My four-month-old third baby boy started crying at a recent family gathering when an aunt was holding him. Pretty normal baby behavior, right? In my mama head, part of me thinks, Haha! My dude loves me the best! and the other part thinks, Well shoot… I could have used a breather! But I didn’t have enough time to form an actual full sentence in response because a family member chimes in with, “Oh, no! Are you going to be another mama’s boy?”
Let me take you back a little bit. My second baby was hard. Like, almost broke me hard. He was very colicky. He had tongue and lip ties. He refused a bottle and pacifier. He had me questioning my momming abilities and praying for strength daily. For those first few months of his life, he was very attached to me. I constantly heard comments about how he was such a mama’s boy and that I had my hands full. The thoughts of haha and well, shoot were battling in my head. Outwardly, I just kind of laughed it off.
By the time my third baby came along, it was mid-pandemic. We were mostly home, and he wasn’t exposed to many people or places. Luckily, he wasn’t afflicted with the same issues as baby number two, but due to the nature of the world he was born into, he naturally was more inclined to want my husband and me.
But when that aunt held him, and I heard him cry out in a tiny protest, I felt a twinge. Then I heard that “mama’s boy” comment and was instantly triggered.
You know when you read those stories about the mama bear who mauls the person who tried to infringe on her baby bear’s territory? Yeah, that’s where my mama instinct was at.
This is also the family member who wants the picture-perfect, Instagram-worthy, keep up with the Kardashians lifestyle. The family member who doesn’t want one of their own kids’ toes out of line. The family member who has snapped at my toddler for having toddler emotions.
Now, I am not a confrontational person AT ALL. I prefer to think of mauling comments in my head or spew them out to my husband in the privacy of our own home. But that mindset was about to crumble, and my mama bear instinct was about to erupt like lava from the deepest parts of me.
By some miracle, I was able to hold it together at that moment. I snatched up my little dude and isolated us in another room to calm both him and myself. And once we both had recovered, I just kept thinking to myself how grateful I am to have mama’s boys.
Baby boys, I hope you stay mama’s boys forever. I hope our life resembles the classic tear-jerker Love You Forever. I hope you never stop needing me. I hope you feel safe and loved beyond measure until you are old and gray. I hope you can run into my arms and get wrapped in a big mama bear hug no matter who looks or passes judgment. I hope you know that I will be there to maul anyone who tries to tell you that being a mama’s boy is a bad thing.
