As I was forced to be awake early this morning for two hours straight while trying to coax my little one to go back to sleep without nursing, I started racking my brain for what else we could buy to help our situation (in addition to the sound machine, the sleep sheep, the night light turtle, etc.) Then I realized that clearly humans have been "learning" to sleep for thousands of years without electronic device assistance (or training books, for that matter, I mean, who taught Ferber how to sleep?) What other "THINGS" have we bought to "help" our little guy reach his milestones. I know that some of these things were actually created to help out mom and dad, but honestly, I think baby registries have gotten way out of control. Here are just a few of the things (some of which I admit I bought or tried) that probably really did not make a difference in our little guy's development.
*Disclaimer: I am not in any way discrediting the work of occupational therapists that help babies that show signs of delay or lack developmental skills early on. The tools that these professionals use truly help babies that would probably have much greater issues developing as they progress in life.
1. Headphones for the belly: I'm not really sure what milestone this is supposed to aid, but I too bought in to the idea that playing classical music for my fetus would benefit his developing brain. But what music did Mozart's mom play for him in the womb? I doubt his mom had a recording of Bach. Perhaps there really isn't much to this one after all.
2. The Playmat: Did babies really take that much longer to learn how to lift up their head when not forced to have tummy time on a colorful mat with toys? I highly doubt there were six month old babies with floppy heads even one hundred years ago. I remember reading that it's important to have a mirror on the floor when your baby is doing tummy time to encourage them to lift their head and strengthen their neck. Once your little one realizes there are things going on around him, he's going to work on trying to see what those things are, with or without the colorful lights and sounds encouraging it. They really don't need all those noisy toys to learn how to respond to sound, they are going to be interested in it and they will do it whether it plays a delightful tune or not.
3. The Bumbo seat: Did babies not figure out how to sit up before they were forced into this strange seat? Were seven month old babies rolling around on the ground without the desire to sit up and take in the world around him? Most physical therapists hate them anyway. Why did I give in and buy it? My son seemed like he really wanted to see what was going on around him before he was able to sit up. I probably should have just worn him in a carrier instead during those fussy times.
4. Walkers: I know for many parents and professionals these mobile playpens have already been discredited as actually delaying a child's development, but that still doesn't stop many parents from purchasing them in the hopes that their child will become mobile sooner. After having experienced an early walker, if I were to go through it all over again, I think I'd be happy with crawling for at least a few more months. (see previous blog post about pushing the first born to develop faster and hoping subsequent children stay babies longer)
5. Anything with lights and annoying sounds: There are so many lights and sounds that exist outside in the real world that your baby can be introduced to that these inventions probably do not make much of a difference, if at all. The real world lights and sounds are probably better anyway because introducing your child to them requires live interaction between the two of you. And it is proven that engaging your baby in conversation about the world around them from early on actually does help brain development. Your child doesn't need a flashing light in front of them to encourage crawling, you at a distance will be reason enough to get on the move. Honestly, what toys did Einstein play with before there was Baby Einstein to help him develop his genius? There wasn't even electricity when Da Vinci was alive, and he is credited as the most genius genius of all time.
6. Videos and Games: I know I learned to read pretty young without videos or apps, as did most people in my generation. So what if My Baby (can't) Read. This way I am able to edit stories I'm reading as I see fit (my son doesn't know that the Evil Queen asked the Huntsman to kill Snow White, I prefer "get rid of.") William Shakespeare definitely wasn't doing any kind of pre-preschool videos to develop his language ability.
I hesitate to put electronic sleep devices on this list. I can't honestly say that a sound machine absolutely helps my son sleep better or longer, but I do like the fact that it drowns out other noises around the house. His sleep sheep also helps him not to hear me as I sneak away like a criminal in the night after he falls asleep.
I'm sure as my son grows up, there will be more "THINGS" to add to this list. The next time I see some of the "latest and greatest" or take a gander at someone's baby registry and wish I had that for my little guy, I have to remind myself that babies did just find with homemade dolls, balls, and blocks for hundreds of years.
What kinds of things did you buy that you can now look back on as a space waster?
Great blog and so true, funnily enough it was the expensive buddy for me, much preferred the carrier
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