Most of us know that we need to be careful of what we say and what we do in front of a toddler because he, like a sponge, will absorb our actions and words and even try to mimic our behavior. But are we that conscious in front of an infant? There are things you shouldn’t do in front of your baby.
We feel they are too small to understand anything and we are generally careless (or less conscious) of our actions around the infants. This is not right. There are many things that you can do that can impact your baby’s mental and physical health.
10 Things You Shouldn’t Do In Front Of Your Baby
When interacting with a baby, it’s important to be mindful of their developmental stage and what might be appropriate for them to see and experience. Here is a list of ten things you should never do in front of your babies:
1. Smoke Cigarettes
This should be a no-brainer, but still many adults involuntarily reach for a cigarette despite having an infant around. Since your babies have underdeveloped airways and lower immunity, they will be more impacted by passive smoking than adults. So you should not smoke cigarettes in front of your baby. For more on this, read How Dangerous Is Passive Smoking For Your Baby?
2. Get Drunk
If you are a breastfeeding mother, then consuming alcohol might hamper your feeding schedule. Alcohol gets into your bloodstream, and hence it can get into your breast milk too. And infants have underdeveloped liver, which cannot process alcohol. So, it is important to ensure that you avoid consuming alcohol while breastfeeding, or at least time it in a way that you do not breastfeed immediately afterward. If you are not a breastfeeding parent, even then drinking alcohol to the point of getting drunk is very dangerous as you will not be able to take care of your baby in that state of being.
3. Use Drugs
To begin with, drugs are illegal. There is a reason why it is against the law to use drugs for recreation purposes. Secondly, similar to getting drunk, drugs can give you a high that will limit your capacity as a parent to take care of your baby’s needs. You might miss feeds, not be able to change the nappies, console the child when crying and so on. Further, if you are a breastfeeding mom, you will not be able to breastfeed your child for a long duration until the drugs are out of your system.
4. Curse
Babies start recognizing language from the time they are in the womb. So think before you swear! They will easily remember and pick these words and store it safely in their little brains only to use them once they can start speaking. There are people who find it cute when a small child says a bad word, but it really does not sound or look good and it can become a habit.
5. Insult The Other Parents
Whether you get along well with your partner or not, it is important to keep a happy façade in front of your baby. Babies learn language by imitating sounds and words they hear. Using inappropriate or foul language in front of a baby may inadvertently influence their language development. Talking badly, insulting, belittling or disrespecting your partner in front of your child is a big no. Whatever you need to talk, make sure you do it in another room, out of your child’s earshot.
6. Scream
Babies are sensitive to their surroundings and can be easily distressed by loud and aggressive behavior. Yelling or arguing can create a stressful environment for the baby. You should not fight, scream or get into physical altercations in front of your baby. You might think he is too small to realize what is going on or understand the words screamed, but they can sense the negativity and the toxic emotions in the air. Most likely your child will become restless and cranky and then it will be an uphill task to calm him down.
7. Show Low Self-esteem
Most mothers go through a stage when they feel they are not doing enough for the baby. The hormones and the hectic schedule are the key culprits for this. But remember that there is no”perfect mom”. We are all perfect in our own way. But if you expose your child to this low self-esteem phase of yours, then it can affect his psyche. They can sense your emotions and if you are not feeling too good about yourself, your baby will feel the same about himself.
8. Neglect or Ignore The Baby
Remember that newborn babies are ready to communicate with their parents. They probably make no sense to you. But they are trying, trust us. They are trying to tell you something with their grunts, their cries and their kicks. Babies need emotional and physical attention. Leaving a baby unattended for extended periods or ignoring their cries can be detrimental to their well-being. So the biggest mistake you can do to them is to ignore them. The more you communicate with them and respond to their attempts at communicating, the better it is!
9. Some TV
If your baby woke you up in the middle of the night and is not going back to sleep and is also not letting you sleep, you might be tempted to switch on the TV. Don’t do it! The different emotions that the tone of the characters in the TV convey can have a negative influence on your baby. Similarly, watching TV while breastfeeding your baby, can distract the baby as he will know that you are paying more attention to some other task or activity.
10. The Raunchy Noons
With a baby around, it would be difficult to have some steamy time with your partner. So if on a very unlikely afternoon, you try and spend some intimate time with your partner, you suddenly hear your baby cry. You will try to fumble out of the sheets to get to your baby and pacify him. It’s not that the baby knew what was happening, it’s just that the two of you scared him by your moans and groans.
This can be a very uncomfortable situation. So, if you thought you were comfortable with having sex with a baby around, think twice. It’s not a big No! Just get a little innovative and play some music and then without the worry of being watched or heard enjoy some private moments with your partner.
Looking at the innocent look on your baby’s face, you might think that your baby can’t understand anything going on around him. But remember babies are very sensitive, they sense things easily. So you need to be very careful and keep the above don’ts in mind when you have a baby at home.
