30 Days Hath November (Day 13)

Day 13: Something I'm proud of.

This has been the most difficult '30DHN' post to write so far. Not in terms of what/who I feel most proud of, but in wording it in a way that gets across just how proud I am. Let's see how it goes...

There are certain elements of parenting where the western world has lost its way. Many things that our society sees as acceptable and normal are completely at odds with how human beings (and many other mammals) have behaved for the last million or so years.

Take the most basic of tasks - feeding. A human mother produces milk for the human baby. Not only does the mother produce this milk, it is specifically designed for the needs of that baby, and will adjust as required from day to day, even hour to hour. There are an unlist-able amount of other benefits to breastfeeding. Yet, so many mothers do not breastfeed their babies for very long, and some do not even try. This is mostly through lack of support/knowledge or because of the western world's strange concept of 'getting your life/body back' - as if being a mother is somehow not worthwhile.

Another area is that of sleeping. Again, in the Western world it is completely normal to want to give the baby their own room to sleep in and to get them into a sleeping routine (through a variety of horrifying techniques) as early as possible. Both at odds with how nature intended it to be. Look at many other mammals and you'll see them sleeping close together, not pushing their babies into the next patch of trees.

So to get to the point of the post, the person that I am most proud of is my wife. This is for taking the time to educate herself, not only on the issues above, but on the many other things that I would never have thought of. Through her own desire to provide the best possible start for the babashe has made me a better (or at least a better informed) person. If she hadn't put so much effort into educating herself we could easily have been guided (possibly by people with other agendas) down the road of least resistance.

I'm proud of her for sticking to what she (and I) believes is the right thing to do, even when those around her are making different decisions. This is especially relevant in the fact that she is still breastfeeding, even though the baba is over a year old and many people in our society (the uninformed) view this is wrong.

She is also now involved, on a voluntarily basis, with providing breastfeeding support to new mums through the breast-buddy scheme.

I feel like I have somehow not said everything that there is to say.. but I am very lucky to have such an amazing person in my life.

She may not realise it yet, but Lime is a very lucky baba.

7t.

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Day 01: A self-portrait.
Day 02: Three inspirational quotes.
Day 03: Something I never leave the house without.
Day 04: A friend I adore.
Day 05: Three years ago today.
Day 06: A book I'm reading.
Day 07: A song for the day.
Day 08: The last item I purchased.
Day 09: A close-up of my day.
Day 10: What I love about my job.
Day 11: Something I’ve been craving.
Day 12: Three blogs I can’t get enough of.
Day 13: Something I'm proud of.
Day 14: A favourite movie.
Day 15: Some style inspiration for the season.
Day 16: Someone who inspires me.
Day 17: My family.
Day 18: What I wore today.
Day 19: A silly self-portrait.
Day 20: A childhood anecdote.
Day 21: Something I could never tire of.
Day 22: Some place I’ve traveled.
Day 23: Eight things you didn't know about me.
Day 24: Something that means a lot to me.
Day 25: The contents of my purse.
Day 26: Something I'm looking forward to.
Day 27: Myself, one year ago.
Day 28: A skill I'd like to learn.
Day 29: Some place I'd like to visit.
Day 30: Three wonderful things that happened this month.

The list originates from this blog