Since I didn't ask...

[beetiger]

Now that I'm pregnant, people seem to have a variety of opinions on what I should do about any baby-related topic, from what I should be eating to circumcision to sleeping arrangements to how long one should breastfeed to whether I should go back to work right away.

I'm trying not to be annoyed by this. In fact, I'm really trying to embrace it, since it's mostly well-meaning.

For this reason, I open this up to you. Please give me unsolicited advice, on any topic (not just baby stuff). Anonymous comments fine. No promises on whether I take any of it.

(I'd do this as a poll, but I wanted to leave the option of long responses.)

Comments

Comment from ShiroTora

[(Anonymous)]

well here you've made a mistake, you've asked an internet community for their opinions on anything! Boy is your inbox going to overflow!
(rant)
Since you mentioned circumcision, I'll tackle that one. I personally consider it mutilation. Lets take a newborn baby, and, without anesthetic mind you, chop a little piece off of one of the most sensitive parts of their body. Why? Religious reasons? I think it might have made sense when Moses and his followers were wandering in the desert, hey, that sand gets *everywhere* but in today's age of modern sanitation what's the point? It's not even like it's a form of personal sacrifice to affirm one's faith; I'd have no problem if it was done by choice when the boy becomes a man, say at his barmitzfa (did I spell that right?) but this is a baby we're talking about to whom God is the smile on the face of the loving parents who hold him, love him, feed him and make his hurts *go away*.
The other argument is "well it's so much cleaner," to this my response is "Do you have access to clean water? good. pull the foreskin back and wash his glans. Use a q-tip if you're not confident you can clean him with a babywipe or a facecloth. If cleanliness is your main argument for circumcision, then you should also pull out all of you baby's fingernails and also have their ears cut off. It's much harder to clean under a baby's nails and in his earlobes than it is to clean under his foreskin.
"If a million people do a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing" (wish i could remember who first said that)
(/rant)