Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Same Stroke for Different Folks

I occasionally enjoy an episode or two of the Duggars' 18 and Counting TLC show (I know many of you probably find this show to be insane, but hang in there with me for a minute).  Have you noticed that Michele (the mom) breastfeeds her babies? She walks around with a "My Brest Friend" pillow strapped to her and a blanket over her shoulder. The average person probably wouldn't think anything of this, but my trained eye knows what is going on under that blanket.  P.S. Great tip for multitasking/feeding in public!  One night while enjoying this fine show, my husband made an interesting point.  We were watching the episode where Anna Duggar (the daughter-in-law) decided to have a home birth.  The Engineer (as I lovingly refer to my husband in the blog world) said something along the lines:

"The natural childbirth and breastfeeding crowd are two very different groups of people.  On one hand you have the ultra conservative gang (a.k.a. the Duggars) and on the other hand you have the ultra liberal hippies (dare I say, La Leche League)."
Two very different groups with two very different approaches reaching same conclusion.  The conservative folks are just keeping things simple, saving money, and sticking to more traditional gender roles.  The hippie folks want to be natural, let their body do its thing.  They tend to advocate for themselves and others...maybe slightly feminist.  In some strange way I consider myself 1/2 of both of these.  I'm one part conservative and one part hippie, which doesn't entirely make sense, but I guess either way it works for being a breastfeeding advocate!

What do you think?  What are you - conservative, hippie or a mix?

3 comments:

Matt and Taylor said...

I'm a hippie at heart (and yuppie in the flesh).

Julie said...

I like your wording, Taylor! I'm not sure it's possible to escape the "yuppie" in this area...

Kristen said...

I guess I would say I'm more conservative, but I think I just want to do what's right- what's best for Ethan and myself, based on medical facts and scientific research. I LOVE that I am giving his little body such immune protection, helping to develop his jaw, teeth, expanding his taste horizons, and giving him those little rolls and chubby cheeks :). The payoff for me right now is knowing what I'm doing for his future.