Are you a Proud Member of the Militant Breastfeeding Cult?

and this from jenns blog
(about a book called Children First by by Penelope Leach .
i have read and own and thoughts that also swarm round my head)


"Reading this book is really opening my eyes to the way we do things in our culture and how hard we are making it on ourselves. The book talks about how in past times (in our and similar countries) and in many countries around the world, there is a network of friends and family and community that all works together to help each other out.
It's only in America that we expect parents to do everything by themselves.

In Britian it's common for the hospital to send a nurse or assistant to a new mother's home off and on during the first few weeks to help her out, talk to her, etc.

I saw on A Baby Story how in India it's common practice for a woman to "babymoon" at her mother's house for the first month - being taken care of by her mother so that she can renew her strength and focus on caring for her new little one. Of course, in countries like that it's even more common for several generations of family to live together so that new parents always have the support and willing hands of loved ones.

The other side of the coin is how in industrial nations we don't live in the same place that we make our living.
Men and women have to commute to work, put in 8-10 hour days, and then commute home. So at the end of the day you have a cranky, overtired mom and a exhausted dad.

The book also mentioned how women in these other societies were expected to do more than just raise children and keep the house clean. They worked all day long gardening, making clothes, making soap, etc, etc. All these things made them completely necessary and bolstered their self-worth.( i do this quite poorly because it seem we have no support," its each mumma to her own baby in her own square box house all the time")

(Now, I'm not saying that stay-at-home-moms are NOT necessary - just that I think that so many of us have a drive to "do more." To "contribute.") i find i have to achive something other than being mumma, otherwise i'm not of value.

So, does this really change anything? No, not really. It's not as if Ben is now going to give up his IT business and take up farming. (I'm giggling at the thought)! It's not like I'm going to dust off the old sewing machine and start making all of our clothing from scratch (shudder!).

It does however make me see things in a different light. For all of our country's wealth and all of the opportunities, for all of the freedom - we still don't have some things figured out."

italics are mine

Love

I feel your need as I awake
I hear your cries
The fear
The hunger
The anguish
I give myself to you
I let you take all you want
As I look into your eyes we become as one
Mother and son
You get your fill and drift to sleep
As I hold you
I climb into bed with you in your arms
We sleep until I feel your need again.