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Babies: 0 - 3 Months
Stuff I wish I'd known 10 months ago
I know these know-it-all posts are annoying and most of this is going to be super obvious to most of you, but whatever, this waste of internet space isn't going to kill anyone. 
I was probably a lot more clueless than most first-time moms.
Random stuff I wish I'd known 10 months ago:
- Not all babies will magically teach themselves to roll, crawl, etc, even if they're strong and early sitters. If your baby is hesitant about moving, you might have to demonstrate rolling and give them a lot of encouragement.
- On the same note, by the time the baby is 4 or 5 months, their default "place" should be laying down on the floor, where they can experiment with moving and playing with toys. For some reason (maybe our 75lb dog), I didn't really put her down much, and she spent almost all of her time in my arms, the Ergo, one of her two high chairs, the Jumperoo, etc. And I was surprised that she wasn't rolling or crawling at 9 months. Now we have a large fenced-off area in the living room where she spends a good portion of each day happily moving around and playing with her toys, and she's catching up on skills fast.
- Jumperoos, at least in my area, have such a low resale value that even the Goodwill won't take them. 
I really wish I'd made more of an effort to buy that sort of thing on Craigslist.
- Dr. Sears isn't the be-all-end-all of parenting advice, especially when it comes to sleep. I found that his sleep advice worked great for us for the first 3 months, with LO sleeping next to me and nursing all night long... but by 4 months it was a nightmare for all 3 of us, and if we stuck with his advice we'd have ended up with DH sleeping in the guest room and me getting hardly any sleep for the next several years until LO somehow magically decided to night-wean and STTN. Instead we ended up following Ferber's science-based sleep advice, and it's been one of the best decisions we've made as a family. I wish we'd realized it earlier and skipped the months of agonizing over emotionally scarring our baby.
- When the baby gets long enough, and you're using a convertible carseat, it's easiest to get them in by sort of folding them in half before you move them into the car. I almost never bop her head on the car since I started doing it that way. When I was putting her in holding her by her underarms... lots of bopping. :
- Video monitors are amazing and worth every penny. And there's one on Amazon that's like $99 and apparently just as good as the way more expensive one I bought in desperation at Target at the last minute.
That's all. If you made it this far, thanks for letting me get that off my chest.
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Re: Stuff I wish I'd known 10 months ago
Oh, and one more thing:
- I wish I'd known that in a few short months, my life would be back to something like "normal", and that I wasn't always going to be stuck sitting in the corner nursing LO all day long. By the time LO was 6 months (and probably well before that), she and I were getting out of the house several times a day, and in the evenings I could even start to go out with DH or friends after LO went to bed at 7. Life now is really awesome like 99% of the time.
I agree on the first point! Our son is almost 5 months old and can't even roll tummy-to-back yet. However, he can sit on his own for short periods of time. I wish I had known that things don't happen in the same order for every baby and that some babies skip certain steps all together.
Also, I couldn't live without my video monitor!
Likewise!!!
Likewise!!!
Oh, sweet, sweet hope. I cannot wait for that! I love my LO and the time spent nursing is one I'll cherish forever, but not being immobilized sitting on the couch for half the day.
ETA: And for new moms out there, Ferber is NOT the "be-all-end-all" of parenting advice either... nobody really is, but his method (CIO) is particularly controversial--- AND not appropriate for our 0-3 month old babies, even he doesn't advocate sleep training for newborns. Do not be afraid of holding your baby too much right now, the opinions stated by the OP are applicable to older babies... if you find them applicable at all.
Agreed. You can hold your baby and still get the appropriate amount of play time and developmental work. The OP isn't be the be-all-end-all of mommies.
2 years and 2 kids later, I disagree with most of this.
I agree with the jumperoo thing. I think that most items (besides cribs/carseats) you should get used if you don't get from your shower/hand me downs. Both of my kids hated the swing, and I'm glad I only spent $20 on it as opposed to $120. I also agree with the convertible carseat trick.
Everything else I pretty much disagree with. While I wouldn't advocate putting your LO in just one spot all day long, I dont think kids that are held or worn a lot are more likely to hit physical milestones later. I wore my LOs a ton and they both were early sitters/crawlers. In the grand scheme of things, does it really matter if your LO crawls at 5 months or at 10 months? Is this somehow going to shape the rest of their life? Nope, so don't worry about it. Make sure LO is getting a balance and it's fine.
I pretty much agree with Dr. Sears' take on parenting. In the first few months, it should be all about baby and keeping them close/nursing a lot. I'm actually kind of saddened that a mom would think that it would have been better to leave a baby under 4 months to cry it out a la Ferber's method for some extra sleep.
Your babies are only small once. You are going to wake up one day and your LO will be on the go and will have no interest in being snuggled and rocked to sleep and you will miss those early days when they wanted you all the time (even if you didn't get a ton of sleep). Don't worry about sleep training for your own convenience in the early months. You can do that down the road when it's more developmentally appropriate (and 4 months is even too early IMO).
I'm with you KC! You can't hold a baby too much and all babies reach milestones at different ages. 9 months is not considered "late" in the realm of crawling.
Even when you wear or carry your baby, they are developing core strength, which can help them with physical milestones.
What about the babies that skip crawling altogether?
What works for one, might not work for another. I use that phrase a lot.
I can't wait till a couple years and another kid from now when you realize how stupid this post was. Eyeroll.
Already my two year old seems to barely need me. Of course she does but it's not like that constant snuggling of a newborn.
I am cherishing getting to snuggle my newborn. I don't regret a single second her big sister spent snuggled in my bed. Yes there was sleeplessness, but so what? You live through it.
Your babies are so precious and tiny for such a short time.
At the end of the day, you have to listen to all the advice, and then ignore all of it and do what works for you and your family. trust your instincts and love your baby.
If you're worried about your baby's health or development, consult your doctor.
Elizabeth 5yrs old Jane 3yrs old
I have to agree with this post, 8 years and 3 kids later
Cambria, Keira, and Bonnie Quinn
Same here! DD is due in a few weeks (OMG) and I'm just slightly terrified at the thought of being responsible for a tiny, breakable person's entire wellbeing!
Can't wait to meet Molly!