with my doctor, but I have tried to trust them more and put more faith into what they are saying until I have proven that it's a wash.

Tribe is pushing up my daisies!

RE: Breast is best

But if you are well endowed, you are also supposed to worry smothering your kid while you nurse. *rolls eyes*

I agree - what's best is what works for you and your child. Every kid is different, and every mom is different, and every situation is different.

Are you keeping your child safe? Are you feeding your child healthy food? Are you paying attention to your child and do you know what he or she likes, dislikes, needs and wants? That's what's important.

A stressed out, guilty and insecure mom is FAR worse for a kid than formula.

Sweet Springy Shar Sig!

Personally, I'm happy to enthusiastically discuss and recommend breast feeding because it does work well for us, but I know that my opinion is just one opinion, based on my own limited experience. I try hard not to be one of those militant breastfeeders.

LAST EDITED ON 04-22-08 AT 02:33 PM (EST)

I totally agree with you MR. My son is the healthiest kid I know. NEVER sick...NO allergies, and I broke many, many rules.

He slept on his tummy or his side. Always. Was the only way he could get to sleep. Yes, I had him on a firm mattress with no excessive pillows and such to suffocate on..but that is the way he would happily go to sleep. When he was really wee, I used to gently bounce the mattress to get him to sleep..and encouraged him to "self sooth" by helping him find his thumb. He was sleeping through the night at 9 weeks.

Then, when he was about 4 months old, I started feeding him solids. By solids I do not mean steak, but the usual rice cereal, pablum, etc.. He LOVED it. I don't think my milk was enough to sustain him, so I started topping him up with formula before he went to bed and that also helped him get through the night (ie, about 6 hours) before needing to be fed again.

Again, he was the only kid I knew that never had ear infections, no allergies, always healthy, and I breast fed, topped with formula and started him on solids early..but weaned him from teh breast at 6 months because I was going back to work. Again..healthiest kid I know. I got flack for not breastfeeding him for a year as suggested, but I didn't see how I could do that and work all day. Did I mention he is the healthiest kid I know? So...yes, I broke a lot of the rules and did what I knew was best for him.

Good luck!!

*Viced by Agman*

Here's my 2 cents:

Usually the first kid gets all the precautions, the second gets food the first one drops on the floor.

Who sterilized bottles past the first few days?

I've heard that by the time kids are two, they've eaten their weight in dirt.

I can see being cautious with food allergies if their is a family history of allergies.

I believe in letting kids get dirty, in eating as healthful as you can, keeping sugar and salt to a minimum, giving kids water when they are thirsty, feeding them a variety of foods as soon as they can handle food(my kids ate frozen peas and thought they were candy for a long time), using antibiotics sparingly, and using common sense constantly.

Spring outfit thanks to Sharnina

Heh. My mother fed me and my sister both a few spoonfuls of cereal the night we came home from the hospital. Guess who slept through the night right away?

Place witty comment here.

Same here! My mom started putting cereal in my bottle at 3 days old. She said the liquids just didn't do it for me.

My future Rockers!

Don't get pregnant.

As if it weren't nerve-wracking enough to be a new mom, and as if you didn't have enough to worry about not knowing if you'll be "good at it" there is an overwhelming list of "don'ts" out there, some of which contradict each other! I think it's all a scam by the book industry to make us buy all of those books about how to be a mom.

Some of it comes from scentific study, some is anecdotal, and some is from well-meaning people who know how it should be done because that's how they did it, or how their mother did it, or they saw it on Oprah.

The bottom line is that you know your kid(s). I think you have to pick your battles with what you worry about. It's not like it all ends with infancy - there's more to worry about as they grow up. Wait till they start walking around and finding every sharp corner to bump into, and wait til they find a bug and decide it might be tasty.

My personal rule is to just trust myself and my judgement. I keep tabs on what's what on the "don'ts" list, but I don't make myself crazy about it. There's enough to be crazy about.

Sweet Springy Shar Sig!