As a new mother, it’s impossible not to watch more experienced moms (read: any mom with a baby at least 6 weeks older than your baby) and feel a tinge of envy. How is she doing that {insert whatever random and not very impressive task she is doing} with such ease!?? Why do I look like such a rank amateur when all these other moms have it so together?
This is the question plaguing us all. Some of us are also plagued by mastitis and the question of what in the world is thrush, but that’s not the point. The point is: some day you will be the experienced mom of a baby who is at least 6 weeks older than someone else’s baby, and people will be looking up to you as the “experienced parent.” How, then, can you tell when you have “arrived,” so to speak, as a hip new mom who has her act together?
8 Ways to Tell You’ve “Arrived” as a Mom
1. You successfully navigate Trader Joe’s while wearing your baby in an Ergo, Beco, or other such hip and fancy baby carrier. You are NOT toting your little one around in his carseat, canned soups perched precariously on top of his head. You are NOT asking passers-by how to fit said car seat into the carriage. Why? Because YOU are an experienced and cool mom who has her act together, that’s why!
You float through the grocery store, a veritable moving portrait of with-it-ness. You make confident eye contact with the other with-it moms who are also wearing their babies. Yes, your eyes say, we both TOTALLY know what we’re doing here.
Your eyes also say “I’d love to meet you for a playdate at which our babies, who are too young to socialize, eat their own toes while we talk about the trials of breastfeeding.”
You may also achieve hip new mom status by shopping at Whole Foods with your baby, even if the baby IS in her carseat. That’s because you got extra points for being at Whole Foods. You may never achieve this status at Market Basket, because at Market Basket you will just look like a jackass using your Ergo. That being said, Market Basket has really great deals, so probably you and I should just go there.
2. You know where the most important sh*t in your diaper bag is. Like, the diapers and the wipes. Also, those items are actually in your bag when you need them, versus, say, your lipgloss and a People magazine being handy. Not having the key items when your 3 month old is peeing all over his own face in the changing room at Buy Buy Baby just makes you look clueless.
Not that I would know. Except that I would totally know because, you guys, that was Nolan and me. You have arrived if you are the mom who knows that if you thought you’d need 2 changes of clothes you’ll actually need 11. The old you would be 9 outfits short. Not the new you. The new with-it you is prepared.
3. You can put on your baby’s diaper while talking on the phone. For the first few weeks, diaper changing will require your full concentration. You will be covered in fecal matter even WITH your full concentration, so you can only imagine what would happen if you were to be distracted.
I suffered an early defeat in this realm at the pediatrician’s office. I panicked when I was told by the nurse that it was time to put Nolan’s diaper on after his exam. I tried to act cool, like the mother of a 6 week old and not of a 2 week old, but my nerves got the best of me. Flustered, knowing that I was being watched and judged, I fumbled the diaper and put it on backwards. Brian of course knew I botched this most simple of tests, but he did not want to intervene with the nurse in the room. That ship was sinking alone.
Once you have “arrived” you will have the contours of the diaper memorized. YOU will be a diaper prodigy. You can even take a phone call during this task. You will probably still be covered in feces, especially if you just started your baby on carrots. But, let’s be honest, your baby’s bright orange and kinda solid poop also screams of experience. It’s not that runny bullshit from the first 2 months.
4. You can breastfeed semi-discreetly. Please do not confuse this with moms who nurse their babies IN the baby carriers while walking around – we are not shooting for that level of skill. I just mean you can breastfeed in front of others without creating an entirely ridiculous scene straight from the pages of National Geographic.
For the first two weeks of Nolan’s life I was never NOT topless. Not because I had some hippy-mom vision of myself, but because I could NOT control my boobs and the baby at once. A shirt added a layer of complexity to the equation that I couldn’t fathom dealing with.
(Note: Formula feeding mothers, you can still “arrive” as a new mom, you just probably don’t need to be topless *quite* as often to do so. Feel free, of course, to be topless as often as you please.)
5. You can perform high stakes tasks on your baby such as taking a rectal temperature and cutting his nails. Both tasks hold for new moms the fear of destroying their precious cargo. The rectal is really easy in reality, but let’s be honest – nobody wants to be the first one to stick anything into the great beyond of their baby’s nether regions. It’s probably how Lewis and Clark felt at some point.
And the nails? As Brian once told me post-early cutting attempt, “Nolan’s onesie looks like a crime scene.” But once you are an experienced and with-it mother, you can shove the thermometer right on up the old behind if your baby so much as looks warm. And you can cut those nails with garden shears. {note: Hip moms don’t use garden shears. That was just a joke. Please keep your shears in the shed and away from your baby, he/she still has very tiny hands}.
6. You can deftly manage a swaddle. Prior to Nolan’s birth, Brian and I spent hours studying the nuances of swaddling our baby. We practiced using the fancy Aden and Anais blankets that are roughly the size of picnic blankets. We practiced on a teddy bear while following along with You Tube videos.
We totally dominated that teddy bear, and then we had a baby and realized that we did not have the patience or need to do high end origami designs on our little meatball. So now we use velcro swaddles. Done and done. *In this category you are probably “hipper” if you use the Aden & Anais picnic blankets. But velcro is really easy. You will have to make a judgment call.
7. You can carry the baby in your arms alongside other less precious items, say a laptop or basketball or, if you are super experienced, a mini fridge. When you first have your baby you think that carrying him anywhere is a task as delicate as neurosurgery. What if you trip? What if your baby falls from your arms? What could go wrong?
You know you’ve “arrived” if you can manage to get to a mommy group with your baby in one hand and your Dunks coffee, keys and purse in the other. You don’t need to bring your lawnmower to prove your point.
8. It does not require you, your significant other, and a backup pit crew to bathe your baby. You have arrived as a mom when you can manage the bath solo. There is a caveat to this, which is that your baby needs to actually get clean. It doesn’t count if he just sort of splashes and marinates in his own filth.
So, new moms, if you meet the above criteria you have officially arrived! You know what you are doing, at least as compared to the mother of a newborn! Congratulations! Now, of course I think we are all clear that we have no idea what in the hell we’re doing as compared to actual experienced parents of grown children, but that’s beside the point. For now.
{Author’s note: Earlier I mentioned the rare breed of new mom who can breastfeed her baby IN the carrier (Moby, Ergo, Crafty Handmade Woven Number, etc). You ladies, if by some chance you are reading this blog and not a much cooler blog like Girls Gone Child, are in an ENTIRELY different category. You are the Usain Bolts of new motherhood. You should only set up your play dates with Angelina Jolie, because she is on your level. Everyone else reading this: NEVER compare yourself to this breed of new mother. You can only lose. If you pass this mother at Trader Joe’s keep your eyes on the prepared foods and $4 bottles of wine.}
Have you arrived as a parent? What do you think qualifies you for this very elite status? Comment below!
Courtney
Would you say going to the bathroom while holding your baby means you have arrived? Or would it be more like “having the sense to put your baby down somewhere while you go the bathroom”?
Liz
Ha! That is a great question. Other moms’ thoughts? I held Nolan while peeing yesterday (at a restaurant) and he was making some very disconcerting eye contact with me the entire time.
Chrissie
I think the with it moms know much more about child safety than I’ve ever known. Pretty sure in my big kids’ cribs they had bumpers attached to their bumpers. Also, on their first birthdays I gave them the gift of a front facing carseat.
Liz
Ha! That is an amazing gift Chrissie.
Chrissie
I think the eye contact while inserting the rectal thermometer is much more disturbing.
Liz
Very much more disturbing Chrissie. Very much more.
Tina
I’d say definitely Courtney.. I’ve only thought about trying to tackle that feat so far!
Liz- using my Aden &anais swaddling blanket just like you show as I type. Also great for stuffing under the babies head as you breastfeed.. Unless once you’ve arrived this is no longer necessary.
Liz
The blankets also make excellent and highly overpriced spit-up cloths. They allow your baby to vomit in luxury.
Amanda
As a mum of three older children, I can assure you that I am the absolute furthest thing from hip. I speculate that they would be happy to hop on here and tell you all kinds of evidence to explain this themselves. In fact, there is nothing I do at all anymore that passes for acceptable. Ever. I am impressed with many of these. Especially wearing your baby and shopping like a pro!
Liz
One thing that I’ve learned from my friends with older kids is that no matter how cool you are in real life, your kids will think you’re a loser. It’s not even worth trying to convince them you’re cool. You just need to keep reminding yourself that YOU ARE COOL!
Courtney
I would like to also add, a sign that you have not “arrived”:
Strangers asking you “are you okay?” “how can I help you?” every time you are out with your baby.
Jess
Two days ago, I got a new ring sling and nursed the baby while she was sitting up in it. You’re totally right. I thought I was the bees knees for about an hour afterward.
Amanda
Also: I used to read Girl’s Gone Child ALL the time! Like a decade ago! That and Dooce…and um, some others I forgot all about…I like yours best Liz 🙂
Brian, Liz's husband
Based on this, I’m pretty sure I’ve made it as a mom…
I almost forgot about your National Geographic days. I miss coming home to you sitting on the couch topless watching Criminal Minds and eating cheese… I’m sure the neighbors do too since we didn’t have curtains at the time…
Carla
Brian – I’m actually crying laughing.
Liz
No joke, that is the sole reason we got curtains. I was perpetually topless and, yes, covered in Parmesan.
Casey F
Parmesan sounds way too fancy – are you sure it wasn’t american cheese? Unless you’re talking about the kind of Parmesan that comes in a shaker.
(PS I didn’t even know how to spell parmasan, I wanted to call it parmasean, like it was a little italian guy with two first names, Parma Sean. Thank goodness for spell check.)
Liz
Oh I am for sure talking bout the kind that comes in a shaker.
Erin
Wow Liz, you nailed this one on so many levels! I would have to agree with Courtney that you have arrived when you decide it’s ok to use the bathroom with a baby in your arms and manage to pull it off. I feel tickled to be part of the “rare breed” that can nurse in the carrier (Bjorne and ring sling), here I just thought I was a “crunchy mom”. I also think you have “arrived” when you can feed yourself and the baby at the same time. Additionally, being able to shower on more than a weekly basis is also an aquired skill of the experienced mom. Good stuff, keep it coming!