Recently, with being on Twitter 24/7 often, and being at Cupcake with all those cute new moms, I have been much more exposed to the Mother of Today than before and I have to tell you, I’m amazed.

Actually, I’m in awe. Open mouthed gaping, jaw dropping awe.

When Allison over Twitter asked, “Ok, mommas, do I REALLY have to not give my baby any WHEAT products until he’s 1 year old?” I assumed she was talking about giving her six month old a loaf of wheat bread with bologna on top. Only to find out the poor woman was talking about CHEERIOS!

CHEER-I-OS!

The safest thing out there? God’s gift to a mother of an infant? Hell, Ben had Cheerios 20 minutes after he was born.  “Here’s your baby ma’am. Would you like to give him a bottle, breastfeed or just start on Cheerios?”

My mom used to throw a handful of Cheerios in my brother’s crib in order to get 15 minutes more of sleep when he was 6 months old. And now the medical world is trying to take away the heaven that are those little O’s from sleep deprived MOTHERS?! Madness.

This insanity got me thinking about how much things have changed in the last ten years. I feel like one of those old fogies saying, “I walked to school uphill both ways under a constant blizzard” but really, times, they have a changed. 

We aren’t in 2000 anymore, Toto. When I was baby rearing Ben there was no co-sleep.  Or if there was co-sleeping it sure wasn’t talked about much.  In 2000 it was best to put your baby in his huge crib down the hall.  The advice I got?  Roll up a towel to make the crib feel more snug rather than having this baby feel like he was sleeping in a California King.  Instead of sleeping with my child, I slept with the baby monitor. 

I never wore a sling.  In fact I thought, until recently, they were just for broken arms. I did once use this backwards backpack like contraption but it was so complicated and confusing that after an hour of trying make it work, we were both sobbing.

Ten years ago we weren’t worried about the quality of our plastic.  In fact I MICROWAVED his milk in PLASTIC BOTTLES!  Gasp!  And I mean he’s fine.  Sure there is that twitch and a third ear growing but really, he’s so fine. 

Don’t even get me started on vaccinations.  No one talked about autism or mercury. It was more a concern of who is going to hold his legs while I held his arms.

There was organic food but it wasn’t on every aisle in the grocery store and I swear there was no organic baby food, at least for this lady who whipped through the grocery store, coupons in hand praying the baby would be happy with his pacifier and the Jazz Hands entertainment. 

So my Carrie Bradshaw question is, if I had a baby in 2010 would I be a different mother?  I often wonder what Ben’s baby years would have been like if his mother had Twitter, this blog and Facebook, instead of asking advice to Hope on “Days of Our Lives”.  (She never did tell me how hard it was with Shawn-Douglas.)

Maybe these things were always around to those that weren’t stuck under rocks called “I’m Doing This On My Own, SAVE ME!”  Maybe I’m more open now and therefore seeing things differently.  Or maybe there is just more for the 2010 Mother to choose from and information to access. 

Regardless, to the mothers of today and women who will be the mothers of tomorrow; I tip my hat off to you and bow gracefully out of this race.  For I have my own pre-teen with the eye rolling so large it effects the tides.  And just try to rip the Twitter, Blog World and Facebook out my hands.