Babymania

[Indigo Mule]

Dogs and puppies for me, too. If one shows up at work, I am front and center (down on the floor) engaging with it. Babies? If I know the parent/grandparent, I dredge up a polite compliment if they bring it around.

 

[Bestwifeever]

This woman goes ga-ga over kittens and puppies, not babies.

Baby cats and baby dogs are certainly ah-inspiring too

 

[lrak]

2. To be breastfed for as long as possible

Women can get wacky and opinionated with this one too. A couple of my wife's friends vocally chose to wean their kids at six months so their boobs didn't sag as much. A couple of my kids peers chose to wean themselves just after a year and their moms were upset about it. The mom in my kids peer circle that was still breastfeeding her five and a half year old in public creeped me out, but I had heard her condescendingly lecture other mothers about the benefits. My wife chose to wean our kids over a couple months after they turned two. It wasn't a big deal announced to the world, just a family choice.

 

[Meadbh]

Women can get wacky and opinionated with this one too. A couple of my wife's friends vocally chose to wean their kids at six months so their boobs didn't sag as much. A couple of my kids peers chose to wean themselves just after a year and their moms were upset about it. The mom in my kids peer circle that was still breastfeeding her five and a half year old in public creeped me out, but I had heard her condescendingly lecture other mothers about the benefits. My wife chose to wean our kids over a couple months after they turned two. It wasn't a big deal announced to the world, just a family choice.

Good for you and DW! Toddler breastfeeding creeps me out too. At the other extreme, as a baby doctor, I saw far too many mothers who never tried at all, or made a half hearted effort and gave up within a couple of days. It was heartbreaking to look after tiny vulnerable preterm babies whose mothers could not or did not produce milk for them, only to see them develop severe and sometimes fatal illnesses such as Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), which could have been prevented with breastfeeding. The general public may not be aware, but the human milk industry is ramping up.

 

[W2R]

Baby cats and baby dogs are certainly ah-inspiring too

Oh yes!! Any baby creature brings out the and seems so incredibly cute to me. My beloved F is smart because he often cautions me not to enter a pet store (since he knows I don't want the responsibility of a pet, and also knows the appeal of kittens and puppies).

But for me, baby humans are even more special because they are little bundles of mind boggling potential - - wow, the future any one of them might have or create for the world, the accomplishments that may lie ahead. And each one is so different. Plus, they have the "cute factor" +1000. Truly amazing little sweetie-pies.

This thread reminds me of Seinfeld, "Ya gotta see the BAY-BEE!"

 

[Sarah in SC]

Baby rabies. Oh, yeah, I've seen that. Scary as hell.
Fortunately I'm in that blissful age range at the moment where there are few babies. But my penchant for befriending millennials means it is inevitable another round of the rabies is due sometime soon.
I've never wanted to hold babies, make small talk about them, or select from a wall of pacifiers a present for them.
And DON'T GET ME STARTED on toddler breastfeeding. Gross-out city.

 

[clifp]

Here are the gifts your baby REALLY wants:

1. A substance free uterus to grow and develop in
2. To be breastfed for as long as possible
3. A safe environment (includes a clean bottom)
4. Most importantly......your love.

And that is all.

Gee Doc with an attitude and advice like that the US baby industry is going to put a hit out you.. . It sounds pretty logical to me though...

 

[Meadbh]

Gee Doc with an attitude and advice like that the US baby industry is going to put a hit out you.. . It sounds pretty logical to me though...

Wouldn't be useful. I don't live or work in the US. And you would probably hear a similar list from any US based neonatologist.

 

[Accidental Retiree]

Dogs and puppies for me, too. If one shows up at work, I am front and center (down on the floor) engaging with it. Babies? If I know the parent/grandparent, I dredge up a polite compliment if they bring it around.

+1

To borrow DH's phrase, "Now, THAT'S a baby!"

Very few babies really engage me, but I always figured I am lacking the Mother Bone and something must be missing from my make-up.

 

[Meadbh]

Of course you all know the "awwww!" response is simply a biological response that evolved in humanoids to diminish the chances othat adults would abandon dependent offspring.

Y'all knew that, didn't y'all?

 

[dontworry]

Of course you all know the "awwww!" response is simply a biological response that evolved in humanoids to diminish the chances othat adults would abandon dependent offspring.



Y'all knew that, didn't y'all?

Makes sense!!

 

[2B]

As a single guy who's hoping to get married and have kids someday (and who's never shopped for baby stuff), all I can do is look stunned at that with my mouth gaping open. Heaven help me if/when I become a dad and have to buy baby stuff!

Let me give you some advice, you are to buy only what you are TOLD to buy. Make your DW give you very specific instructions. Then, if possible, buy the wrong thing. That way you will never be sent out again. Everyone will be much happier.

 

[Walt34]

Let me give you some advice, you are to buy only what you are TOLD to buy. Make your DW give you very specific instructions. Then, if possible, buy the wrong thing. That way you will never be sent out again. Everyone will be much happier.

This reminds me of the time when my Mom insisted that I was going to help wash dinner dishes (which I hated with a passion) when my sisters complained. After I dropped and broke three or four of them I was assigned only outside chores like taking out the trash, lawn mowing, leaf raking, etc. so I wouldn't break anything. That was fine with me.

 

[frayne]

Let me give you some advice, you are to buy only what you are TOLD to buy. Make your DW give you very specific instructions. Then, if possible, buy the wrong thing. That way you will never be sent out again. Everyone will be much happier.

Excellent advice !!!!!

 

[eytonxav]

I think baby showers are the female equivalent of a super bowl party

 

[Sarah in SC]

I think baby showers are the female equivalent of a super bowl party

Nope, not even close. They are held in the daytime and don't serve nearly enough alcohol to be able to tolerate the amount of oohing and aahing that is required.

 

[MichaelB]

Nope, not even close. They are held in the daytime and don't serve nearly enough alcohol to be able to tolerate the amount of oohing and aahing that is required.

+1

In addition, they are mostly forgotten the next day or so. Baby showers are the opening lines of the Neverending Story...

 

[F4mandolin]

As a 56 year old retired school teacher....I used to get damn near shot at school for saying this.....but babies are evil. Just kidding of course.....kind of. I've never had an urge to raise kids. I didn't get married until I was 49.....and to a lady with 4 kids. Youngest was 16 so I avoided the "baby" issues. I don't get the "I need a baby" syndrome of most people. I would like to think I was wise enough to know I didn't want one, and wasn't about to have one to see if I did or not. I caught hell from the family though.....the Hicks line ends with me.

 

[eytonxav]

Nope, not even close. They are held in the daytime and don't serve nearly enough alcohol to be able to tolerate the amount of oohing and aahing that is required.

So are you trying to deny the level of excitement isn't equivalent

 

[Sarah in SC]

So are you trying to deny the level of excitement isn't equivalent

Admittedly, this past Superbowl was about as exciting as the average baby shower.

 

[hausfrau]

I was completely oblivious to babymania until I had my own. I couldn't believe the number of people who insisted on coming over to my house to see my newborn (men and women equally). I love my DD more than anything, but I don't get the craziness over someone else's baby.

 

[haha]

I was completely oblivious to babymania until I had my own. I couldn't believe the number of people who insisted on coming over to my house to see my newborn (men and women equally). I love my DD more than anything, but I don't get the craziness over someone else's baby.

We are a product of a million+ years of evolution in small mostly kin-based social groups. In these circumstances other clan members' babies as well as your own represented the survival of the group, not some supposed brats down the street that you wish you didn't know.

I am all for babies, and I love to see responsible looking moms and dads pushing carriages or waking to the park with toddlers. My children and my grandchildren are dearest to me, but all babies bring an automatic smile. I have never been to a baby shower, and I wouldn't want to as I would feel that I was crashing a long lived and important maternity ritual.

Ha

 

[Bestwifeever]

I never heard of this before (but then I never heard of a push present or a "sip and see" gathering until three years ago), but recently someone told me all newborn babies initially look more like the father so that the father will know the baby is his and therefore bond more. I have a hard time believing that, otherwise all those Jerry Springer are-you-the-father shows would not be necessary.

 

[Meadbh]

Sip and see.....I had never heard of this till I saw your post, BWE, so I looked it up. I like this idea better than a baby shower, which always gave me the creeps, because bad things sometimes happen in labor. Don"t count chickens till they are hatched, I maintain!

 

[MichaelB]

I also had to look it up. The "sip and see" is how they do it in many parts of South America, often while the mother is still in the maternity ward. In Venezuela they call it "tomar unos meados", which in any other context would be inappropriate, but in this context can be used in (mostly) polite company.