I'd like to introduce myself, me llamo Mommy: “They” are back…

So it looks like work is back to normal. I liked normal; moreover, I LIKE normal. Maybe I won’t sprint away from my computer 2.5 seconds after I’m done for the day, and that means…blog posts for you!!! Also I failed on the Stepping Out series…and it’s only week two. Next week…I promise.

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With the many milestones a child reaches comes advice. Boatloads of advice. Luckily for me, my family is great about holding back unless asked. And I do ask. And then my mother laughs at me. Pretty much every time I ask her advice—laughter. But it’s ok, she has some good advice…and good perspective.

And then there’s the interweb world. The interweb world has lots and lots of advice. Sometimes it’s helpful. Sometimes it’s pretty harsh (read about some Natural birth advocates scorning C-sections…whew…nast-ay). Sometimes it’s funny…but usually it’s contradicting.

I’ve been contemplating about this post for a while. Since my child decided that she was going to grow up in the blink of an eye and not do anything on schedule—but rather mostly ahead of schedule…the milestone advice that “they” give per age category…yeah not so helpful.

The biggie that I’m running into now is centered around starting solids. My pediatrician indicated that the current timeframe is 6 months. For the munchkin that’s tomorrow (OMG RIGHT?!!), and she’s been eating solids for a couple weeks. “They” say four months. “They” say six months. “They” say when the child is sitting. “They” say when the child shows and interest. What’s a mother to do?

I decided I’d throw in a little common sense…if she wants food, I’ll see if she can handle it. And that’s what I did. I know neither of us (or our parents or siblings) have major food allergies, and I’m staying away from the major allergy culprits for the time being. Let’s see if I get yelled at tomorrow at Munchkin’s 6 month appointment…yay more shots (booo).

But it doesn’t end there. Now there’s tons of advice for first foods. What to eat at what age. How you should space the new foods out. On and on and on…I’m still muddling through that. Again…it’s a common sense (according to me) thing.

The newest advice “they” are coming out with deals with car seat recommendations. Instead of rear facing until age 1 or 20 pounds…it’s 2 and 40. Then in a forward facing seat/booster until age 10 or something crazy like that (I know if it’s the safest it’s not crazy)…supposedly car seats “expire” after 6 years…so, um, yeah.

But today I read this really well put together article, answering some very real questions. I myself was looking for an age guideline for using an umbrella stroller. And not only did it give the age requirements, it gave the logic behind it too. So this way, I can make an informed decision—disregarding the age guidelines, but following the realistic physical/mental suggestions. First time parents…this is for you.

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And to counterbalance all that text….