Tag: Early days parenting

Model

With the hormonal glow from having just had a baby, it’s perfectly understandable that you are now fully aware that your baby is the most beautiful baby that ever existed. More beautiful than Helen of Troy, your baby couldn’t just launch a 1000 ships, their beauty is such that they could bring peace on earth. Or was that just me?

Before having David, I couldn’t really see the beauty of babies – This could have stemmed from my desperately wanting one and so choosing not to look too closely at anyone else’s in case I was overcome by a wave of jealousy, stole said baby and headed out for a life on the run.

However, now all babies look gorgeous to me but mine – well he was the most gorgeous.

It is in that wave of post-natal euphoria that the photographers descend. Firstly at the hospital itself! I’m overcome with emotion already, I don’t know how to feed properly, there is a beautiful baby next to me that makes me weep and a stranger is telling me that he is beautiful and would I like to buy the 400 photo package or the cheaper 20 package with Perspex coasters, fridge magnets and key rings. The fact that our fridge was built-in and so the magnets would not work brought me back into reality and I opted for a few very lovely (but still pretty expensive) photos.

I was still convinced as he grew that David was the most beautiful child ever so when I saw an opening for child models at about 3 months, I thought why not! Let’s get him working now before he even realises it, earn him a fortune and he can relax as he gets older with university fees paid and a house deposit ready to go. So apparently, the first thing we had to do was get some professional photos taken – this was with a photographer 100 miles away. Not a problem, my baby boy is going to blow them away in the Baby Boden catalogue. We paid for the (pretty expensive) photos, got some copies and they said they would send the photos off to the agency who would be in touch.

He’s 6 in a couple of weeks and I’m still waiting!

To be fair, he’s still absolutely gorgeous but he would have been a rubbish model. He knocked his front teeth out when he was three and it takes me about an hour to get him changed, and that’s just one outfit.

Nappies

Our experience with nappies started at the NCT sessions where we were given a doll and a nappy. At exactly that point, my husband said that he had to nip to the loo. He came back 10 minutes later with a coffee and an explanation that he didn’t think he’d be able to do nappies.

I reassured him that he would be doing nappies and that no he wouldn’t enjoy it, but he would be making me and his child happy.

As a geriatric mummy, I come from a generation before disposable nappies and grew up in a house with a cupboard full of terry towelling squares that my mother had used on all four of us. I loved the idea of not contributing to the millions of used disposable nappies so I informed my husband, that not only would he be changing nappies, but he would be washing them too.

A friend informed me that I wouldn’t keep it up. I laughed and smugly said that he might have struggled, but we would be fine. Unfortunately, he was right! We were defeated by the fact that it was impossible to get them dry quick enough. I had nappies on every radiator in the winter but in the end I gave up. I felt very guilt and still very aware of our environmental footprint. We were fortunate enough to be able to afford a brand that were biodegradable.

I still stand by the fact that financially and environmentally, real nappies are the way to go. Check your local area for nappy libraries as well. This is the website for the UK Nappy Network: Find a library – UK Nappy Network Since we have stopped using nappies, I’ve since discovered you can buy heated drying racks which would have solved our problem.

My husband (who I have just realised has never been referred to as a ‘Geriatric Daddy’) was a pro within a week.

To NCT or not to NCT

If you haven’t heard about NCT, it’s the National Childbirth Trust. You pay for several sessions later in your pregnancy to prepare you for birth and the early days of parenting.

I say Do it! Do it! Do it!

This is not necessarily for the course itself. I did get a few good pointers out of it, but as my delivery was always going to be a caesarean, I really learned how potentially painful and exhausting the whole birthing process was going to be for my fellow class mates.

The reason to do it is for those fellow classmates.

Mine were a fabulous group of people who I now call friends. Through the early days of feeding at 3 am and not knowing how to deal with colic to sharing first day of school photos, our WhatsApp group has been a huge lifeline. I remember a friend of mine had her first child in 1999 and her companions during night feeds were the residents of the Big Brother House. How grateful am I that technology has moved on so much, so fast. I never felt alone as there was always someone else available on the other end of the chat.

So do it, sign up to NCT (or other similar groups) to meet people who are going through all the same firsts as you and will understand, sympathise, share discoveries and advice and be friends for life.