Im a horrible mom, right?

Hey bloggers and friends! I know I dont get on much, its kind of hard with a crazy 9 month old! :) Bentley has been doing SO good! He just got over a nasty cold and is back to his normal self again. The other night he had eaten some bread that had butter in it, so he had a bad upset tummy. it was sad to see :( Hmm, what else is new? OH, he has 6 teeth now, and is trying to walk! not bad for almost being 9 months old!

So tonight I just want to give a shout out to my mommies that have been called horrible, selfish, insensitive moms. Im hoping that this post makes you just a little bit stronger in how you parent YOUR children. (Thats going to be the key word in this post.)

When Bentley was about 3.5 weeks old, he was almost an unbearable child. He would scream for hours at a time from being allergic to milk. It was absolutely horrible. I was at my moms house and we both just had no idea what to do. so we tried a few different things to try to help his poor little tummy. One of those things that actually helped a bit was RICE CEREAL. thats my #1 horrible parent moment. I gave my son cereal before he was 6 months old because, at the time, it was about the only thing that seemed to help his little tummy feel better. (and just an FYI, doctors will recommend cereal before meds for acid reflux for babies under 6 months, just a little tip!)

I bet youll never guess what #2 is. YEP, those of you who guessed "force feeding" my child, youre right! since I fed Bentley cereal at a month old I obviously had to do it somehow since he didnt know how to eat from a spoon yet. Force feeding is what people call feeding your child cereal through a bottle with a cross cut nipple. Boy, did he love that cereal bottle though!

So onto my #3 horrible parent moment. Feeding him solids before 4 months old! (and by solids I mean baby food). He just was not satisfied with his formula anymore. every time we ate he would scream because he wanted some, and that was before I had even given him food. they say you can give your baby solids from 4-6 months old (some parents will say absolutely NOT until at LEAST 6 months though, but its YOUR child not theirs.) So I gave him baby food. He was literally a few days (maybe a week) shy of 4 months old. People say feeding them too early will cause obesity. I personally believe that its not feeding them too early, its what you feed them, especially when theyre older. Mcdonalds every day? then expect an overweight child.

#4 was rocking him to sleep. I still do this. I LOVE that time with him and he loves it too. maybe it'll make him too dependent, maybe not. but I love this special time with him. He will only be this age ONCE. this is definitely a FAIL at parenting to some parents!

#5 is letting him cry it out at night in his crib. OK, I have to go into detail on this one. So Bentley is almost 9 months old and until now, he has NEVER been left to cry in his crib. I felt that since he was colicky I couldnt do that because I never knew if he was in pain or not, and I wouldnt want to leave him in there by himself in pain. But lately Bentley has been waking up at around 3 am and wanting to be up for an hour. (this is on top of him waking up 6 times every night) its absolutely exhausting. I know hes not starving and I know hes ok, so we decided to let him cry. I get that im a horrible parent for this, thats what this blog is about, no need to tell me again!

#6 is not getting Bentley vaccinated. DUN DUN DUNNNNN. this is probably the biggest NO NO on my list. Parents AND doctors both freak out on you for this decision. Luckily I have found a doctor that is ok with it (but I still got the lecture, which is ok!) I have been told Im insane for not vaccinating because Im putting the kids who are vaccinated at risk. Umm...HELLO! if vaccines do what theyre said to do, then how does that even make sense??? anyways, Bentley had a bad reaction to his 2 month shots and AFTER (I know, stupid parent decision) I researched them and didnt like what I read. So we decided he wasnt getting them. I, however, will not stop him from getting them if he wants them later in life. And just for the record, I do NOT criticize parents who want to vaccinate. (nor do I criticize them on anything else Im writing in this blog.)

#7 is (this is deep) getting him circumcised. Its in the bible, its something I DID research and its something we decided was necessary and what we wanted to do. NO its not like cutting off a finger, arm or nose (yes, I have heard all of those!) its skin. its like cutting off your skin, or the thing under your tongue that attaches your tongue to the bottom of your mouth. Its not a whole body part, just skin. It was our decision, just like it was to not vaccinate him because we make the decisions for him until he is 18. I still love him with all of my heart (and Ive been told that I dont love him because I altered his body, and on that, I call the BS card because no one knows my love for my son, and no one has the right to say I dont love him as much as I should.)

#8 is giving him formula instead of breast milk. Ok, during my whole pregnancy I hated the thought of breastfeeding, maybe because Im young, I dont know. But I was going to choose formula. and then I was criticized and called selfish so I decided to breastfeed. Well, when that time actually came it was a fail. and there were moms who told me I was wrong and I could have still breastfed but not one of those moms were in my situation. I had almost died during my c section, had to go through millions of tests, get a blood transfusion (which is not a walk in the park! they say it helps but its not fun.) and deal with a baby who would not breastfeed for the life of him. It was all too much. and look at my little chunker. hes a healthy baby and thats all I could have asked for.

there are probably more that I have failed at, but I cant think right now. Basically, YOU are the parent of YOUR child/children. there are always going to be parents and people who criticize and call you names when its come to your kids, but YOU have to do whats best for YOUR family. In the end, as long as your kids are healthy and not being abused, YOU DID GOOD! <3 thanks for reading, I thought I needed to speak up/

I have finally let it go and have learned to brush it off when people tell me how to raise my child. I think Im doing a pretty good job. Have a good night everyone! xoxo