... and that's okay!
Cosmo Jarvis' song "My Own Thing" is a personal favourite of mine and Tiger's right now, and not just because of its jaunty, happy-making melody.
Tiger and I like the message.
Because the thing is, for the past nine months (yes, my baby is NINE MONTHS OLD. OH GOLLY), we HAVE been doing our own thing. And that's okay.
We've muddled along. We've found stuff that works. And yeah, it might not be exactly what the parenting books and websites and so-called "experts" tell us to do. It might not be the "right" way, the "correct" way (or even, oftentimes, the "easy" way), but heck, it's turned out okay.
My girl is happy as all-get-out. She has a (knock on wood) cast iron constitution. She is determined and feisty and wicked and loving and sweet ...
And yet we still have people admonish us in the supermarket for buying formula. We still have other mothers tut-tutting about the evils of bottle-feeding and how Tiger MUST be suffering because I didn't have that crucial "breastfeeding bond" with her in the first few hours (never mind the fact that, due to Tiger's prematurity, I wasn't allowed to even touch her for the first few days, let alone breastfeed her). We still have "well-meaning" strangers asking if Tiger shouldn't be in a pram, rather than a sling.
We're still at the mercy of judgment from "medical professionals" because Tiger doesn't self-settle.
"Mummy wars". They suck. But you know what? Tiger doesn't know what a Mummy War is. She knows she is fed when she's hungry, and played with and read to and she gets enough sleep and LOTS of cuddles. She doesn't know she's suffering because I didn't persevere with breastfeeding her when it exacerbated her reflux and caused her to scream for hours. She doesn't know she's hard-done by.
She thinks we're doing just fine.
Because we're just doing our own thing. And it's more than okay.
In fact, it's bloody lovely.
~ Love, Miss Cackle x
3 comments:
Throw out those parenting books and ignore those so called 'experts' nature intended for babies and mummies to be 'attached' and as long as you are loving, following your instincts and doing what you feel is right, what else really matters? The only experts we pay any attention to are the ones we agree with, and it's fantastic!
P.s. my baby also lives in a sling and i think self settling is horrid... same went for my now 3 year old and she learnt to go to sleep by herself when she was ready!
I'm thinking this will happen with Tiges too! She soon lets us know when she's ready to change something. Thank you for sharing :o)
Post a Comment