Try to resist that fellow parent disapproval. It’s just a sign of insecurity on the others’ parts. Don’t take it personally. They do not know how to parent Emory, you do!

OTOH, we were thrown out of lots of places for disruptive behavior (especially with Susanna).

And maybe this is just because I don’t have kids, but the idea of a roomful of women laying on their sides and simultaneously breast feeding just creeps my sh*t out. The image is way too Handmaid’s Tale baby farm for my taste.

Besides – do babies all get hungry at the same time?

There’s so much I don’t understand.

But, you know what? No one out here, no mother will ever be able to do it right by everyone. So, I throw my hands up for the most part.

Check out some others, email the teacher before hand to see what happens in her class (studios will usually put you in touch with their teachers) and then try again.

The classes like this where I teach all sing, dance, have fun, and no breast feeding is required! Oh, and pacifiers are welcome!

Breastfeeding wasn’t required. But everyone there did it. I felt out of place is all.

Also, as with most all judgement, some of it could have been self-created, meaning I very well may be so tainted by the breastfeeding/pumping experience I had both online and off, it could very well be me at this point. You know what I mean? I really took some abuse with all of that and it may take forever before I am over it.

Anyway, the teacher was nice and kind. It was just nowhere near relaxing for Emory or me.

DC, eh? My favorite teacher ever lives there. Man, I miss her so much.

Then again, even though I’m hopefully 4-6 years away from having a kid, I’m already preparing myself for the onslaught of criticism I’ll get someday for not wanting to breastfeed. That’s not to say I won’t end up doing it, but I am not at all jazzed about it.

Is there a gentle yoga class you can attend on your own? Emory is old enough to enjoy swim “lessons” (aka splash around with mom) or music “class” (aka lick the shiny bell), but with all your medical stress right now, perhaps some gentle healing time alone would be nice.

I just thought this would be a great way to meet local moms. I’ll try something else. :]

Swimming might work! The YMCA is near.

Sorry, I just really cannot stand it when people, particularly women, get up on the high horse about there being a right way and a wrong way to EVERYTHING with your infant. Dropping your child, leaving it alone for extended periods and forgetting to feed it are not, generally speaking, good ideas, but beyond that it’s all up to what works best for the baby in question.

Having said that – I do want to point out that the thumb as pacifier substitute can be pretty expensive later in life in terms of orthodontia. My mother rues the day she caught me sucking my thumb and didn’t whip it out of my mouth because that decision wound up costing three years of braces, retainers and other unsightly corrective devices. Not as unsightly as the overbite and crooked teeth, but still. Not good for the ol’ adolesence.

Thank you, Lana!

I wouldn’t find a whole room full of women breastfeeding to be odd, I’ve been part of the world breastfeeding challenge last year, we only had 30 babies latched at once though. However, having said that…how many babies can be fed when their moms decide it is mealtime? Jonah has never eaten on my schedule, only his own.

I like the idea of music classes, or even story time at the library? We used to go to the baby storytime when it didn’t coincide with naps, and there would be lots of tossing baby around, doing hand movements and singing.

I plan on trying something else for sure. I’d love to find a mama/baby afternoon pub crawl, for example. OK, so I’m kidding about the crawl part, but I think a nice chat with other mothers at the local beer garden (Fried food anyone?) would be really awesome.

Brooklyn takers?

Cherie (from the ep board)

The other two similarities between them:

—She started rolling over to sleep on her belly the second she figured it out ( 4 months) and never looked back. She couldn’t roll to her back until about 5 months, so I slept in her room on the floor for about a week, freaking out whenever I’d look up and she was faceplanting the mattress.

—She would stand the entire day if we let her. With a little help, she pulls herself up and looks around proudly, like, “Look at how fantastic I am.”

She is a really active, constantly-on-the-move little girl. I never really thought babies were all that different before I had one, but they really are just incredibly individual. There are behaviors she’s had from Day 1 that I have nothing to do with. I can try to corral her a little, but she has a mind of her own.

These are great photos, by the way. As are all your photos. You have one cute kid.