Separation Anxiety and Other Unhelpful Terminology

If you are currently pregnant or entered recently entered motherhood then you are probably receiving emails from babycentre.ca.  Actually one of my co-workers whose kids are seven and five are still getting weekly updates on their child's development.

I think the website contains a wealth of useful information but I've also come across some terminology that sounds kind of silly to me.  And in new-mom circles I've heard these terms used often to describe the new phase their baby has entered.  One of the things mothers are often asked is how her new baby is sleeping.  One mother will explain that her baby has been sleeping through the night for months but has recently decided to wake up every hour or two crying.  "Ahhh....it's sleep regression" another mother will nod, knowingly.  Sleep regression? Isn't that just basically saying "Ahhh....she's no longer sleeping well".  You don't need a term for it, do you?  Or is having a label just cuter than saying "Ahhh...it's sleep-not-well".  I am relieved Adam has not entered this phase (yet).

"Somebody pick me up already!"

How about Separation Anxiety?  Now that is a phase Adam entered three weeks ago.  It's funny when I tell people that Adam has become very clingy and cries when I leave his side.  "Oh don't worry, it's just separation anxiety," they reply.  Well, yes I know, I just told you as much. Explaining that he's uneasy about being apart from me is not new information.  It's about as helpful as telling an eczema sufferer that she has dermatitis.  Dermatitis: an inflammatory skin condition.

They say separation anxiety strikes around nine months which is dead on for Adam, although he experienced something similar around seven months for a few weeks.  That was fun.  Last night I was exhausted after another day of entertaining and soothing a clingy baby joined at my hip, all the while trying get a few things done....like go to a doctor's appointment, pick up some supplies from the sewing store, make and eat food, clean sticky toys.  But then around Adam's bedtime I was holding him up to play with the buttons on our thermostat and he turned to me, cooed, and gave me a big wet kiss.  I've been teaching him how to blow kisses for about two weeks and he's great at pursing his lips like a fish and smacking them loudly.  It's adorable. But this time he was leaning in to actually give me a kiss on my nose.  He did it several times in a row as if to say "Mama I love you" or "Mama your nose looks delicious".  It was the sweetest thing in the world.