When expecting your first child, it’s easy to assume exactly what type of parent you will be. However, when push comes to shove and the baby is born, even the best-laid plans often become a mere memory. Parenthood has a remarkable way of rearranging any strategies or expectations you might have had.
Still, social media influencer and expectant mother Isabelle Lux swears she will stick to a specific set of rules for herself and her baby once he arrives. Others online are not so sure.
The mom-to-be revealed the 7 controversial rules she plans to follow when her baby is born.
“This is my controversial, unpopular opinion about how I’m planning to raise my own baby,” she began her video. “You can call me crazy if you want, but I literally don’t care.”
Rather than taking issues with the rules as she anticipated, commenters warned the woman that early motherhood rarely goes as intended. “Oh honey,” one commenter wrote. “You don’t know what is coming.”
1. Not calling family right after the baby is born.
While some parents want their family to meet the newest member immediately after they’re born, Lux plans to do things differently and keep the moment for herself and her partner.
“As soon as you call people, they wanna Facetime, they wanna see the little guy, they wanna hear everything,” she said. “And you’re like, I’m literally exhausted. I just had a baby.”
Lux insisted that new parents could spare themselves a lot of stress and fatigue if they allowed themselves the time to bond with their babies without other people hovering “I’m gonna have some personal time. I’m gonna absorb my little baby. I will literally call you later,” she said.
2. Postpartum ‘beauty bootcamp.’
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When a woman is pregnant, there are certain activities she can’t participate in for the health and safety of her unborn child. So, as soon she’s not pregnant anymore, Lux plans on doing everything she was barred from doing for the last nine months.
“I’m talking acids, I’m talking retinol, every single thing that I have not been allowed to do for the last nine months, I will be doing immediately,” she reported.
As soon as she gets the all-clear from her doctor, Lux also plans on returning to her daily exercises, using the steam room, and taking a dip in the jacuzzi.
3. The 5-5-5 recovery.
The 5-5-5 rule is a guide for freshly postpartum mothers to follow for optimal recovery. It calls for spending the first five days postpartum in the bed bonding with your baby and limiting movement to essential activities such as showering and using the restroom.
The following five days allow the mother to be on the bed, doing some light stretching. The next five days are spent around the bed, engaging in a few household tasks, but still asking for help and support when needed.
“It does mean that your husband is gonna have to pick up a lot of slack because when the baby cries, you don’t get up to go pick up the baby or go figure out what’s going on,” Lux noted. “The baby gets brought to you so that you can fully, fully recover.”
This eases us into Lux’s next rule, which appears to be the most controversial among viewers.
4. No diaper changes for 3 weeks.
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If you misinterpreted this as Lux refusing to change her baby at all for three weeks, you’re not alone! However, she clarified that her husband will solely be responsible for changing the baby’s diaper for the first three weeks of the infant’s life.
“I don’t care if it’s night or day. I will not be changing a single diaper,” she claimed. “My entire body, hormonal system, everything that I’m gonna be going through is in recovery mode. There is no way I’m gonna be adding anything to my plate. I need to feed the baby, I need to feed myself, and I need to sleep.”
Still, many mothers pointed out that diaper changing is not a strenuous activity, and can even be done lying down! They also noted that diaper changing is a great way to bond with your baby, and Lux may change her mind when she meets him and doesn’t want to miss out on any part of his newborn life.
5. No light-up toys, baby music, or media.
Even though some parents rely on Miss Rachel and stimulating light-up toys to keep their babies entertained, Lux claimed that no such things will be allowed in her household.
“I don’t even care. It’s gonna stress me out. It’s gonna stress my baby,” she said.
6. No American formula.
It is easy for mothers to declare that they will only be breastfeeding for health benefits before they even know if their baby will take breastmilk or if they can produce enough. While Lux acknowledged that breastfeeding may not go as planned and she may have to supplement with formula, she will be staying away from American brands.
“Even the best American formulas are trash compared to a standard German one,” she said. “So we’re having my husband’s family literally ship over a bunch of containers (from Germany). It’s gonna make such a big difference for us.”
7. Traveling with the baby from a very early age.
Lux insisted that her children will never be too young to experience the world, and plans on taking them on trips with her from infancy.
“I do not understand people who are like, ‘Oh yeah, like, this is my first trip with my baby,’ and the baby’s, like, four or five months,” she said. Instead, she intends to take her baby to France when he is just a few weeks old and bring him along on a ski trip next winter.
“This baby is gonna come with me everywhere I go, and you can better believe we’re gonna be traveling,” the mom-to-be concluded.
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Although you, like Lux, may have ideas as to how you want to raise your kids and experience parenthood, plans change.
You might promise yourself a self-care day but fall so in love with your baby that you would rather hang out with them. You may say absolutely no screen time, but find yourself so overwhelmed with an endless to-do list that you need a little distraction for the kids. You may expect to travel the world with your baby, but they could be born with an illness or disabilities that make it nearly impossible to get on a plane.
So, if you have a strict set of rules for yourself and your baby who you haven’t even met, be prepared for those plans to shift and transform! Parenthood doesn’t come with a fixed set of guidelines — like our children, it is ever-evolving.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.
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