Natural Mothering About my Natural Mothering website, my booklist, updates, awards, graphics, and webrings. Natural Parenting Here is where I ramble on about what Attachment Parenting means to me and give some excellent resources for those who's interest is piqued. Natural Childbirth Why would anyone want a drug free birth? Visit this section to find out and read about my three very different birth experiences. Natural Feeding Breastfeeding is my passion and the reason for the existence of this website. You'll find the basics here along with tips for overcoming thrush! Natural Diapering Who would want to bother with cloth when there's disposables? Lot's of people, really! Find out the why and how of it here. Natural Health Mother [Nature] still knows best! Find out more about natural health and healing, natural family planning and newborn health choices here.

Natural Mothering

"The commonest fallacy among women is that simply having children makes one a mother, which is as absurd as believing that having a piano makes one a musician" ...Sidney J. Harris

Welcome to Natural Mothering!

While this site started out as a breastfeeding page, it has ended up about many other things as well. It is about listening to your heart and giving your child the very best that you can give. It is about trusting your instincts; listening to your inner voice and not necessarily the outer ones. It is about being environmentally friendly. It is about being a positive role model for society and, most importantly, for your children. Most of all it is about LOVE.

Natural mothering has several advantages:

It's easy!
Okay, I admit it - I am lazy. I just can not imagine having to get up out of my nice warm bed at 3a.m. to go mix up some formula, put it in a bottle and heat it up while my baby cries with hunger. It is so easy to just roll over and offer a breast - I don't even really wake up! While cloth diapering may seem like more work than disposables it really isn't too bad; once you get your system down it is a breeze. When you're doing laundry for five people an extra load a couple times a week isn't't even noticeable! With our family bed, nighttime parenting is a breeze - the kids never fight going to sleep and I don't have to get up in the middle of the night to tend to them. If one of them has a bad dream or is sick I know right away and I am right there to comfort them. I admit that doing the best thing for your child(ren) isn't always easy but natural mothering really does save you a whole lot of work (and money).

It's frugal!
I think that breastfeeding exemplifies the saying "The best things in life are free." The costs of formula feeding are high. For example, the least expensive brand of powdered formula is about 8 cents per ounce, which comes to about 1,160 dollars per year. The most expensive, ready to feed formula is about 27 cents per ounce for about 3,915 dollars per year! Moreover, formula fed babies get sick more often than do breastfed babies - figure in an extra 200 dollars per year in additional health care costs. Cloth diaper, while initially requiring anywhere from 100 - 500 dollars depending on style, quantity and quality definitely save you money in the long run, especially if you use them for more than one child. Additionally, attachment parenting saves you money because there are so many baby "necessities" that you just do not have to buy. All you really need is a car seat, some diapers and yourself! Of course there are other items that are nice to have, like a sling or changing table but they are optional.

It's healthy!
The costs of formula feeding are not only financial, there are many health costs as well. Formula fed babies are; 4 times more likely to have a respiratory infection, 20 times more likely to have diarrhea, 22 times more likely for a miscellaneous infections, 8 times more likely to suffer from eczema, 21 times more likely to have asthma, 27 time more likely to have hay fever, 11 times more likely to have their tonsils removed, 4 times more likely to have ear infections, 11 times more likely to be hospitalized, 8 times more likely to have sick office visits. Additionally, women who choose not to breastfeed are more likely to suffer from post-partum hemorrhage, post-partum depression, and iron deficiency anemia. They take longer to heal and to get back to their pre-pregnancy weight, and are more likely to suffer the ravages of osteoporosis and ovarian, uterine and breast cancers. Disposable diapered babies suffer more diaper rashes than do their cloth diapered counterparts, probably due to all the nasty chemicals put in disposable to make them "super absorbent". Attachment parented children tend to be more independent and self-confident than their non-attachment parented peers.

It's 'green'!
Breastfeeding is a completely natural, and ecological. Production of Artificial breastmilk substitutes results in overgrazing of land by cattle and, in the case of soy formula, the use of chemical fertilizers to grow the soy. Artificial breastmilk substitutes waste valuable resources for production, packaging, transportation, mixing the product, heating it, and sterilizing bottles and nipples - not to mention the waste created for disposal of the cans, bottles, and other miscellaneous paraphernalia. Disposables diapers are made from petrochemicals and bleached paper products and contribute tons of waste per child to landfills every year.

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Natural Mothering: Welcome Page
First on-line: 6/28/1996

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