Confessions of a New Mom

A few confessions:

• I've cut my five-month-old son's fingernails probably twice in his life. One time resulted in bleeding (those safety clippers are not safe enough). Fine motor skills are not one of my strong suits. We mostly try to file them down with the little emory boards that came in the baby care kit we received as a baby shower present. Luckily, since he has started sleeping on his stomach, he almost never scratches himself anymore.


• I frequently have a wet spot on the front of my shirt, but not for the reason you might think (if you are a mom, or otherwise know about these things): when I am holding my son and he is tired he likes to put his hand under the front of my shirt and suck on it.


• While I thought I would not drink any caffeine while I was breastfeeding I do occasionally have a cup of coffee or a soda. I limit myself to one cup (8oz) of coffee or two sodas (or 4oz of coffee and one soda) per day and it doesn't seem to affect my son at all (i.e. he sleeps just as poorly on days when I haven't had caffeine as on days when I have), and it helps me get through the days after bad nights. I also never have caffeine two days in a row, because I get addicted very easily and the withdrawal headaches suck. I have no illusions that I will be able to survive law school without large quantities of caffeine, but by then I will probably be done breastfeeding.