Baby Tips for Mums
Simon Brett
Copyright © Simon Brett, 2005
The right of Simon Brett to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Condition of Sale This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent publisher.
Summersdale Publishers Ltd 46 West Street Chichester West Sussex PO19 1RP UK
www.summersdale.com
Printed and bound in Great Britain
ISBN 1 84024 528 X
Contents
Introduction
Mum’s the Word
Daddy Dearest
Mummy Training
The New Mum’s Dictionary
Introduction
Well, there you are. You’ve put in all that hard work. You’ve spent nine months producing what is undoubtedly the most beautiful and intelligent baby in the world, and you’d have thought the one thing you really deserve now is a nice long rest. The trouble is, that’s not the way the baby sees things. Nor frequently is it the way your partner or other family members will see things. So, to help you survive what is going to be an unfairly busy stage of your life, here are a few tips…
Mum’s the Word
In the early weeks a New Mum must prepare herself for a lot of screaming and tantrums – and that’s just from her partner.
The relationship between a New Mum and her Baby is a power struggle… and you may as well face the fact straight away – the Baby’s going to win.
When breastfeeding, don’t think of yourself as a canteen. Thinking of yourself as a gourmet restaurant is much better for your self-esteem.
With Babies, everything ends in
tears… from one or other of you.
Getting your figure back after you’ve had your Baby is an admirable ambition, but then so is world peace… and finding an NHS dentist… and pigs flying…
When a Baby is being dressed, either it seems to develop one more limb or the garment seems to develop one less hole.
The night after you said your
Baby slept through the night for
the first time, it won’t.
For the convenience of Parents, Baby Buggies fold. For the inconvenience of Parents, Babies don’t.
You must never say that your Baby is prettier/better-natured/more intelligent than anyone else’s… even though it’s obviously true.
However much you would like it
to be, a Baby will never be
a matching accessory.
You can always recognise a New Mum by:
The deep hollows under her eyes.
The encrustation of puke
over her shoulder.
The fact that she’s still in her
dressing gown at lunchtime.
The lingering aroma
of sterilising fluid.
Her inability to sustain adult
conversation.
The disappointed, neglected look
in her partner’s eyes.
Daddy Dearest
He offers to look after the Baby while you go off for a girlie weekend with your friends. (Oh yes?)
He says, ‘The Baby was crying in the night, but you looked so peacefully asleep that I sorted everything out.’ (Come on!)
He’s decided that, now he’s got the responsibility of a Baby, he’s going to give up drinking with the boys and stay at home every evening. (Let’s get back to the real world, shall we?)
Your partner should
be discouraged from:
Getting into discussions with
your mother about
A) Childcare,
B) Education,
C) Anything, really…
Wanting to dress your
Baby in any team strip.
Asking if he can take his paternity
leave in cash and keep working.
Pretending, when you’re breast-
feeding in public, that he’s with
someone else.
Thinking that ‘wetting the Baby’s
head’ should continue on a nightly
basis until after it’s finished school.
Mummy Training
For a Baby it’s a point of honour to:
Come up with an illness which doesn’t match any of the descriptions in the childcare books.
Hold back a really big Poo until
immediately after a nappy change.
Listen out for the words, ‘I think the
Baby’s settled for the night now,’
and prove them wrong.
Know when its Mum really wants
to show it off and develop a nasty
facial rash just before the event.
Be prepared for your mother to say the following:
‘You think your labour was tough, but let me tell you, when I had you…’
‘I love your Baby very much, but
I don’t want to be thought of as
a free baby-sitting service.’
‘Just because you’ve had a Baby,
that’s no excuse to let yourself go.’
‘Everybody says I look far too
young to be a grandmother.’
The New Mum’s
Dictionary
ANAEMIA : This fashion for giving
Babies Victorian names is really
getting out of hand.
AU PAIR : A young woman whose presence in the house gives you time to yourself, and your partner ideas.
BABY-SITTING CIRCLE : A reciprocal arrangement whereby Parents seem to spend every night looking after other people’s children and then find nobody’s free on the one evening they want to go out.
BABY WALKER : A father at 3 a.m., having been told that ‘a few turns round the block may make the Baby settle.’
BATHTIME : A daily contest between Baby and Parent to see who can get wetter, invariably – though unwillingly – won by the Parent.
BEDTIME STORY : A childish fantasy – like, for instance, the idea that your Baby goes to bed and to sleep at the same time every night.
BREAST PADS : Equipment used
by women cricketers.
BURPING : Something you have to do for your Baby, but which your partner can manage without any help from anyone.
COMFORTER : Whatever works for you (partner, lover, Celine Dion CD, big box of chocolates, Maeve Binchy novel, Chardonnay, gin, etc.)
CONTRACEPTION, MOST
EFFECTIVE METHOD AFTER
BABY’S BIRTH : The Baby.
FEEDING TRAY : An attachment
to a High Chair, something for
a Baby to push food off.
HEARING TEST : The moment at the doctor’s when your Baby, who up until that point has been woken by the sound of a fly landing on a cushion in another room, is suddenly unable to hear a drum being hit.
INTRODUCTION OF SOLIDS :
The Baby’s discovery that Lego
bricks fit into its mouth.
LABOUR : The process of
giving birth, so called because it’s
BLOODY HARD WORK.
(cf. NEW LABOUR : The idea that, along with everything else, having a Baby will become pain-free. Or any other unfulfilled promise.)
LOOSE STOOLS : The curse of IKEA strikes again.
NAPPY RASH : All-purpose
explanation for any bad behaviour
from Baby.
OTHER MUMS : Most probably, your salvation. There’ll always be one who’s worse at the whole business than you are.
PARENTAL DISCIPLINE : When there’s a New Baby in the house, it is important to establish who’s boss. But don’t worry about it.
PROJECTILE VOMITING :
Shooting from the lip.
ROLE MODEL : Someone who
has completely got her figure
back after having a Baby.
ROLL MODEL :
A) What you look like, having completely failed to get your figure back after having a Baby.
B) The little figurine of a ROLE
STERILISATION : Procedure
recommended for dirty nappies and
dirty-minded partners.
TEETHING : All-purpose
explanation for any bad
behaviour from Baby.
TEETHING RING : A group of
Babies who all decide to whinge
at the same time.
WEANING : Getting your Baby off
the breast. Any Baby worth its salt
can make this process last for years.
WIND : All-purpose explanation for any bad behaviour from Baby.
A Final Thought…
When your Baby’s being a right little pain, and you see a sign reading ‘Baby Changing Facilities’…
Table of Contents
So there you are – you’ve served your nine months, been through the pains and stresses of the birth itself, produced this lovely baby…surely it’s time you had a well-earned rest. Unfortunately that’s very rarely the way it turns out for a new mum. Just when you’re at your most knackered, you have to deal with a whole lot of burping, whining and tantrums…and that’s just from your partner! How fortunate then that this handy little book is available, full of helpful advice on how to deal with your growing family, how to neutralise rival grandparents…and still manage to get some time to yourself.