The idea of having a baby can be a dreamy one, but often people picture themselves with an acutely snuggly little baby and they forget to picture themselves actually having to raise one. Raising a newborn is not the same thing as holding your friend’s newborn baby and then passing them back when they need the nappy change or they start to cry.
One of the biggest questions that people tend to ask themselves is whether or not they’re ready to have a baby. It’s a hard question to be able to answer because truly it differs from person to person. There are lots of pros and cons to choosing to have a baby, and while it’s true that you’ll never regret a child that you do have. You may regret missing your moment. With that in mind, let’s take a look at whether or not you are ready to have a baby.
- You’ve spoken to your doctor. Emotionally ready to have a baby and physically ready are two very different things. If you’ve been thinking about it and discussing it for a while, then you may have already had a conversation with your doctor to determine how healthy you are and whether you are ready or not to have a baby. They can do blood tests and hormone tests to find out whether your body is in peak fertility season.Or they may direct you towards the IVF process. Either way, if you’ve been given a clean bill of health from your doctor, that’s a good sign that you’re ready.
- You are ready for a change. A very common belief, which actually is quite a myth, is that babies will just fit in with your life. This is the case later on, but initially when you have a newborn, you are beholden to everything your newborn wants. When they cry, they need to be picked up, when they are hungry they need to be fed, and you have to decide whether they are hungry, tired, happy, thirsty, sore, wet, soiled all by the sound of the cries they make. If you’re ready for a change and you’re ready for the challenge of a newborn, then absolutely go ahead.
- You’ve discussed it with your partner. Nobody should ever have a baby with somebody who’s not going to be 5050 in the process. Of course your partner can’t breastfeed, but that doesn’t mean they can’t get up in the night with you and help change diapers or get up to resettle a grizzly baby who’s already been fed. If you are going to be left dealing with the mental and the physical load of a newborn child, you should not be having a baby with that person. So make sure that you’ve discussed it inside and out before you go ahead.
- You’ve got a support system. They say it takes a village to raise a baby. And while there are so many successful couples who don’t need a village to raise their children because they have each other, others need a village to rely on to be able to avoid feeling overwhelmed by a new one.
- You are financially stable. Babies cost money. In fact, they cost a lot of money. If you’re not financially stable enough to manage the ongoing costs of children, then it may be worth waiting until you’re ready.
