The Adventures of Baby Arthur

Everyone and their mother (no pun intended) is an absolute expert when it comes to pregnancy, babies and children. Talk to a single person, expect an anecdote of wisdom from someone else they know. Talk to someone who has had a child, they'll give you the low-down. Talk to a doctor, they'll give you their expert medical opinion, which is to be considered gospel.

Stay away from all caffeine! Wait, my doctor said one cup a day was ok? Duh, everyone knows you're not supposed to drink! Wait, it says here that you can have one glass a month while pregnant. Don't listen to loud music, don't think negative thoughts, read to the baby in the womb. Don't eat this or that. Don't hold scissors. Dont move around too much. Wait, does that mean prenatal yoga is bad?

Do a little research on the internet and you'll just make your head spin even faster. Not only will you find thousands of blog posts, forums and articles written by doctors, but for each tidbit of advice you read, you will find another tidbit of advice that says the exact opposite. (Except for the obvious, stay off the crack)

One of the frustrating decisions we had to make was to decide if Liz should have a CVS test or an Amniocentisis. These are tests for chromosomal or genetic disorders, like Downs Syndrome. We read through all the pamphlets, did our research online and found conflicting odds on complications all over the place. Were the odds of complications on the CVS 1 in 100 like the pamphlet said or 1 in 200 like the hospital birthing counselor said? Is the Amnio safer then the CVS since it's less intrusive? Or are they both equally safe? To make matters worse, when we pressed our doctor for an opinion, she would not budge and would only say "it's your choice".

Now that Baby Arthur is 6 months old and ready for solid food, we wondered what foods were safe. Did we have to worry about allergies? Like from peanuts? Our pediatrician said not to worry and to feed him anything. If he gets a rash, then stop feeding him whatever you fed him, but then try again later to see if it happens again. One of my best friend's wife, also a pediatrician, was aghast at that advice and said "absolutely no peanuts".

The fact is that there is no bible for any of this and no one truly knows what they are talking about with 100% certainty. Many of the old-wives tales, like not touching scissors while you're pregnant, are cultural in origin. Many French mothers drink wine throughout their pregnancy and the French are generally healthier then Americans. (Watch Sicko!)

The only thing you can do is to get enough opinions, read enough articles and make the choice that you are most comfortable with. Relax, don't stress over it. Stick with the advice that everyone agrees on, like NO SMOKING, and you'll be fine. This is how we've done it, and Baby Arthur is thus far a perfectly healthy, robust 6-month old!




P.S. We went with the amniocentisis because the odds of complications were equal or less in all of the literature we found and it seemed like it was a less intrusive procedure based on the descriptions. We have not "just fed Baby Arthur anything" quite yet and have decided to start him off slow with blended porridge (sometimes with meat or vegetables, as long as it is blended into a paste), which is a page out of the Encyclopedia Grandma.

Labels: parenting, pregnancy