web analytics
Tag:

SImilac

sisterhood, motherhood, similac

The sisterhood of motherhood, isn’t it a beautiful thing? Seriously, without it where would we be? My mom friends, that unbreakable sisterhood of motherhood, is what got me through those early days of motherhood. They were my tether to sanity.

When I first became a mom, it was the single most amazing and simultaneously most isolating thing that had ever happened to me. There is just something about bringing life into the world that takes a woman and elevates her expectations of the world. My first decision was to stay huddled in our home, safely away from any and all germs, until I absolutely had to leave the house; six weeks later for my check up.

Immediately, I began to hold everything to a higher standard, including myself. My mission in life became to not break the baby; the perfect, amazing, beautiful creature whom I had just brought into the world. It’s a lot of pressure.

Motherhood gives you a new perspective of the world; more insight, more tolerance, more love and bravery like you’ve never known before. 

Suddenly, I was fully aware that I was the keeper of this miracle. She was given to us perfect and any defects from here on out, was strictly on us. I was responsible for what kind of human being this sweet smelling, cooing, and loving little soul would become. It was overwhelming.

My first responsibility was to my child but once we left our bubble and went out into the real world, I realized that there are a million different ways to be a mom and how could I know for sure that my way was the best way? Keep the baby alive. That was my mantra.

Those first few years of motherhood felt like a constant “do I cut the red wire or the blue wire?” situation.

Only the ramifications were much worse than a simple explosion, I could ruin an entire human being’s life by making the wrong choice.

Okay, who thought it was a good idea to let me leave the hospital with this baby? I want to see some credentials because, clearly, they had no idea what they were doing giving a baby to me. Breathe!

I didn’t get much sleep in those days. It took a lot of time and effort doing the best I could and even more time comparing myself to other moms, not because I thought I was right but because I was sure I was doing it wrong.

By the time we started Kindermusik classes at 9-months, because a mom at the pediatrician’s office gave me a crazed look when I told her that my baby wasn’t taking any classes, I couldn’t get enough of what other mother’s had to say about the subject of motherhood. I wanted to be the best that I could be for my daughter so I was open to anything but there were so many conflicting parenting techniques. Every mom I met seemed to have a handle on parenting her child and still I felt like I was floundering, now more than ever.

Every other mom seemed to be better at motherhood than I was in those days. 

I took mental checklists in those days. Breastfed. Check. Tried to anyways. Had problems producing and used an SNS to help. Check. Drank all the Fenugreek. Failed miserably. Check. Formula. Check. Bad mom. Double Check.

I used disposable diapers. Check. Never used a binky but she could not be parted from her lovie. (Still can’t.)Check. Co-slept. Check. Never stopped. Double check. Rolled over at 3-months. Check. Rolled right off the bed. Double Check. Bad mom. Check. Sat up at 5-months. Check. Started crawling at 7-months. Check. Crawled backwards. Check minus. Started talking at 6-months. Check. Started walking at 10-months. Check. Never wanted to leave my side. Check. Frequently woke up during the night while teething and demanded the Wiggles. Double check. I let her because the crying at 3 a.m. was killing me. Bad mom. Check again.

But every mom I met seemed to do everything just a little bit better with a little more ease and looked a lot better doing it. I met several moms who went back to work and had amazing careers and parenting seemed effortless while I, on the other hand, was completely overwhelmed, always tired and looked the part. The only thing I knew was that I adored my daughter and there was nothing I wouldn’t do to be the best parent possible to her. Really, I think that is how every mother feels.

Motherhood is hard, no matter who you are.

 

We’re just scared to let the other mothers know that we don’t know everything, it’s not all easy and some parts we don’t like or even understand. We pretend it’s easy because we don’t want to be labeled the “bad mom” the one who doesn’t know what she’s doing or worse, the one who is breaking her perfect child. It’s our biggest fear.

I’d like to think in times of true need, we would all rush to one another’s rescue. As I’ve moved past the new mother stage to the mom of elementary school aged children, I realized the truth and that was that we are all exactly the same. We’re all just trying to do our best and it’s hard for all of us at times. Some parts are easy for others and some parts are harder but in the end we all just really love our babies more than we know how to handle. We all just need to give one another a break because if we helped one another out rather than compared ourselves or judged each other, we’d all be happier and better moms. You’re not alone. We all make mistakes. Just keep loving your baby and doing your best.

When is a time that you felt at the end of your mommy rope and another mom came in with a kind word or action and made your day better?

05142015

This post about motherhood is sponsored by Similac. I was compensated for this post but all opinions are my own.

2 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinStumbleuponEmail

 Welcome to Throat Punch Thursday my friends. Well, this weeks choice was fairly easy being all the bullshit that surrounds this hot mess. YOU know what I’m referring to, come on. What would make you madder than running out of diapers in the middle of the night? Finding beetle larva in your baby’s Similac, you say? What would make you even madder than finding out live on The Bachelor that you were NOT the one he chose, after you were led to believe that you were ?( sorry, its late I couldn’t think of any other analogy)How would you feel about trying to contact Similac to see if your formula lot number was recalled and not being able to ever access a human being? Just one more reason for la Leche League to yammer on about the breast being best. There is usually not a whole lot of bug contamination in your Momma’s boobies. I tried the whole boobie thing, it worked for about 6 weeks, I never made enough milk and I had to supplement the entire time with….SIMILAC!

I would be irate if I had a newborn and found out that they could possibly be ingesting bug parts. Imagine it being your first newborn and learning this. OMG,it would have sent me into a stark raving fit of lunacy. Seriously, they wouldn’t have had to worried about my calls. I would have had my crazy ass in the car. Oh yeah, I’d have no problem finding out where they were located or how to get there..I’m computer savvy and internet learned.

On Wednesday, Abbott Laboratories issued a recall of about 5 million cans of certain Similac-brand powdered infant formula, due to the possible presence of beetle larva. Did you read that..5 MILLION cans!

If ingested, the FDA said that this type of beetle could cause discomfort and irritate the gastrointestinal tract, making infants lose their appetite. Well, no shit! Umm, my second child was colicky from dairy formula..can you imagine if had beetle larva in it what it would do to a colicky kid? That’s reason enough to take their heads of with a Throat punch. This may be more serious than a Throat punch, maybe a  full on decapitation? The more I recall the days of walking in the middle of the night with no sleep due to colic, I say yes..beheading may be the way to go. Lets make that throat punch count!

Following the recall, Abbott (ABT, Fortune 500) established a 24/7 phone hotline and directed consumers to a website for more information, including the product lot numbers affected by the recall. Repeated attempts to access both services by CNNMoney have been mostly unsuccessful. No shit, what are they going to do answer the phone,get screamed at and say, “Hi, Similac speaking. Sorry about the bugs we fed to your perfect little newborn. Hope he does’t turn into the fly.OOPS! Gotta go!”

My Throat Punch is most certainly going to Abbot Industries for not only their beetle larva ( SKEEVE) but even more so because they are not available to give these parents some damn  counsel. So they are the lovely recipients of not 1 but 2 Throat Punches, 1 for the bugs and 1 for the awful customer service. Now come here so I can feed you a nice warm glass of beetle parts.

Here’s the number if you need more information..You can call it but they probably won’t answer. My suggestion, if you have Similac lying around, just throw it out!EWWWW

For information on the recall, Abbott said that parents and caregivers can go to www.similac.com/recall10 or call Abbott’s consumer hotline, (800) 986-8850, for more information.
 

9 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinStumbleuponEmail

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Read More