Why do you consider yourself a natural parent?

[minties]

I breastfeed
I sleep with my child in my bed
I respond to his needs promptly and do not leave him to cry

To me these 3 things make me feel like a natural parent. Using cloth nappies, using natural cleaning products etc - they are good but those 3 things are fundamental to my ways of thinking.

 

[freckleonear]

I consider myself a natural parent because I think that nature knows best. I believe that my body is designed for birthing, that babies are born with low vitamin K for a reason, that babies are designed to breastfeed and be kept close at all times, that babies are able to eat normal food, that children don't need lots of toys to play and learn, etc.

I try to keep as close as possible to what nature intended, but it's not always possible or practical and different people put emphasis on different aspects that are important to them. I think believing in those principles is more important than whether or not you are able to follow all of them in our modern society.

The motivation for things like cloth nappies, natural cleaning products and alternative medicine is more to do with environmental or health reasons, so I suppose it's a different definition of "natural".

 

[lynnikins]

I consider myself a natural parent because i do what comes naturally when it comes to my kids no matter what kind of nappy i put on them or what soap they use or anything else. I dont like labels I just do what feels right for me and my family and if that means avoiding harsh chemicals and purfumed soaps and carrying my baby then thats what I do.

 

[Whatme]

I'm breastfeeding
BLW
Co-sleeping
Cloth nappying
Amber necklace

On the flip side, I love fake tan, big hair and buying shoes! I keep all of the above to myself, as it's not common place where I live.

 

[oread]

I don't consider myself a "natural" parent since noone is an "unnatural" parent. I breastfeed, co-sleep, cloth diaper part time, make some baby food myself, avoid harmful chemicals whenever possible, baby wear sometimes but use a stroller too, etc. Not that those small things are super important, but I love that the women in this forum tend to be open minded about doing whatever works best for you and your baby.

 

[JASMAK]

I breastfeed, use organic whenever possible, co-sleep, I carry my babies (well, until my bad back gives out..so about a year or so), I don't hit or threaten, I do what comes naturally to me as a mother. I nurture my children.

 

[Rachel_C]

I don't consider myself a "natural" parent since noone is an "unnatural" parent. I breastfeed, co-sleep, cloth diaper part time, make some baby food myself, avoid harmful chemicals whenever possible, baby wear sometimes but use a stroller too, etc. Not that those small things are super important, but I love that the women in this forum tend to be open minded about doing whatever works best for you and your baby.

I actually do think some people are unnatural parents, not necessarily by informed choice but because they think that's what they're supposed to do. I've always found that it physically hurts to listen to a screaming distressed baby - the natural instinct is to comfort them, feed them, do whatever necessary to make them better - but modern Western society makes it seem like you're weak for doing that, so parents shut themselves in the living room with ear plugs in and sob because they can still hear the baby crying yet they're 'not supposed' to comfort them. That's pretty unnatural IMO. It's not the parents' fault but it isn't natural. Of course some people naturally do want to ignore the baby, but I think most people don't but they don't feel like they're allowed to be natural, which is really sad

 

[Dragonfly]

I don't consider myself a "natural" parent since noone is an "unnatural" parent. I breastfeed, co-sleep, cloth diaper part time, make some baby food myself, avoid harmful chemicals whenever possible, baby wear sometimes but use a stroller too, etc. Not that those small things are super important, but I love that the women in this forum tend to be open minded about doing whatever works best for you and your baby.

I actually do think some people are unnatural parents, not necessarily by informed choice but because they think that's what they're supposed to do. I've always found that it physically hurts to listen to a screaming distressed baby - the natural instinct is to comfort them, feed them, do whatever necessary to make them better - but modern Western society makes it seem like you're weak for doing that, so parents shut themselves in the living room with ear plugs in and sob because they can still hear the baby crying yet they're 'not supposed' to comfort them. That's pretty unnatural IMO. It's not the parents' fault but it isn't natural. Of course some people naturally do want to ignore the baby, but I think most people don't but they don't feel like they're allowed to be natural, which is really sad

I agree it is sad. They fear spoiling their child with affection and creating a monster so independence is forced. I see a lot of it its very sad. I seen lots of children spoiled with affection though turned out nothing like these people who tell you that you spoil kids with attention. On the other hand babies who dont receive much affection and attention turn out to be higher needs adults and children. I am working on changing that I have a wonderful facebook page with lots of people being re educated.

 

[feeble]

I agree, i think for a long time society strove to create 'unnatural' parenting and its only recently that we are making waves against that.

It is still considered fine to leave very young babies to cry, my mother suggested it 'so we could enjoy a meal' when Jasper was 2 weeks old, she wanted me to leave him in the bedroom with the doors closed!

I also think chemical nappies, processed food and early weaning are 'unnatural'

 

[oread]

I can agree that I don't think cry it out is a natural tendency. But sometimes when I'm really frustrated I'll let my daugter cry for a few minutes so I also hate the pressure that makes it sound like you're a terrible parent if you ever let your baby cry.

Don't get me wrong, I love cloth diapers and whole foods and the like. But I don't automatically rail against anything that isnt natural because some "unnatural" things are truly fantastic. Contact lenses! Medicines! Even processed foods are better than no food at all. *shrug* its all relative so I think its kinda insulting to call someone an 'unnatural' parent for using disposable diapers, as we sit on our oh so natural computers

 

[feeble]

I can agree that I don't think cry it out is a natural tendency. But sometimes when I'm really frustrated I'll let my daugter cry for a few minutes so I also hate the pressure that makes it sound like you're a terrible parent if you ever let your baby cry.

Don't get me wrong, I love cloth diapers and whole foods and the like. But I don't automatically rail against anything that isnt natural because some "unnatural" things are truly fantastic. Contact lenses! Medicines! Even processed foods are better than no food at all. *shrug* its all relative so I think its kinda insulting to call someone an 'unnatural' parent for using disposable diapers, as we sit on our oh so natural computers

But I would never label someone as 'unnatural'

Let's face it unless we all lived up trees and pooed in holes and drank water collected from fern leaves, we ain't natural

But we make natural choices, and that's what this forum is about, making natural choices in life where we can

 

[Miss_Quirky]

I don't know about being a "natural" parent as that has a heavy meaning where I live (very granola-heavy opinions, not that that's bad ) but probably more AP. With my little guy I hope to

Breastfeed as long as he needs
Babywear almost all the time (I do have a pram because it was a great deal on a stroller-pram-carseat in one)
BLW, as long as I can. My mum couldn't breastfeed me so started be on home made baby food when I was almost 5 months since she couldn't feed me like she wanted.
Not really co-sleeping for personal reasons, but we will be sharing a room with him until he has been sleeping through the night for a while and we can afford a 2-bedroom.
And I only believe in spanking to be used as a threat. My mum only had to spank me twice my entire life, because after that she could just threaten it and I'd behave...sometimes kids are like that imo.

But what does, I think, make me slightly NP is that I am very holistic in my approach to medicine. I come from a family of doctors, pharmacists, EMTs and paramedics, and am VERY familiar with what is necessary, what's not, what medications have huge risks, what have holistic alternatives that work just as well if not better, and also what has BARELY passed the FDA. But I do know that certain things, the risks outweigh the benefits, and in others it's the other way.

 

[rwhite]

I'm a bit of everything really, and use a lot of 'methods' from both parenting styles.

The things that I do/have done that would fall under natural parenting:

-Cloth nappying (although we made the switch to cloth late, despite being interested in it while pregnant)
-Breastfeeding (breastfed Lachlan for 6 months, plan to breastfeed my next LO for a minimum of 1 year but preferably longer).
-We did have amber for Lachlan but I'm not actually sure it was genuine, will be investing in another necklace for next LO.
-I babywear, although I use the pram as well. I think I would babywear a lot more if I had a sling other than a pouch sling - I find it very difficult to wear my 14kg toddler around for long periods of time in the sling I have as it doesn't distribute weight evenly. If I had an ergo I'd baby wear the majority of the time.

I do these things because they just feel right to do I like coming in here for the fluffy bums and baby wearing

 

[Eliza_V]

I consider myself a natural parent because I feed my child myself & look after him by myself. no breaks or people coming over to help.

I breastfed Tom till he was 14 months old. He never took a bottle so it was me every 2-3 hours! It was hard, but I didn't consider myself a natural parent because of it. I praised any help I could get in between those feeds x

I've always been of the opinion if someone has help looking after a child as they can't cope alone then their not a parent but part care giver.
my sil has handed her son off to her mam/gran his entire life.
I don't consider her a natural mother.

The most "natural" mothers around, the women who give birth alone in a mud hut, breastfeed or their baby will die, do elimination communication from day 1, will hand off their baby to their sister on month 2 and go work in a field pulling wheat grass for 10 hours straight. That's the way women have done it for millions of years. "Milk sisters" exist for that very reason. Women were never meant to do it alone, we were meant to do it TOGETHER.

Martha Sears, co-writer of attachment parenting, co-slept and breastfed all 8 of her babies at night while working as a breastfeeding counselor in the day. Is she unnatural?

You aren't a natural parent because of it, you just put down other mothers to try and make yourself feel better. You're a condescending mother. Yes, I'm also referring to that thread where you said other mothers were "pathetic" for being upset over having an emergency C-section.

And I am a 24/7 SAHM whose child almost died in labour as well (non-C section). Seriously. Stop trying to put others down and hurt them to make yourself feel better. It's cruel and sets a poor example for your child. Being a good mother is not about bragging about martyrdom, it's about teaching your child to show others kindness and respect. Perhaps you are still struggling with the trauma of your child's birth and are lashing out at others to cope with it and feel better, I don't know, but I suggest some kind of counseling for your cruel attitude.

THANK YOU

I haven't read beyond this post so far, but thank you for saying something. I'm sick of certain people posting just to get a reaction, cause drama or make themselves feel better by putting other people down. Really annoys me!!

Time to read the rest of the thread now

 

[Eliza_V]

I sit on the fence with the "label" of Natural Parenting, tbh. I've been 'accused' (for want of a better word) of being an "Earth mother" as I breastfeed, don't let LO cry, cuddle her a lot, occasionally babywear, and generally don't like being apart from her. On the flip side, I use the pram/car seat a hell of a lot more than I babywear, I don't co-sleep, LO went into her own room at 5 months, we use disposable nappies and don't bother with choosing only organic things. But that's what works for us, and LO seems happy with that At the end of the day, I like that there's lots of different styles of parenting, as it gives us plenty of options to choose from and cycle through when met with different obstacles (for example, co-sleeping during a growth spurt, formula top ups if struggling with BF, babywearing if pushchair is broken, disposables if all cloth nappies are in the wash etc.. Just a few ideas that popped into my head). So I don't fit into a group really, I'm 'just' a parent!