My sister-in-law happens to be pregnant. Which, is utterly beyond exciting to me because it's another birth experience I'll hear about, another baby to hold one day, and another woman entering motherhood. The close proximity of all of this brought on by our familial connection just makes it all the more wonderful.
Anyway, since it's not my OWN baby, I'm finding that there are all these adorable little 'gift's for babies that you just wouldn't buy for yourself, but suddenly become too cute to resist when you imagine the item going to someone else and their new child. Which, is weird, and I know I should have better self-control because babies really don't need much of anything beyond love and mother's milk, but...well...maybe time will help me to resist.
To come to the point of this blog post, I found myself in Kohls today...don't ask me why. And, saw literally twenty mothers with practically newborns shopping in the baby section. (alright, I might be exaggerating a bit here, but, trust me, it's more mothers with newborns than I've ever seen in a store before!) I assumed there was a sale, so wandered over to have a look at the gender neutral selection. And, I remember feeling this way while shopping for my son, but it's utterly amazing how ridiculous some of the baby stuff IS. Not to mention how incredibly NON-gender neutral. I saw lots of brown...which I actually like on babies...good camouflage for all the mess...but brown is only available with complimentary colors of pink, purple, blue, or green. With boy puppy dogs, or girly bunny rabbits. *sigh*
There was an article out not too long ago about a family who was choosing to raise their child gender neutral. And, I still think it's a bit odd, and far-fetched to put into practice to the extreme that they have chosen to go, BUT there's some valid points about why must we classify our children by sex from the moment of birth! Whatever happened to the white layette? or yellow? or greens and blues that don't instantly bespeak BOY. I mean, what about grey? It's handsomely appropriate for a baby in a light color, and yet, it's nowhere except in hand-knit sweaters!
It's not that I really think you should avoid gender identifying clothing, it's just odd that there's no other options. The conspirator in me wonders if perhaps it's contributing to all the ultrasounds to check the sex of the unborn child. It's a legitimate thing new parents wonder about, and when surrounded by very little in the way of gender neutral options to prepare for baby, well, it can only encourage those sorts of ultrasounds right?
Showing posts with label newborns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label newborns. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
Hats and the Newborn
One of the things I'm constantly reminded of, is that much of what I still presume to be true about fertility, conception, pregnancy, birth, and the immediate postpartum period is just as false or exaggerated (in a fearful sort of way) as those glaring falsehoods I've already come to recognize.
For instance, this one isn't a big deal, but until a day ago, I actually believed that hats on a newborn were 'necessary'. I'm a knitter, so maybe that made it easier to forego questioning when my time came to give birth...after all, I arrived at the birth center and then, eventually, the hospital with no less than FOUR hand-knit hats. But whatever the presumption, I never once in all these years thought to question the reasoning behind 'hatting' our babies from the moment of birth.
I had always seen newborns wearing a hat of some sort...generally with an anxious guardian ensuring that the hat was never off of Baby's head for longer than the seconds it took to replace. And, when I entered into my own prenatal period, I was reminded continuously to provide a hat for my babe at his birth; it was a bulleted item on every single "What should I Pack for the ______(enter place of much looked forward to Birth)" list we ever received, and I know that it was verbally mentioned to me by both my midwife and obstetrician at various points in the pregnancy.
But here I am, nearly three years after my child's birth, and three years deep into my growing obsession into all things birth-related, and I come to find that hats are relatively pointless. In fact, under normal, healthy circumstances, they may actually be more harmful than good! (think overheating and infringing upon quality mother-child bonding time)
Research has proven that 'Hatting' a baby born under normal, healthy circumstances does little in the way of benefit. In fact, it was found that the best course of 'action' regarding a normal, healthy newborn would be to leave it and the mother well enough alone. The baby's body would take care of itself.
Gloria Lemay recently published a blog post on this same issue bringing up some good points about how the obsession with placing a hat on Baby's head immediately following his birth interrupts the primal imprinting that takes place between the Mama and her child in those first moments after birth. Instead of leaving the two alone, much is made of finding Baby a hat, fitting it onto his head, and then, ensuring that said hat remains on his head. There are hands in and out of the mother's field of vision, and one of the first decisions of new motherhood (how and when to clothe her child) is removed from the Mother.
Common Sense Breastfeeding also wrote an interesting post stating many of the reasons mentioned above for why it might make better sense to "Hold That Hat".
For instance, this one isn't a big deal, but until a day ago, I actually believed that hats on a newborn were 'necessary'. I'm a knitter, so maybe that made it easier to forego questioning when my time came to give birth...after all, I arrived at the birth center and then, eventually, the hospital with no less than FOUR hand-knit hats. But whatever the presumption, I never once in all these years thought to question the reasoning behind 'hatting' our babies from the moment of birth.
I had always seen newborns wearing a hat of some sort...generally with an anxious guardian ensuring that the hat was never off of Baby's head for longer than the seconds it took to replace. And, when I entered into my own prenatal period, I was reminded continuously to provide a hat for my babe at his birth; it was a bulleted item on every single "What should I Pack for the ______(enter place of much looked forward to Birth)" list we ever received, and I know that it was verbally mentioned to me by both my midwife and obstetrician at various points in the pregnancy.
But here I am, nearly three years after my child's birth, and three years deep into my growing obsession into all things birth-related, and I come to find that hats are relatively pointless. In fact, under normal, healthy circumstances, they may actually be more harmful than good! (think overheating and infringing upon quality mother-child bonding time)
Research has proven that 'Hatting' a baby born under normal, healthy circumstances does little in the way of benefit. In fact, it was found that the best course of 'action' regarding a normal, healthy newborn would be to leave it and the mother well enough alone. The baby's body would take care of itself.
Gloria Lemay recently published a blog post on this same issue bringing up some good points about how the obsession with placing a hat on Baby's head immediately following his birth interrupts the primal imprinting that takes place between the Mama and her child in those first moments after birth. Instead of leaving the two alone, much is made of finding Baby a hat, fitting it onto his head, and then, ensuring that said hat remains on his head. There are hands in and out of the mother's field of vision, and one of the first decisions of new motherhood (how and when to clothe her child) is removed from the Mother.
Common Sense Breastfeeding also wrote an interesting post stating many of the reasons mentioned above for why it might make better sense to "Hold That Hat".
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