Did you just discover you are pregnant? Your mind is probably reeling, your heart beating a little faster in excitement. You have many decisions to start making about the nursery, doctors, and baby names. When should you start thinking about baby names?
Choosing baby names can be either very stressful, or a fun game for both the expectant mother and father. One of the best ways to avoid the feeling of stress is to start playing with baby names early in the pregnancy. You can grab baby name books, start writing down names you hear on the television, see in magazines, and hear in conversations. Turn the entire process of choosing baby names into a big exploration and discovery game.
Some doctors and psychologists recommend waiting to start thinking about baby names until after your first trimester. This period of time is when you have the highest risk of a miscarriage. The concern is choosing baby names, and making a very emotional attachment, and then having the disaster of a miscarriage. As you probably already feel in your heart, the attachment is already there. Whether you have a name or not, the loss would be tremendous. While you can choose to wait until later to choose the final name, you can begin having the fun, and bonding of thinking about baby names now.
The best reason to start thinking about baby names early is to give both of you time to let the names age in your mind. Sometimes the baby names you think sound great today, sound terrible in a week or two. Having an opportunity to reflect on your choices of names allows you to choose the perfect name for your baby.
Make sure as you start thinking about baby names to choose names for both boys and girls. It is always safer to have both names ready, just in case the ultrasound was misunderstood, and your expected little girl has a little extra surprise for you. Having the shock of needing to choose a name in an emergency manner is never fun.
Is there any good reasons to wait until late in the pregnancy to start thinking about baby names? There is one fantastic reason, nosy parents and friends. Once you have selected names, then everyone keeps quizzing you, and trying to trick you into telling the name. They want to be the first to know. If you have not selected the name, you cannot tell them, so no worries about leaking the name.
The best part of choosing baby names is the constant reminder and bond you begin creating. Your mind begins to think of the baby growing inside as a real person, with a real name. You are able to start talking to your baby by their name long before they are born. The joy you feel is increased when you can use a name, and not only saying “baby”. Go ahead, start thinking about baby names immediately, it is one of the fun elements of being pregnant.