I was carrying my son nearly 10 years ago when I found myself being bombarded with unsought recommendations for items like bottles, express pumps, and hundreds of different types of items that could essentially do the job of cradling my baby for me. There was pushy advice coming in from all directions on schedules and strict routines – often contradicting one another. This overwhelming new world I was stepping into had me wondering: if I am left to create and grow this whole human inside my body, without much monitoring or guidance, why, then, such intervention and aid when I’ve birthed my baby? My body was already working magic by itself, and something about the natural process underway mixed with the chaos of society’s expectations didn’t seem to fit together.
And that’s because it doesn’t fit together
The compromise is our instincts. And so instead of worrying about all these extra “must-haves”, I felt very sad that this wonderful and natural journey becomes another intricate job in our society which we are led to believe requires so much complication.
I am blessed to have a wonderful sister who I had the honour of watching nurture her first two children before my first was born. She followed what felt right for her, pushing back at what society was instructing and she introduced me to gentle parenting.
I was relieved to find a network of mamas and papas who focussed on the connection to their babies rather than what fits into society’s fast-paced environment and there were stories of people who were parenting in a more natural way. A way that focuses on the needs of their individual child and the parent-child connection. A lot of these values really resonated with me and I felt my mama-soul light up. From there I found my love for parenting research like attachment theory.
The problem is when we live in a society where we are told what to do, and what we need, and not asked how we feel about it, it becomes normal to suppress our instincts. We become detached from how we feel and our inner guidance. Our instincts have our best interests at heart and like babies are born with everything they need within them, we too already have everything we need within us to raise them.
Parental advice and baby product companies are an incredible part of our modern lives and we are each, at certain times, grateful for their developments when things don’t go to plan. it has just become normal to depend on them as a first step. But I believe when we are brave enough to tune out of all of the noise, then we can mindfully tune into ourselves and our babies. We can be empowered to allow our instincts to lead the way.
I would love to hear your thoughts mamas & papas
x
7 Benefits of Attachment Parenting
Instinctual mama & papa 
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