Go on. Admit it. You’ve compared your darling offspring with another baby haven’t you? You’ve been round at a friends’ house, or at playgroup, looked at the other babies there and one of two thoughts has crossed your mind, either: 1. HA! My little darling is younger than the lump over there and is already clapping her hands and crawling; or 2. I DON’T BELIEVE HE’S WALKING - HE’S NOT EVEN A YEAR OLD! He’ll be writing sonnets, growing a beard and smoking a pipe next! Everyone says they don’t compare their babies but they do, openly or surreptitiously.

Some mothers are utterly brazen about comparing notes with others on their babies’ progress. They sail into the local mum and baby group, plonk themselves down next to a nervous, sleep-deprived first-time mum and honk triumphantly about little Giles’ ability to write Haikus at the tender age of 14 months. Most of us aren’t that blatant. We think these things, but don’t actually voice them to anyone except our partners after a glass or two of wine.

Here’s an example. A very good friend of mine gave birth to a little boy (just one baby at a time? What a lightweight!) a couple of months before my two were born. At the girls’ party back in June, at the age of 8 months, he pulled himself up for the first time. The girls are now the same age as he was when he achieved this feat and show NO SIGNS of following suit. I KNOW this is perfectly normal and ALL babies develop differently. As a mum of twins, I’ve seen my two do things at different times so I should know better than most. However, I’ve caught myself propping R up in front of her walker and encouraging her to cling on, just so I can triumphantly note another milestone on her chart.

I think that as long as you retain a sense of perspective, realise what you’re doing and maintain a sense of humour about comparing notes, it’s not a problem. It’s human nature to measure ourselves against the achievements of others. Heck, if we didn’t strive to be better we wouldn’t have done so well at the Olympics.

By the way, I haven’t recorded R’s assisted wobbly-legged attempts to stand up on her chart. I’ll let her do it in her own time. I bet I’ll still compare notes (in my head of course) with my friend’s baby though.