To ask for your PFB moments?

[Oysterbabe]

We always try and put 9 week old DD down so we can have dinner and she always cries because she must be held the entire time. We end up picking her up and eating one handed. Put her down last night and she stayed asleep and then was still asleep about an hour later. We were worried and thought she must be about to die of something so we woke her up and she cried for ages..

Please can you tell me about your overanxious or overprotective PFB moments to reassure me that I'm not losing mind?
Will I eventually stop constantly worrying about something happening to her?

[pilpiloni]

Took baby dd1 to the dr for being too pale. Nothing else was wrong.

Dr obligingly checked her out and told us that in his professional opinion she is very light skinned

[GripingPain]

I love these so much.

DD 4 weeks is in the next room with DH, he's finally doing half a night shift. Instead of sleeping I'm going to sit here in case he needs help. To be honest I'd feel more comfortable doing it all myself except the sleep deprivation is killing me.

[MattDillonsPants]

I made everyone whisper when they sang Happy Birthday on DD's 1st Birthday in case they frightened her. I cringe now when I think of that....all my relatives gathered round DD who stood there round eyed at the weirdos whispering to her!

[TheSilveryPussycat]

25 years ago or so. Brought PFB DS home. A day or so later, his breathing seemed noisy: we rang the GP, who visited. DS sneezed once, and the most enormous (and utterly charming :) - I still think that) snot came out of one of his nostrils.

[Oysterbabe]

I have the best image on my head of a group of adults singing happy birthday in a whisper.

[Bogeyface]

DS is 25 and if he is staying here then I check his breathing. Had to stop doing it for DD(18) because she is a ligh sleeper and kept waking her. It really bothers me that I cant check her. Still check the 4 younger ones!

My mum wins though. She will take mine and my sisters hand if we are crossing over "just in case", I am 42 and DSis is 40!

[MattDillonsPants]

Oyster yes...it was a sight and sound to behold.

[Oysterbabe]

My mum still says "mind the road!" to me when I'm going to walk anywhere. In her defence my brother got hit by a bus when he was 10 and broke most of his bones. He survived and recovered apart from his leg being quite deformed and scarred.

Couldn't sleep tonight because DD didn't feed very much before bed so I've been waiting for her to wake up for some more milk.

[Katenka]

Of we stay at mums she checks if me and the kids are breathing before she goes to bed. I am 34

I remember panicking that dd would starve at nursery if she didn't eat much lunch. For some reason the hour and half between lunch and afternoon snack made me worry.

The first time dd slept through I did the 'oh my god what's happened to her' run across the landing too!

I am betting mum and dad can remember more of my pfb moments than I can though.

[BeStrongAndCourageous]

I think I must be lacking some sort of gene, I can't relate to any of these, and seem to have quite a lot of "anti-PFB" anecdotes instead. Like:

• DD won't let me wash her hair anymore, because while her daddy is nice and gentle and makes an effort to keep it away from her eyes, I tend to chuck water over her head whilst tutting at her not to make a fuss.
• I never check on them at night because I'm terrified the little buggers will wake up.
• both of mine came out in rashes the first few times they had strawberries and hummus. I blithely carried on feeding them to them, on the grounds they'd build up an immunity (they did).
• when I took DD for her 6 week check, the doctor asked "she's not your first is she?" in an incredulous tone. When I explained that yes she was, she replied she'd assumed she must be "at least" my third, as I seemed so confident.
• some weeks after that, my mum took DD for a walk on Primrose Hill while I went to an appointment. Afterwards, I walked up to meet them - to find my mum (who is admittedly somewhat eccentric) "racing" the pram down the hill - with DD in it. I thought it was funny. The horrified reactions from my NCT group when I recounted the story to them suggest I was alone in this.

I worry about other things though. I'm always amazed by how lackadaisical other parents are about road safety, for example.

[00100001]

place marking

[momb]

The MW suggested I kept a little log of feeds/wet/dirty nappies while I was getting to grips with BFing. I kept this up until DD1 was 17 months old, and made the nursery do it too. Reams and reams of A4 lined paper, that I then laminated and filed.

[Katenka]

momb you laminated it?

Sorry but that's hilarious, bless you!

[TheHuffAndPuffALot]

We live opposite a Children's Centre, and it has three external lights on the front elevation. When I went to see the midwife one day, before pfb was born, I asked them to make sure the lights were switched off early so not to disturb pfbs sleep once she was born. All credit to the mw for keeping a straight face!

[LorelaiVictoriaGilmore]

Laughed out loud at the singing happy birthday in a whisper.

[YouTheCat]

I wasn't pfb at all but my ex mil was.

I remember taking my twins to the Metrocentre when they were about 5 months. I was with a friend and her 6 year old. Weaning was well under way (it was the 90s) so I'd taken some pureed fruit and a few bottles of formula. It took ages to get there. But we had a nice wander about. Had coffee, fed babies, wandered a bit more.

I got home at about 6pm because travelling with a double buggy was a palaver. Ex mil was absolutely frantic. She'd sent exh out looking for me in case we were all dead in a ditch and she was on the point of phoning the hospitals.

Stupid bloody woman thought that I wasn't competent enough to have thought to take food and nappies with me and that the kids would have starved.

[PansOnFire]

I insisted my PFB has his breathing pad and monitor set up when he stayed over for the first time at my parents' house. The handset to the monitor was broken and would only stay switched on when it was on the charger. My poor DM had to sit next to the monitor all evening incase DS made a noise and needed checking.

I should add at this point that DS was almost 3.

[PansOnFire]

Oh and I also gave my DM a written schedule with tick boxes when she looked after DS one day. It included helpful details like : 12.00 lunch - scald (already sterilised) spoon, take airtight lid off sterilised bowl etc, etc.

I also provided hand gel for DM to use on DS when he was crawling around on her floor. Her house was always pristine but it was the floor germs that were different to the ones he was used to that worried me...

I was such an arse, I'm so embarrassed.

[SloaneRanger88]

Dd1s nan had her for a day when she was 8 months as I was going to a wedding. We dropped her off with the huge travel system, high chair, metal playpen and padded carpet that went in it, along with a play mat and a bag of toys. In a separate bag I labelled all her food and drink and what time each was to be served.

Looking back it was overkill for one afternoon.

[Oncandystripedlegs]

I used to slightly warm (in the microwave) my PFB's ice-cream, so it wouldn't give her a shock when she ate it . The look the in-laws gave me....

I also wouldn't let anyone else put her to bed apart from DP in case she got upset until she was 3! Then I had to go to hospital to have DD2 so I had to let somebody else do it. She was not bothered in the slightest.

[Bogeyface]

Warming ice cream?! I think that wins :o

[OhPuddleducks]

I used to change DD from her brightly coloured babygro into a neutral/muted colour one for night so that she wouldn't get over-stimulated by it. I was (and sometimes still am) an imbecile!

[OhPuddleducks]

I also left my mum four pages of instructions (front and back) for looking nice after her for a day while I went for a scan for DS. The first time I left DS and DD with my mum she asked "and where are my instructions?" with a wry smile. I just looked.

[flanjabelle]

When dd was born I refused to leave the hospital until three midwives had reassured me that the spots she had were just milk spots and not a sign that she had a serious illness.