When we first decided to start a family, my husband and I were foolish enough to think that the hard part of raising baby would be sharing our religious beliefs with her, teaching her how to love and respect others, instilling within her a proper moral compass. We spent hours talking about how we wanted to approach discipline, what we would answer when asked questions like “Where do babies come from,” and which examples from our parents we wanted to mirror and which we wanted to avoid.

Silly us! We have since learned the hardest part of raising baby may very well be how to glean important safety information while weeding out unnecessary causes of panic. It started with the H1N1 vaccine. My OB said, “Get it.” My family practice doctor said, “Get it.” Almost 100% of the mommy discussion boards (as well as most of my friends) said, “DON’T get it!” After doing some research ourselves, we got it.

That decision was fairly easy to make; two very trusted physicians recommended I get the vaccine (one of them was pregnant herself at the time and had also gotten the vaccine). Others are more tricky. For instance, there’s the range of options in baby monitors. Do I want a monitor to tell me my baby’s breathing movements or am I okay with sound only? (I decided I’d be worried enough without laying awake watching the movements monitor.) After reading that used breast pumps are an absolte “no-no,” I returned the one I’d borrowed from a friend and added a new one to my registry. If I really scrubbed all those tiny tubes well enough, it’d probably be okay. But I know me; those tiny little tubes are not going to be scrubbed well enough. Then there’s the issue of paint. We’d found some paint samples we liked but a friend told us we really should get VOC-free paint for the nursery; it’s a little more expensive but not much and we figured it’d be alright. And it was—except that when we put it on our wall it was definitely not a “pink reef” shade but more a “lilac fields.” So, VOC paint it is; hopefully the room will be aired out and our daughter won’t be a wall licker. We’re still on the fence about our used crib mattress, though. Some sources say new mattresses off-gas, which may cause SIDS; others say used mattresses have bacteria in them, which may cause SIDS. I’m in favor of buying a new one but my husband, the finance guy, is in favor of keeping the used one. We’ll have to see what other expenses add up before we decide.

Ultimately, parents can’t control everything. Sure you can buy that all-natural organic wool rug for the nursery, but what will you do when you’re visiting out-of-town relatives with (gasp!) synthetically dyed rugs? It’s a balancing act, and all you can do is your best.

Posted by Stacy, a Dot-arilla Blogger

Tags: Mom Talk, Stacy's blogs
Posted in : Mom Talk, Stacy's blogs