Silky Mama

I recently read a friend's post on Facebook that said this: "I co-sleep, I breastfeed a toddler while I breastfeed a 3 month old, I wear my baby, I question vaccination schedules, and take a visit to my essential oil supply before a trip to the doctors office. We are alive, we are healthy, and we are happy!"  To me this implied that she believed for doing the things she listed, others may perceive those as things that wouldn't keep her and her babies alive, healthy and happy.  I often have this same thought...that there are people who believe I am not doing what is absolutely best but for me it's because I am not doing the things my friend listed above. So we each have the same thought, that others may think our way isn't best while we are both doing different things...silly. (Apparently the mommy wars stuff gets into a lot of our heads one way or another).  I guess I do things the mainstream way and while you may think mainstream is popular, I haven't felt this way at all.  I think it's because most of my friends here lean towards being a crunchy mama, which is how I would define my friend of the original Facebook post above...if of course we're labeling.  So what's the opposite of a crunchy mama?  What am I?  According to Urban dictionary, I am a silky mama. "Modern mother who prefers medicated hospital birth, bottle feeding/part time breastfeeding, disposable diapers, crib sleeping, etc. One who follows the advice of established medical authority; often tend to be working moms who rely on modern products for convenience and time management."  I truly don't believe one way is better than the other.  The best way to raise a child is what keeps you all alive, healthy and happy.  I just find it interesting reading all these definitions and seeing where I label myself on the parenting spectrum.  

There are quite a few things that intrigue me about crunchy mamas like baby wearing and cloth diapering and I think we will just have to see how I am when another child comes along.  I do feel like my parenting experience was almost limited in a way, moving back and forth from the Dominican Republic during my child's first year and a half of life. We survived with the bare minimums for him like diapers, bottles and a few toys. We finally gave in and got a high chair but buying things was hard knowing our life in Dominican Republic was temporary and we couldn't ship items back and forth.  I also feel like I didn't have time (or make time) to learn about all the different ways to raise a baby.  I was too busy learning the culture, the language, trying to make friends and just figuring out daily life like how to pay my bills and get around.  I've noticed so many things since moving back that I just didn't have there.  First being all the cool baby products.  I recently saw a bib that has a lip to catch food in and rinses right out.  Did you know I had never seen one of those?  I don't mean this in any negative way but most of our friends with babies lived in poverty and did not have all these amazing products so of course I didn't see them.  Another thing here in the US are all the playgroups and mom meet ups online.  Internet and especially computers, are limited there so I definitely didn't have that!  There is even a group of moms here that have a Facebook group for baby wearing with a baby wearing library where you can check out all kinds of ring slings, mobys and backpacks.  Maybe for the next baby... The US also has internet shopping for some awesome baby products and cloth diapers but shipping internationally is much too expensive and most of the places I'd look don't ship internationally anyway.  So maybe I'd be a little more crunchy had I had a different experience with Joaquin but who knows because honestly this silky mama thing has fit my life perfectly and myself, dad and baby are all alive, healthy and happy so for now I'll just keep on doing what I'm doing.  Silky-silk-silk. :)