As a Chiropractor specializing in Pre-natal and pediatric patients, my work days are spent observing and feeling pregnant bellies. I LOVE MY JOB! With that, comes a lot of talk about pregnancy, babies, and baby showers. These have become common place and topics of conversation I have felt confident discussing. That all changed a couple of months ago.
I was talking with an expecting mama and asked if she had any baby showers coming up. (She was pregnant with her second child, a boy, and she had a daughter at home.) Her answer caught me off guard, “No baby shower, but my co-workers are throwing a baby sprinkle party for me”.
This was something I had never heard of. What in the world was a ‘baby sprinkle’? As she began to explain the intention, it made perfect sense. She described it as a baby shower that was more low key, and intended for a second (or subsequent) child, especially of the opposite sex. This allowed the mama to get any additional items she needed/gave away and more importantly, gender specific clothes and supplies.
In seven years of practice, this was the first I had heard of the ‘sprinkle shower’ and two weeks later, it happened again. An expecting mom and I were talking about when her family would meet her baby, and she replied, “At the sip-and-see party after the baby was born”.
The what?! The ‘sip-and-see’ is a gathering where she would invite her friends and family over, they would ‘sip’ on wine, and she would have the opportunity for all of her guests to meet and ‘see’ her newborn.
All of these seem like novel ideas. I’m a big believer in the phrase ‘it takes a village to raise a baby’, and any way to bless an expecting or new mama sounds like a plan to me. These days, it’s amazing how many things such a little person needs, or we think they need, and we all know how much any woman loves to buy anything for a little person! Whatever the means, any opportunity to meet and encourage a new mom should be welcomed with joy.
Interesting. Those are both new to me, too. I’ve always thought it was kind of an unspoken no-no to have a “shower” for non-firstborns, and I remember secretly wishing I could have one for my third-/fourth-born twins. Too bad I didn’t know then that this is a socially acceptable option! 🙂
I love both of those ideas! I’m going to remember them!