Why I wish I hadn't been such a 'baby grow' mum
Forget dresses, coordinated outfits and little cardies, my baby stayed up in onesies for a very long time...
I must admit, when my little one was a wee baby (she’s 5 now), I’d take her out shopping and feel a pang of guilt / jealousy / admiration when I saw other mums with their little ones all dressed up in 'real' clothes. You know the kind of things; cute outfits complete with headband and teeny-tiny shoes.
I saw this a lot while I was pushing my buggy round the local stores. How on earth had they managed it?
The mums with the dressed-up kids usually looked pretty good too. They'd found the time and the inclination to make an effort to face the great outdoors.
Meanwhile, I'd thought about slapping on some make-up but decided it wouldn't make a lot of difference so didn't bother. And as for getting my little one dressed up. Ha! The baby grow with the washed-out orange food stain would do just fine...
And, back then, I was happy with that. Just getting out the door was an achievement.
But I do slightly regret the constant stream of baby grows - particularly when looking back at the pics.
Little Bodhi Rae's pretty much always in a stripey / flowery or plain white number with the hint of a stain or three down the front. Half the time she's holding a dolly who's dressed way better than her. *Sigh*
One mum confided in me that she used to make sure she always dressed her little ones in neat outfits as a way of showing the world she was coping - even though she was struggling.
Another revealed that having different baby clothes for day and night (baby grows/sleepsuits for night, proper clothes for day), helped her bring some structure to the chaos of coping with a newborn.
So maybe - just maybe - when I look back at those pics, I'm asking myself: "How could you not manage to put her in some decent clothes when you went out? Seriously?!"
But you know what? It's time to stop with that negative internal monologue. Cos that's really not helpful, is it?
Most of us aren't judgy mums until it comes to ourselves - and then we berate the hell out of everything we do - even what our kids wear ffs ?
So - I need to stop doing that - on this topic at least. Yep, she's in baby grows. But she looks just fine. And very, very happy.
So I was probably doing OK as a mum after all.
What do you think?
Do you / did you dress your little one baby grows all the time? Or do you prefer to make sure their in 'proper' outfits? Tell us in the comments below or over on Facebook
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Authors
Tara is mum to 1 daughter, Bodhi Rae, and has worked as Content Editor and Social Media Producer at MadeForMums since 2015
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