How Long Can I Call My Baby a Baby?

This is amazing—my best friend and I JUST had this conversation last week. We both have teens/young adults and are both a hard nope on calling them babies! Which is probably why we’re friends. But also, I’m of the “good for her, not for me” school and everyone is different!

I was on the phone with my almost 90 y.o. Grandma the other day to say thank you for the birthday card she sent me for turning 40. I absolutely lit up when she answered and called me baby.
I’ve also taken to calling not only my kids the nickname ‘babes’ but also their little preschool and 1st grade pals- as in ‘oh let’s put your helmet on first, babes.’ We have a pretty tight knit group of families and it somehow makes it even sweeter.

Life.

Oh definitely! I still call my 5 year old “baby.” She has advised me that she is not a baby. I explained to her that I know she is a big girl, but she is still MY baby. 🥲

I’m nearly 47 and my dad still greets me with “Hello, kiddo,” and it makes me smile. Trying to soak it up in this stage of fleeting life.

For life

Haha, I just sent a snap to my dear friend of 45 years whom I met in a prenatal birth class. The caption read “HOW is it possible that my baby has TWO teenagers?”

My husband is 35 and my Mother-In-Law still calls him “baby” in moments of sweet tenderness, difficulty, or illness. I find it so charming and it is clearly laying out the expectation for my own kids that I have no intentions of stopping ;) (Also, as a mom to multiple, I call everyone baby because I can’t always keep the names straight lol)

I call my adults kiddos (18 and 21) Baby Pearl 1 and Baby Pearl 2. They know I will always do that.

My 2 yr old and 6 yr old do NOT like being called babies since they’re in that “I’m a big boy/girl” period but they will be my babies forever

My baby turns 33 in a couple weeks. Sadly, I have made myself stop cutting up his grapes.

Forever!

Forever but at some point I transitioned from my baby to my buddy and nowadays my best bud.

Also applies to dogs. 8 week old fluffy with razor sharp teeth=puppy. Almost 9 year old dog who now barely leaves the patio when it gets really cold=puppy

My baby turns 24 in a few days. Yes, still and always my baby.

I have a cherished photo of me and my daughter soon after she had her baby, of her feeding him while I fed her!

On parental leave with my second baby and I feel this so deeply. <3

Laughed! Not left! Totally different story if I walked way! Darn typos!

This is so my mom brain! On a recent family trip my boys (14 &17) we’re walking ahead of my husband, and I and they were joking around together and had just been being very good brothers the whole trip and it just filled my whole entire mama heart with love for them and happiness at their sibling bond. So I turned to my husband and I said “gosh just look at those babies! I love them so much“ and my husband looked around and said “what babies?” legitimately looking for actual infants. Which to be fair I also adore a cute baby so it is not insanity for him to think I might comment on the cuteness of a baby. I don’t know. I just left and said “Our babies!”
In my heart, they will forever be my babies

So true! It’s 7am in New Zealand and I’m feeding my seven month old. Thank you for starting my day with that thought.

It always bothered me when my friends called their little one “the baby” as they were walking around saying words. Now that I have my own I get it! “The baby” of all the babies turns 1 in a few weeks!

My 4 year old always asks, “Why are you calling me a baby?” And I told him that even when he’s 44 he’ll still be MY baby. I think my 7 year old accepts this as one of those things you have to tolerate from your mother. 😉

This is the sweetest bit of perfection. Whole motherhood memoirs contained in that toddler line— the pride! The changes! The settling in to long term parenthood… makes me happy-teary. Michelle, you have a poetic way with charts!

Did this make anyone else think of Blake Shelton’s song, “The Baby”? I’m not well-versed in country, but a college roommate made a Sad Country Songs mix cd for me. I rediscovered it a few years ago, after becoming a mom, and listened to it. Made me “cry just like a baby”.
My baby turns 8 this week — they still held my hand yesterday when we crossed the street.

My daughter was born eight weeks early and has always been rather small for her age. She is two now and has been called “Baby plus her name” since day one at her daycare and it is said so tenderly and lovingly by her beloved teachers in every interaction, call or email that I hope they call her that till her VPK graduation (and boy oh boy, what a gift to feel to my bones that she will always always always be my baby child, sob.)

Mich! =) I knew before I scrolled it was you. Love to see you here.

Forever

I turn 45 this year, and my mom always says this to me: “You’ll always be my baby.” When she came into the hospital room to meet her first grandchild, she told me that she felt compelled to check on me first before meeting the next generation. I don’t think your baby ever stops being your baby. I tell my kids that too – “you’ll always be my baby, even when you’re 45.” And my charming son reminds me that I’ll be 81 or even dead. Which changes the conversation altogether :)