The first year of baby’s life is a precious, fun and challenging period to the parents. Babies in their first year of life are growing up very fast, and that’s a good and sad thing at the same time. The sad thing is that after they finish this year and become toddlers, you’ll miss that cute creature and you may feel regret for many things you didn’t do to your baby in his first year.
You Know that Listening to other people’s experience helps us to learn the lessons rather than reading a book. So, I asked several women about the things they regret NOT doing to their children in their first year.
My own opinion:
But before we see the ladies experiences, I’ll share with you my opinion about this topic:
I agree with all these ladies, but I love to add somethings as well.
- You may regret if you didn’t avoid these mistakes to protect your baby’s skin.
- You may regret if you didn’t produce the brain food that boosts your kid’s intelligence.
- You may regret if you didn’t know what do you really need for a newborn.
Let’s all read their answers to get the lessons:
1- just cuddling them:
This was the answer to a lady.
My own comment: I know that almost all the mums cuddling, hugging and kissing their children in the different stages of their lives. But, when your baby grows up and becomes a young boy or girl. You’ll wish you can return the time back to their first year. You’ll wish you can live these moments again when you were spending hours holding your baby while studying his/her peaceful face, watching him breathing and wondering what he is dreaming about.
I know that the time will never go back to the past, and I know that every stage of your children life is precious.
But, if you are a mom to a new baby, make sure to enjoy every moment with your little one. If you are suffering from postpartum depression, fight it by just cuddling your little one and smelling his hands. Believe me, it is HEAVEN !!
Related:
2- working fewer hours:
One lady regrets: ( working long hours and not being there).
This was the same opinion of another lady, she said : (I regret going back to work early. Nothing like a mother’s love).
3- getting them into a good sleep routine:
One mom said ( really prioritising getting them into a good sleep routine, especially self-settling. I’m paying for it years later!).
Another mom replied to her (yup, me too. Then took 22 months for her to finally sleep through the night).
4- Taking them to playgrounds:
A lady said: ( taking my first to playgrounds to watch older kids play! My second is getting so much benefit and happiness being around lots of older, very entertaining children! ).
5- Taking enough family photos:
One of the ladies regrets: ( not taking enough family photos all together).
A lady replied to her ( this is true. A lot of women feel self-conscious with their post-baby body and stake o avoid photos but honestly when you look back, it’s way more important to see you holding your little one and enjoying time together than having a perfect figure!)
6- printing photos and putting them up or in a photo album:
A lady said: ( actually printing photos and putting them up or in a photo album. Not professional ones but the fun ones! We live so much online we don’t print photos and have hard copy photo albums.
My eldest taught us this lesson when she started asking where all here photos are. We promptly printed a stack of photos and bought an album so we can flick through them together and not sit on the computer).
related:
7- making sure to set up icloud properly:
A lady shared her sad experience: (Not making sure -I was sure but I was wrong- my icloud was set up properly. I lost everything from first 18 months!)
A lady replied to her with the same sad experience : ( I’m truly devastated about it. I thought it was all set up properly and ended up disabling my iPhone. I thought I would be ok with data recovery but no one can get it. I’ve been in Apple bawling my eyes out and on the phone to so many data recovery companies bawling like a baby.
I was really the only one with photos and videos of her as we live away from family. It is so heartbreaking. I’m due with my second baby now and I have nothing to show my little girl of when she was a bub. It is so awful!
Another lady shared her similar experience : ( I’ve had a similar experience when my phone died. I’m a foster carer and so keeping track of the growth of the little bubs we have is so incredibly important. I was a mess, in tears and panic when my phone went psycho and just randomly lost all of the photos. I didn’t have the icloud or anything and I was consumed with guilt over losing such precious memories for the little one we had at the time. I had to go back to find every email I’d ever sent with a photo and save it again!
And contact anyone I thought I may have texted to ask them to resend pictures back to me so I could save them again!).
8- a print with his hands and feet:
A lady said: ( I always regret not making a print with his hands and feet).
9- Taking a journal:
One of the ladies regrets for not taking a journal. She said ( taking a journal. You think you will never forget when they go their first tooth or started walking, but you will!).
Many ladies agreed with her point, and here were the replies:
– ( I regret this too).
– ( same here, I forgot).
– ( I started and then it fill by the ways the months went by! I really wish I had written down exactly when he got teeth or said his first word. You are right, at the time it’s so precious you think you could never forget something so huge, but you do!)
– ( sometimes, just posting a photo on your Insta and writing a caption about what you did that day or what they started doing is good enough. And then backing up your Instagram account).
10- reading to them daily:
A lady said ( reading to them daily, so books were a part of life/ routine from a very young age. It’s never too early to start but very hard to encourage further on if there’s no habit- particularly when they are surrounded by so much technology-. My boys are 12 & 14 now and I really regret not having done this.
11- Not Listening to other people’s advice and going against what you feel:
One of the ladies said ( I regret listening to other people’s advice and going against what I felt was right. It took me until she was around 1 to tell people to keep opinions to themselves and feel confident in my own decisions as their mother).
Another lady said ( yeah, I regret listening to everyone else opinion and just take every day as they come. My kids are grown up now and I wish I could turn back time).
12- Being more adventurous with what they eat:
A lady said: ( I regret not being more adventurous with what she ate. She’s now 8 years old and still the worst eater ever. Not sure it would have made a huge difference, but maybe it would).
13- joining a mum and baby exercise classes
This was the answer of one lady.
14- speaking your native language with them
One lady said ( not speaking my native language with them. Started when they were older).
CONCLUSION:
According to these ladies experiences, If your baby is under 1 or if you are pregnant or planning for pregnancy, make sure to make these things so that you’ll not regret:
- Cuddle your baby as much as you can.
- Work fewer hours ( if possible).
- Get your baby into a good sleeping routine.
- Take him to playgrounds to watch older kids.
- Take enough family photos
- Print the photos ( the fun ones) and keep them in a photo album.
- Make sure to set up icloud properly so that you can recover your photos if the phone disabled or lost.
- Make a print with baby’s hand or feet.
- Write down every stage of your baby’s development.
- Read to him daily.
- Listen to your instincts.
- Be more adventurous with what your baby eats.
- Join a mum and baby exercise classes.
- Speak your native language with your children.
Read more:
Very practical and very informative
I regret not doing a newborn photo shoot. I was dreaming about it but my husband said he can do it. He did take very nice pictures of her but nothing compared to what a professional will. I regret not listening my inner wish to do it even if that meant my husband will be upset. (Because he was as if I was telling him he is a bad photographer.) And if you think it’s too expensive you are wrong. We buy so many unnecessary material things, this is a memory once in a lifetime that you and your baby will always have.