Childrearing
Not A Regular Mom, A Cool Mom: It’s Totally OK To Dress Your Baby Up Like A Little Doll
It’s generally frowned upon to allow one’s life and selfhood to be totally subsumed by interest in one’s baby. Of course your baby is fun and all, but if you forget all your own goals and interests to get a little too into your kid’s achievements, that is not good for anyone. But there’s one place where it’s totally OK to live vicariously through your baby, and that’s when it comes to baby fashion.
In my days on the Internet I have seen a lot of people complain that well-dressed infants are being treated like dolls or accessories. I don’t quite understand the problem, though. Babies have to wear something, and they can’t dress themselves. An adult has to pick their clothes for them, and if that adult picks a matching cardigan and flower headband or a pair of leggings with mysterious stains on them, the baby is probably not going to know the difference. As long as the baby is clean, comfortable, and the correct temperature, go ahead and mix prints and experiment with color-blocking as much as you want.
As an added bonus, babies fit in everything. They don’t need alterations, because if you buy something too big, you can just wait for the baby to grow. You also don’t need to worry about if something is flattering to the baby’s figure, because it is a baby. That can be a particular relief in the immediate post-baby period when it can be hard to dress oneself.
I adore clothes, but I had no idea what to do with myself after having a baby. My body felt like a fallen souffle and I could not fit into either my maternity clothes or my pre-pregnancy clothes. My bras and underwear were stuffed with weird absorbent pads, and I was leaking on everything. For three solid months it seemed like the best thing to do with my clothes was to just wear pajamas and try to forget I even owned adult-sized clothes. It’s easier to do that when you’re occupied with washing and folding little sweaters and fastening dresses with little buttons shaped like strawberries.
Also, babies can be trendy. Spending money on a flash-in-the-pan trend is not a great idea if it’s only going to be something you can wear for a couple months before getting bored of it. But babies only fit in their clothes for a few months anyway. Go ahead and buy the neon motorcycle jacket.
