Taking a baby to a funeral is apparently a topic of great contention on many online forums. Unfortunately, this week we had to make the decision of what side of the fence we stood on as my dad’s cousin Diane had passed away. I was quite close with her, so it seemed obvious that I was going to go along to the funeral and take Clara with me, but it wasn’t until I started to google what a baby should wear to a funeral that I realised that quite a few people online seem to frown upon a baby being present.

As I am still breastfeeding Clara and she won’t take an expressed bottle there was definitely no option of me going to the funeral alone and leaving her behind with someone, and to be honest, I really liked the idea of her being there as she had never had the opportunity to meet Diane before she died even though I know Diane would have loved to.

In the end, I didn’t let the internet put me off and so along we went, with Clara wearing a navy blue polka dot dress from Jojo Maman Bebe (the closest thing I could find to black). She was good as gold, but started to chatter to herself a bit about ten minutes into the ceremony so Jamie took her outside and walked around with her until it was over so as not to disturb anyone. We then went along to the wake afterwards, and to be honest I am so glad we did! I don’t really get the opportunity to see my dad’s family all that much so it was the first time they had met Clara and I really felt like she was a little ray of sunshine for everybody in what would otherwise have been quite a sombre day. We even had the opportunity to go back to Diane’s brother’s house for a little while afterwards and Clara got to spend time with Diane’s dog, Digit, who I had heard so much about over the years.

I guess it is different for every situation, but ultimately I know we made the right choice as Diane was the sort of person that would have loved the idea of us rebelling against the norm slightly, and I’m sure she was there in spirit loving that Clara had come along.