Having a baby, for me, has ended up being the most wonderful experience I’ve ever had.

I fell pregnant unexpectedly at a time in my life when I didn’t think I was ready to be a Mother. But boy, did my inner Motherly instincts prove me wrong!

As soon as I embraced my ‘Motherly feelings’, that’s when I realised being a Mum was the most natural thing in the world. Although I hadn’t exactly planned to be a Mum just yet, I was more than ready to be one! All I had to do was listen to my instincts and somehow, everything started feeling ‘right’ about carrying my unborn child within me. It didn’t take long to stop questioning my parenting abilities and start falling in love with role I was going to play, from now on for the rest of my life; the most important job in the world – being a Mother.

Billions of men and women before me have had the honour of creating and bringing new life into this world, each with their own instincts and feelings about the experience. And a lot of them more than willing to pass on their advice to you!

As well meaning as a lot of their words can be: Don’t let everyone’s advice daunt you! Even though most people are well meaning and are speaking from the heart, sometimes their advice just won’t work for you and your baby.

An example of this: I remember the four days I stayed in hospital after I gave birth to Isabella. I had several different midwives attending to me, telling me to express, telling me to underarm breastfeed, telling me to bath her to try and settle when I’d bathed her two hours ago etc etc. Well expressing just made my breasts double in size and pain, underarm breastfeeding was the most uncomfortable thing in the world for me, and Isabella screamed through every bath she had, no matter whether she was tired or not! And I had a feeling about all this before I tried it!

Another example: When Isabella was older - I’d be out at the shops. Isabella would start to cry. I would get opinions coming from everywhere – shopkeepers, people on the street, other mothers with screaming kids – nearly all of them having never met myself or Isabella before. But of course they knew best from having their own kids of course! (And even the kid-less people threw their two bits in  ) Most of the time, when Isabella started crying I’d get "She’s hungry/needs a feed". And of course most of the time I’d fed her within the hour! (A lot of people forget babies cry for many reasons other than hunger!) The thing was, 9.9 times out of 10, I knew these opinions I was being given weren’t weren’t accurate for the situation.

Just remember – you’re the person who spends 24/7 with your baby. You know when your baby was last fed & burped, had a nappy change, had their last sleep. You know going by your Motherly instincts when something really is wrong, or whether its just because of a general reason.

 Don’t get me wrong, some advice you’re given can be well worth taking on board. But at the end of the day, if your instincts tell you it doesn’t quite feel right, than trust those feelings. For you are your baby’s Mother, and God knows, your baby trusts you.