Now that I'm pregnant, I'm discovering I had a lot of misinformation about babies. For example, did you know babies cannot do long division or tie their shoes? But seriously, I've had to reboot my mind about a few things:
1. Babies sleep on their backs: This is relatively new. When my sister was a baby, she slept on her stomach; but since the 90s, experts have determined that babies should sleep on their backs to reduce the chance of SIDs. (Random story: my mom ran to the grocery store while my baby sister was sleeping. My brother and I decided to check on the baby, and we could not remember if she should be on her tummy or back. So while Mom was gone, we kept flipping Katherine from her tummy to her back, every 30 seconds, like she was a rotisserie chicken. She slept through the entire thing.)
2. No blankets in the crib: I thought babies slept with piles of blankets and stuffed animals. Not so. To reduce SIDs, they sleep on a hard mattress. If it's cold, they can be swaddled or can sleep in one of these, but no blankies! Until baby is older, blankets are for strollers, car seats and tummy time, and stuffed animals are for bookshelves, couches and the hat rack.
3. No cute bumper for the crib: Every magazine, catalog and blog shows cribs with cute bumpers. But bumpers are a suffocation hazard! Why are these things even being sold? Do people actually put a bumper on the crib when baby wakes up and then take it off when it's sleepy time? There is no way I'll be doing that, thank you very much. Sorry, Baby Girl, but no cute bumper for you.
4. Baby walkers are death traps: My baby sister whizzed around the house in her walker (it was similar to this gizmo). I can still hear the sound of her walker racing down the wood hallway (and the sound of our mutt Frazier chasing after her). My parents were very concerned with our safety and health, and the walker was considered a safe toy. But now, although walkers are still available, they have fallen out of favor. Babies should play in something stationary instead, like an exersaucer or jumperoo. In the interest of keeping Baby Girl out of the ER, we will be banning all walkers from the Cranky Pumpkin household.
Sorry for all the recent pregnancy and baby posts, but it's the biggest thing on my mind these days. (Well, that, and how many more pumpkins I should buy before Halloween.)
