When I became a mom for the first time, Hellobee didn’t exist yet. I found out about Hellobee because I was a lurker on Mrs. Bee’s personal blog, and she shared that she would be launching it in beta soon. As soon as it launched, I requested an invitation and signed up. My daughter was already 7-months old then (I only remember this because I wanted to apply to be a blogger, but Mrs. Bee was only looking for parents with babies 6-months and under at the time).

I navigated through the newborn stage as a first time mom very much alone. I was the first of my friends to have a baby (I’m now on my 2nd, and they still aren’t ready for any), so I didn’t have any mom friends to turn to. The moms I did know had school-aged children much older in age; they had already put the newborn stage well behind them. Because I’m an avid researcher, as I assume many of you are, I was able to murk my way through motherhood with the help of parenting books and Google. Still, there was so much I didn’t know until Hellobee! I’m still learning new things every day as a second time mom.

Some things I’ve learned through Hellobee:

  • That it’s not recommended to put a carseat on top of a shopping cart. I remember doing this when I went grocery shopping with Noelle the first time. She had fallen asleep in the carseat so I didn’t want to wake her and put her in the carrier. I genuinely thought it was ok to put her carseat on top of the shopping cart as I had seen so many others do it when I was single.
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  • When to pump. I’m learning all this now as a second-time mom! I hardly pumped at all with my first and didn’t think to build a stash because I just didn’t know how to begin. It seemed like Noelle was nursing every other hour, and I was scared that I would pump out all the milk and she would wake up 5-minutes later to an empty breast… so I just didn’t do it.
  • That breastfed babies don’t necessarily increase their quantity of milk as they age, but that it’s the quality and composition of milk that changes to provide for their increased needs. When Noelle was 10-months old, I started supplementing with Fenugreek and Blessed Thistle because I was “only” producing 4-5 ounces each pump session and barely able to match her intake without being able to store up any extra. I was frustrated with myself when I had no reason to be. Knowing this bit of information could’ve saved me some unnecessary stress and prolonged our breastfeeding relationship.
  • That it’s completely NORMAL for babies to go only 1.5-2 hours between feedings for the first several months. All the sleep books and websites I read kept saying that babies should go 3-hours between feedings and I was never able to get her there. After talking about it with my February 2013 mama’s, it seems eating every 2-hours is the norm and not the exception! If I had known that I would’ve cut myself and my baby some slack.  Here I was, thinking I had a more high-needs, difficult baby when she was just being a normal newborn.

There’s so much more I didn’t know and continue to learn, but if I wrote it all out this post would take all day!

I still have some mommy guilt about the mistakes I made and could’ve remedied had I known then what I know now. My biggest regret is probably cutting my breastfeeding relationship with Noelle short because I thought I was “low on supply” when that wasn’t the case at all (see bullet-point #3)!

Hearing first-hand experiences from other moms here on the ‘bee has made a huge difference in how I parent, and what I choose to worry about. The advice given by fellow bees has been invaluable and I am forever grateful to this site and the things I continue to learn here. If I had known then what I know now, I could’ve saved myself months of stress, especially as a lost, confused, and lonely first-time mom.

What have you learned on Hellobee and has it changed how you parent?