Mommy Blog Lines: Tal(k)ing Care

Women have fought for so long to break out of silences. Virginia Woolf argued we all should be so lucky to have space and time to create and Tillie Olson lamented our silences and gaps. Liberation through conversation and discussion. On the other hand, there are protective and self selected silences–those that honor others and ourselves and recognize the slippery nature of media and language. There isn’t a slick, quick answer, but a need for productive reflexivities.

About 20 years ago we each had children, and at the time breastfeeding was assumed to be natural and essential to the developmental health of children. I remember a nurse telling me that I was sending my children into a lifetime of sickness and ailments if I wouldn’t breastfeed each until they were 2 to 3 years old. On the matter of sleeping positions, at the time we were told that babies had to be swaddled tight and on their sides. Imagine our shock when we learned that the rules had changed because that side positioning was more risky for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Turns out our safe practices were wasted and even potentially dangerous effort. Our point is, that not following either of these "good mommy" rules would have meant incurring the judgement of other moms and health care providers. The Making Time for Mommy blog takes on this same topic and provides another warning against judging moms via standards that are not written in stone but change as practices