How have you changed your tune as a parent?

For a start wanting to be a mother - 3 months before I fell pregnant I had decided once and for all that I didn't want to have children. I am grateful to the ends of the earth that I didn't stick to this choice.

Bf - I thought I would exclusively bf for 6 months and that would be that. I ended up exclusively bf for only 5 weeks (freedom!), but carried on bf, mostly for comfort and gettting LO to sleep, for almost 2 years.

Takeaways and ready-cooked meals - I thought it would be so easy to cook good, homemade meals everyday, but sometimes mom is just so tired and has no friggin idea what to make for dinner! Have stuck to being vegetarian and no sweets rule though.

Alcohol - my LO would never be allowed to taste drinks until about 8 years old, now he really (quite worryingly for me) likes the taste of scotch.

Cloth nappies I really really tried and I agree with all the reasons for cloth and against disposable, but ja..... (anyone interested in buying some Mother Nature cloth nappies please pm me).

What I've stuck to: no TV and don't make a battle ground of the dinner table.

So many things change once you have your own kids!

I believed that any bottle that had contained milk (of any kind) had to be sterilized, with my first I did sterilize up to 6 months. With my 2nd, my sterilizer broke my microwave oven when she was about 10 weeks old. After that I just left the bottles in boiling water after washing and even stopped doing that after about 4 weeks...

I was sure I would never let my kids throw tantrums. HAHAHAHAHA!!! They showed me!!

My kids would not make as much noise in the house or while adults are having conversations as what my SIL's kids does. Now when I tell Stefan to keep it down, he turns around and says: Nie Gretchen nie! Because I said to him ONCE that he shouldn't shout like that because he is not his cousin. Its a bit embarrassing when he does that around my in-laws, so I just don't reprimand him for shouting around us when we visit them.

I was going to bring up a kid who didn't have silly fears. And I really tried with Stefan, I let him do things on his own and explore on his own. And he was fearless and everyone always commented on how self confident my child is. Now suddenly he has developed a fear of just about anything. He is afraid of heights, afraid of loud noises, afraid of thunder etc, I don't know where I went wrong!!

Bed time was going to be bed time and would be before 8. Whatever...

O and I would never have rocked a kid to sleep in fear of spoiling him. Oooooo how I enjoyed spoiling my little ones! Its just soooo special to bond with them and to help them sleep soundly.

What I stuck to:
Natural drug free labour.
Car seats (rear facing for as long as possible)
No fizzy cooldrinks (ok, maybe once or twice on highdays and holidays, but NO Coke...)
No Barney in our house.
No superheros.
Still no guns even though he grabs any gun at friends houses and runs around shooting at everyone. Don't know where he gets it as he is not in nursery school!!

Hi Julz, great topic

Well for me, before i had a baby i said my baby would NEVER use a dummy and if he had to it would be gone by 1 year.....what ever, K turns 3 on Friday and I only snipped his dummy last night (and only because he had bitten a tear into the dummy already)

My child would never be the bratty child throwing a tantrum....huh - nope that happened to and i was totally clueless and took back all my judgements against other women!

Like you, i said K would never play with guns etc, but he does, he uses his fingers/sticks/sausages as guns prentending to shoot me etc. so eventually we did go and buy him a little one.

I never thought that i would be such a paranoid mom, but i am and just have to control it.

The things i have stuck to:

No person/around any people who are smoking
No fizzy cooldrinks
always has to sit in his car seat
bedtime is bedtime (unless its his birthday/christmas etc)

GREAT thread Ju.lz!!!

Well, as a midwife, every birth I have WILL be a totally natural drug free birth. YA right!!! Up to 2 months after Matt's birth I swore it would have done him and I better had I done an elective caesar! He was in distress, I stressed as I watched his heartrate dip to 60 beats per minute with every contraction, I was beyond exhausted from the labour to the point I couldnt feed or hold him.
Now of course I'm back to wanting to so natural again - but more open minded to an epidural so I have some energy for my baby after!

I swore I would breastfeed until he was atleast a year old. Well this stubborn mommy lost that battle to the stubborn baby after 8 weeks of persistant trying and endless appointments with lactation consultants and la leche league people.

I thought I'd be more careful with germs etc. Well I dont think I ever cleaned a dummy after it fell on the floor....from birth

I thought I'd love being a mother....well in all honesty, it's not all I had in mind... (doesnt mean I dont love having a baby though!)

I don't like mess, like having dirty hands etc. Well from breakfast time to bath time before bed, Matt is dirty from eating, hands in mouth etc etc etc.

I thought I'd be a clingy mom and not want people holding my baby. From the birth I was so happy when someone took him for a bit!!!!

Things I did stick to:
Having my totally natural EXCRUCIATING birth! lol!!!!!!
Sleep training from young
Allowing the cats near him from birth (although they are not interested in him at all)

So before I had Dylan I was so set in certain ways. What rules have you already broken?

Firslty I was always going to have an elective c section. I don't know why I changed my mind, but I did. Alas Dylan had other plans.

If I had a son, he would be circumsized for sure. I guess I didn't realise that the dad should also have a say in such matters and Neil said no and I respected his choice as I have no penis.

I would never have only one child, infact I said I would have none rather than one. My body decided otherwise and actually it was the best thing ever!!!!

My child would sit still in the restaurant. Ha Sure. The only reason we did that as kids is cause we would get a hiding for not sitting still even though kids that young are not really meant to.

My son would not play with guns. He now bites his sarmie into the shape of a gun and runs around shooting everyone or he uses that awesome Lego we bought him to make a gun. Boys will be boys. There is no stopping them.

My son would never sleep on his stomach. Yes I know it is a sids risk, but seriously there is a reason why our mothers put us on our stomach. We slept better. So did Dylan and the funny thing is that no matter how I tried to turn him when he got old enough to do it himself, he would just turn back to his tummy. (I am in no way saying sleeping on the tummy is good or safe so please rather put baby on the back)

So what have I stuck to, well the obvious ones like he has to sit in his car seat, he has to wear sunblock and a hat in the sun, no shoes until he could walk, no camo clothes (okay not obvious, but not allowed in our house thanks to dad) no alcohol or fizzy drinks, not allowed in smoking areas etc, etc.