I think God made babies so cute and so helpless, so you have no choice but to take care of them.

My baby is now almost 7 months old, and is entering her separation anxiety stage.

According to BabyCentre, separation anxiety is a real thing:

Babies can show signs of separation anxiety as early as 6 or 7 months, but the crisis age for most babies peaks between 10 to 18 months. Most commonly, separation anxiety strikes when you – or your partner – leave your child to go to work or run an errand.

In actuality, that means that whenever we leave her, our baby makes a fuss and cries. She’s usually fine after we leave — we have good caretakers anyway — but there’s nothing more efficient in giving me mommy guilt than to have your child cry every time you leave.

Which makes it an issue when we do business.

As much as it’s fun and cute, it’s also embarrassing and unprofessional when you lug your baby along with you wherever you go.

And we do bring her along wherever we go.

Because we are in retail, I’ve brought our baby since she was 3 months old to store visits.

To date, she’s been in over 20 malls, even as far as Subic, Batangas and Cavite. When we do store visits, we would go to 6 malls in a span of a day. By the 5th or 6th mall, you can see she’s a bit tired, which is why I leave her in the car with yaya with the aircon opened.

“But what about bacteria or illness?!” some mothers will criticize. “You don’t bring babies out until their 6th month because they’re not vaccinated yet.”

Well, tough. Our baby’s been out since she was a month old, and she’s fine.

Sure, there had been sniffles here and there, and sometimes, there’s that cold that wouldn’t go away, but so far, we’ve been blessed that our baby has been spared of the more serious sickness like fever.

We’ve also brought her along car shows and a toy convention and she’s come out unscathed by the entire experience.

To be honest, I think all that exposure has only made our baby stronger, healthier and more socialized. She’s okay with loud sounds and a LOT of people. And with regards to overstimulation, I think she’s been overstimulated since Month 1, and so far, she’s okay. In fact, the pedia tells us our baby is quite advance for her age.

But despite our best efforts, it’s still not enough.

Our business has slowed down because of baby.

Unlike before, we can’t just book our tickets at a drop of the hat and then go abroad to buy new inventory. Till now, we are still thinking how we’re going to get away to going to an International Trade Show in November in Hong Kong. Should we or should we not bring baby along with us? Hmmmm….

“We can bring my mom to babysit,” I murmured.

“Sigh, then we’d have to babysit YOUR mom too!” husband retorts.

It’s not easy. While baby has separation anxiety, we also have parental guilt of leaving her behind.

Last night, I left her at home to deliver something to hubby. I was gone for an hour, and for the time I was gone, she cried.

Sigh.

Yes, a baby makes for slower, less efficient days.

And honestly, our business has suffered from it. Last year, we opened around 8 branches. This year, we’ve only opened one, and closing another.

But what can we do?

A baby will really slow you down. You have to take into account what your baby needs and slow down.

You can’t speed along like before.

You have to make sure her diaper bag is prepared, she’s well rested and everything is convenient before you go go go. Unlike before where I can take a public bus to the store, I have to book a driver for store visits if baby comes along.

It is worth it though.

And when I look at my baby’s eyes when I nurse her at night, I tell her thank you. Thank you for tolerating mommy’s crazy schedule. For going to work with mommy. For being a trooper for it.

And then I tell myself, I’m doing my best. And I’m doing a great job as a mother.

Foolish words? Maybe. But again, what can I do?

A baby changes your life. A baby changes you.

So the best you can do as a mother, and as a parent, is to do your best and carry on.

Have a good week ahead!