Parent Milestones…We have them too!

So you have your baby and ‘percentile’ and ‘milestones’ are two of many words that float around!

Is your child reaching their milestones? What milestone has your child hit this month? Is your child not sleeping because their about to reach a milestone? Your baby will do this, your baby will do that! Your baby will actually do what they want to when they are bloody well good and ready to do it!

Milestones are amazing moments but never forget that your child is an individual. A person that is like no other…your child is unique. Being so, each child is very different and they achieve things at their own pace. One may walk at 9 months, one may not until 18 months, it’s difficult to compare, so we shouldn’t. The next time someone compares their child to yours and comes to the conclusion that their child is better than yours because they are 18 months and potty trained and your child is 3 and hasn’t quite grasped it yet, remind them that they are welcome to fuck right off!

All these baby milestones and no parent recognition, we have milestones too right? Here’s a few to start you off…

Milestone one: Becoming a parent! Congratulations! This is a huge one, life as you knew it is no more! Welcome to parenthood!

Milestone two: Panic stricken mode! Yep, another one to tick off of your parent milestone check list…Google is your best friend and your worst enemy and all it does is make you freak out more! Everything sends you into this mode…Totally normal!

Milestone three: Mastering the feed! Whether you’re breast or bottle feeding, it all takes time to master. Breast feeding is new to you and your body and although natural, it doesn’t come easily to all mums, it can be really stressful! Once you’ve got the hang of it and worked out the best way for you and your baby, you’ve got it. Or if you’re like me and just couldn’t get your head around the formula scoops thing once my little one had gone onto bottles, meaning it took at least 2 attempts to make up a bottle when you lost count at scoop number 3…I bought ready made formula for a week or two whilst I practiced. Give yourself time, you’ll get there and it’s another milestone to tick off once you’ve got it under control!

Milestone four: Accept the emotions you are about to endure. Yes, you are likely to cry…AT EVERYTHING! It could be just looking at your baby that sets you off, a simple advert with a baby in it, a simple advert with chocolate in it, a text from someone (might even be domino’s pizza) or the fact that you haven’t had a shower for 24 hours and you really need one! There is likely to be no reason at all and it’s likely to just happen unexpectedly…accept it, embrace it and let it out! Tick!

Milestone five: Learn the correct words to every nursery rhyme…and when you run out of those, turn your favourite Queen song into a sweet little lullaby! Well done you!!!

Milestone six: Enjoying you’re baby’s milestones. Yep, that’s a parent milestone too. All those sleepless nights and difficult days and then your baby cracks his first smile…no it wasn’t wind…there you have it, you experienced it first, you deserve that feeling you get, you’ve worked incredibly hard for it.

Milestone seven: Mastering the shower alone. Now this one may take a few attempts, so give yourself some time to figure it all out. Managing to have a shower whilst your baby takes a nap and you’re home alone with no one to watch them. waiting for your baby to go to sleep, putting them in the doorway of your bathroom and showering with one eye on them at all times hoping they don’t wake up mid clean…and if you manage to wash your hair too and not have to jump out with soap spuds everywhere and a head half filled with shampoo then you done fab…go get some chocolate to celebrate!

Milestone eight: Coming to terms with the fact that you’ll probably end up wearing your maternity clothes for much longer post birth, if not because your body hasn’t sprung back into shape like you’d expected (reality is it probably won’t right away, sorry!), but because they are totally bloody comfortable and that’s ok!

Milestone nine: Figure out a way to stop your baby from crying. As I said at the beginning, all babies are different and what works for one may not work for another. Once you’ve figured it out, you’ve cracked it! Keep going though, there may be a few things you discover! My little boys place was in front of the mirror looking at himself and in daddy’s arms watching the football.

Milestone ten: Accepting that every day is not wonderful but finding something wonderful in every day. Being a parent is draining, it’s stressful and not every day is like you see it in the adverts, you have days where you don’t even change out of your PJ’s, you get wee’d on, sick’ed on or worse poo’ed on. You might even be so exhausted and overwhelmed you forget to eat but looking for that wonderful thing in every day is so easy to find, they are usually staring right back at you! ❤️

Psssst: You’re doing great! 💛
Love Yawning Mummy ❤️