Sunday July 25, 2004
C & P from MDC; a person lamenting her pregnant sister’s very mainstream choices and wondering how to deal with it.
Maybe this will help:
Pre baby I…
…thought a crib and crib bedding was the single most important purchase
…bought that heartbeat bear
…was NEVER going to co-sleep
…was not going to let baby “manipulate” me…CIO was something you had to do to be a good parent and those that didn’t were wussy
…was only going to BF for 6 weeks, any longer was gross
…bought a stroller with baby bucket, playpen, swing, baby bathtub, and the entire Johnson & Johnson line of baby products
…didn’t even consider NOT vaxing, (but did decide I wasn’t going to vax in the hospital, but a week later)
…followed the “what to expect” book and read every baby book at the library (but not Dr. Sears)
…dismissed cloth diapering out of hand…didn’t even want to look into it because it was too much work.
Post baby I…
…never even laid him in the crib…ever
…never used the heartbeat bear
…co slept almost from day 1 because he would wake up when I put him in the bassinet
…would never consider CIO and think it is abusive for an infant
…am still breastfeeding at 2.5 years and am planning on CLW
…did use the baby bucket since he was an infant in winter and it let me get him snapped in while indoors, but took him out of the thing as soon as we would get inside, only rarely used the stroller, only used the pack and play to store clothes & baby supplies, only used the swing a few times…worthless space waster for the most part, only used the baby bathtub until the umbillical cord fell off, (he was bathed in our arms in the regular bathtub), and bought burts bees stuff because his skin was too sensitive for J&J.
…stopped vaxing after his 9mo vaxes and am officially “delayed vaxes” for now.
…discovered the books I had read just didn’t feel right and eventually found Dr. Sears.
…discovered the real world of cloth diapering and never looked back. I can’t believe how nasty sposies are and that I thought that was better.
Other than my birkies, I was as mainstream as they come pre-baby. He changed everything. My transformation was complete when I went searching for help with weaning (which I didn’t want to do but was being severly pressured to do) when ds was 9 months old, I found MDC. From here, I got support to follow my instincts with breastfeeding and wondered what the fuss was about diapers…and they sucked me in too. lol. I am now the weird crunchy parent planning on homeschooling
