i’m currently in my 14th week of pregnancy with my second baby. honestly, there aren’t a ton of things i want to change with our second one. i feel really good about the decisions we’ve made thus far, but there are a couple i’d like to address.
first, listen to your mama instinct and do what’s best for your baby (not necessarily always what the doctor says). now, i love our pediatrician a lot and listen to her advice, but at the end of the day, i know what’s best for my baby better than she does.
i had a wonderful hospital experience giving birth to hudson, so nothing against doctors, but one thing i was recommended within a couple hours of birth was to supplement to formula because i was having a little bit of a harder time breastfeeding. it’s not like i had anything else to figure out and worry about at this time (super sarcastic haha). and i’m really glad that i didn’t supplement because hudson and i figured it out really quickly!
now, at hudson’s one-week appointment, he had dropped a little weight. he was 10.1 lbs at birth and was down to 9.7 lbs (completely normal), so clearly a healthy baby. but, since he had dropped, i was told i needed to wake hudson up every 2-3 hours to eat (even at night). being a first time mom, i did this. i set alarms and fed him every 3 hours throughout the night because they made me worried something was wrong with him.
again, doctors are great and i’ve loved our experience with them, but sometimes, they make you worry about things you don’t need to worry about! just listen to your baby. if they’re hungry, they’ll eat!
secondly, comparing your baby’s milestones to the next baby’s milestones is pointless. everyone’s baby will learn to roll over, sit up, crawl, sit in a high chair, talk, walk, etc. at their own pace. it’s not fair to assume your baby is better or worse off due to when these things take place.
just this last week i had someone brag to me about how advanced their baby was and compared their baby to hudson. and i wish i could say it didn’t affect me, but it did. i got super defensive over the fact that hudson is right where he should be and guess where that got me? nowhere.
I loved this post on facebook I read a couple months ago about how teachers can’t tell which kids walked first, read first, talked first, etc., but they can tell which students are loved. they can tell which kids have parents that enforce manners and which students give it their best effort. i try to remember this at times it can be easy to get caught up in comparing your child to the next. but they are just where they need to be. and remember, comparing even in a way of thinking your child is so much more advanced, is still not healthy or beneficial.
lastly, i want to worry less. there have been a handful of times where i’ve gotten anxious about things as a new mother, especially when related to my son’s health.
i’m reminded that the bible tells us not to be anxious, and in 1 Peter 5:7, the bible says, “cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
i know my mindset is crucial, and with the next baby, i want to be more confident in the Lord to care for my baby instead of trying to figure it all out on my own.
overall, i feel super confident in a lot of things we did with hudson, but these are three things that i would like to do differently with all our future babies.
tia marie
tia marie 