What's Best for Your Baby?
We know you want to do what's best for your baby! You love your little sweet pea and just want to do right by them in every way. Once the decision has been made to start a family inevitably questions seem to roll in like impressive storm clouds on a summer afternoon in Florida!
If I get the epidural will it affect our baby? Who would be best to have with us when I give birth? Should I have visitors right away or make them wait a couple weeks? When do most people take their babies out after they are born?
You quickly learn that you'll get all the opinions in pregnancy about what's best for your baby.
No two opinions ever seem to be the same, so how do you sort through it all? How do you know what's best for your baby? Let me let you in on a little secret, I'll be 100% real with you. Every parent wonders, what's "best" and without fail, at some time or another, we all wonder if we're screwing our kids up. Truth bomb! Having a second baby? You'll wonder if you are doing enough or the right things for your oldest, yet again!
Take some nice, slow breaths. Inhale peace and exhale doubt. You've got this!
We see those Instagram pics with the hashtag #momfail. There seems to be heavy judgement surrounding how we parent and rear our kidlets. Sometimes we are our own worst critics. Concerned you might be one of those parents who "fail" at raising good humans?
These wonderings are completely normal; you will have parenting wins and woes, not fails! Failing is giving up. You are not giving up, you are navigating! In the words of Chumbawamba, I get knocked down, but I get up again. That alone signifies you care and are doing the very best anyone can and what's best for your baby and family!
So, how can we be the very best at parenting that we can be?
Well, for starters we would do well to understand that what is best for one family isn’t best for all families. Another way we can do our own personal best is by taking great care of ourselves. After all, if we want our children to do that for themselves we must model to our children what that looks like. Meditation, prayer, self-care, exercise, therapy, support groups, date nights, hobbies, and nutrition. A healthy mind, body and soul allow us to give to others without depleting from our own cup!
Do you need a system or something that can work in every "what is best" situation?
When you're faced with a decision in pregnancy, childbirth, or in parenthood one way we like to help parents navigate is to say, remember to use your B.R.A.I.N. Your brain, of course, but also your B.R.A.I.N. acronym.
B= Ask, what are the BENEFITS?
R= Ask, what are the RISKS?
A= Ask, are their ALTERNATIVES and if so what are they?
I= Tune into your INTUITION. What's your gut or inner voice say?
N= Ask, what if we do NOTHING right now? Revisit this in X amount of time.
You're doing what is best for your baby when you do what you think or feel is best!
There's absolutely no one more equipped for the job of parenting your children than you! We can certainly all benefit greatly from support and encouragement, without judgment or opinions along the way! An unbiased, science-based childbirth education class and A-rated support from experts in the field goes a very, very long way! The Jax Baby Company is there every step of the way to help you navigate the curveballs birth and parenting throw you, but also help you maintain complete autonomy over your body, birth, and your family!
When you get caught up in the "what's best game", I challenge you to stop, breathe, and focus on the single most important piece of the parenting puzzle that actually applies and fits into place perfectly. And that is that you're always considering what's best for your baby and that makes you an amazing parent.
You'll win some and you'll learn some!
In those learning moments, you become even more relatable to other parents. Welcome to the parenting club! Parenting is such a humbling experience and one day it is our hope that you'll look back and laugh, give yourself a little pat on the back, and know that you did a phenomenal job at this parenting thing!
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