Just a bit of Gossip NO. 8- I’m a bad mom

Hi friends, now that I have your attention let me clarify, I am not a bad mother. But there will always be someone who doesn’t agree with how I’m choosing to raise my baby. And on some days it gets to me more than others. Today I’m fighting back.

Reasons I’m a “bad mom”

Sometimes we co-sleep– There are some nights Emilia wakes up and will just cry. Not because she’s hungry or hurting. But just because sometimes she wants to just be snuggled up with me.

Screen time– We let her watch tv and she’s only four months old. I’m a stay at home mom with a million other things to do around the house and Emilia is easily bored with toys some days. We have those bad days where she’s fighting nap time and doesn’t want to play so I lay her on a thick blanket in front of the tv and she’ll watch tv and fall asleep. Some days the tv is a lifesafer.

We formula feed– Emilia cannot breastfeed. Again, she CANNOT breastfeed. I didn’t give up, she can’t process a protein in breastmilk and most formulas. She has to a a non-milk based formula to help with this. I wanted to breastfeed her. I cried when I had to stop. But in the end its what was best for her.

I hold her to much– I was told I hold my baby too much. That I have spoiled her with it. But she’s my baby. I want to hold her, and she’s a stage five clinger. Some days that‘s the only thing I can do.

I get emotional– There are days when all I want to do is cry. She can be so good for other people but as soon as I get her back she cries. Some days I wonder what it is about me that she doesn’t like. But I know it’s not that. To her, I’m her safe place. I give her comfort, I gave her life, from me she gets everything. And with that is both the good and the bad. Because I’m her support in all things.

I let her have a pacifier– At first, she wouldn’t even take one but I finally found one she will. And we use it a lot. It gives her comfort when I can’t, like when driving down the road or at three in the morning when she wakes up for no reason.

These are just a few things that people have pointed out that I’m doing that they would never do. But that’s fine just because that’s how they feel doesn’t bother me anymore. No one is raising my child but me and her father. We’re not perfect by any means but trust me when I say we have got this under control.

Yes, we have bad days. Don’t believe someone who tells you they don’t. I am not a bad mother. My daughter is healthy and happy and loved. And that is all that matters.

With love from the Tar Heel State,

Brittany