Motherhood Minis: Bitesize Interviews with Real Mums - Knowing What’s Best for Baby, with Chloe.
Welcome to our fifth interview of the series, Motherhood Minis, featuring bitesize interviews with real mums. A quick inside look into the lives of our Matchstick Monkey parents and their little ones!
This week we’re catching up with Chloe Mathews, mum, wife and owner of @ryley_andme Instagram account on meeting mums, teething and handling unwanted parenting advice!
Chloe lives by the coast in South Wales with her husband Ryan and beautiful baby son, Ryley.
What have you learned about the reality of having children that you could never have predicted before becoming a parent?
Chloe: The love. Obviously, I knew I would love my child the minute I found out I was pregnant, but the reality of it is so much bigger than I could have ever predicted! It’s the best feeling in the world, and a feeling I never thought even possible!
Do you think parents, mothers, in particular, have a tendency to put themselves under pressure to be the perfect parent?
Chloe: Depending on what a person defines as perfect. I feel as if a parent, would have an automatic/natural response to pressure to make sure their child is healthy, loved, happy and to be looked after to the best of the parents ability, so my answer would be yes that this does put pressure on parents to be the perfect parent to their child/children.
What was the best advice that you could give to an expectant mum/dad?
Chloe: The best advice I could personally give to a new expectant parent is when receiving unwanted advice, just smile, nod politely and just go and do things exactly how you want to. A mum and a dad always know what’s best for their baby.
How old was Riley when he started to teethe?
Chloe: My little boy was 4 months old when he started teething.
Did Riley have symptoms of teething, or did they just come through without a fuss?
Chloe: Yes, he did. He would always chew his fingers, hands always in mouth, the dribbling also got quite excessive at one point. Very rare he would cry with it, but he has a few times and the next day you would notice the tooth had actually cut through.
Did you use any teething products? If so, what helped?
Chloe: So I have actually used a matchstick monkey all along. It was recommended to me by other mums! We started out with the original orange matchstick monkey, and we now have the mint green matchstick monkey from the Nordic range! We’ve always used the Dentinox teething gel so match, and on occasions, Anbesol.
Do you see yourself as an influencer?
Chloe: Honestly, no. I just absolutely love photographing my baby, testing out different products, meeting other mums, finding different small businesses. If that means I get recognition from it, that’s absolutely great, it’s amazing that other people love to see what I’m doing! But I just class myself as a mum.
How has your growing Instagram following changed your day to day life?
Chloe: Through this, I have met some amazing mums, who are now my go-to every day, who I never would have met if I hadn’t started with the journey. I have also had the experience of working together with some amazing small businesses and companies which have given myself and Ryley opportunities we never would have had.
Chloe: It’s crazy to be recognised for it, be it from people met via social media, or friends already known that are noticing the huge difference! Although I class my Instagram account as fairly small to other accounts, it’s crazy what other people think of yours, but it’s also really lovely at the same time.
Why do you think your account has become so popular, is this something you planned from the start?
Chloe: So I personally think it’s all Ryley! Here I’m your usual mum who dotes on her baby, and I like to believe that people just love to see his cheeky little face, what he’s wearing, what the latest products he is using. It would be amazing to know that we inspire some people. But no I did not plan this from the start, I was really surprised when I watched our Instagram profile grow and grow and grow.
Thank you, Chloe!
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