When it came to breastfeeding my son, it seemed it would be him or me. I chose him. The thing people never tell you about when it comes to breastfeeding is the pain. I suppose if you search through enough breastfeeding blogs and recommended products, you would start to get the hint. There are endless […]
Despite the Instagram-worthy scenery, the women of ‘Big Little Lies’ are in pain, and rarely is succor found in their spouses. I had no bridesmaids in my wedding party because my husband and I had no wedding party. We made the decision to stand solo at the altar for several pragmatic reasons, not the least […]
The last thing we need is one more thing to feel inadequate about, one more thing to feel like we’re doing “wrong” when it comes to having a baby. I looked at the sample birth plan my midwife handed to us with a furrowed brow. It was six pages long and had questions I hadn’t […]
You will sometimes wonder if it was worth it. Maybe you’ve dreamed of this your whole life. Maybe this is a pleasant surprise. Maybe you never wanted this, but felt you had no choice. Whatever led you down this path, you’re here now. Brace yourself, Alice, you’ve just fallen down the rabbit hole. There are […]
Being a parent is forcing me to do the thing that scares me most: push aside the intrusive voices of family, friends, strangers, and my own self-doubts, and trust my own (and my partner’s) knowledge and intuition. I was officially diagnosed with anxiety in 2014, but I’ve known my brain didn’t work like most people’s […]
The question of whose life is more luxurious, who is more selfish, who is lazier, etc., is a genuine distraction from truly important issues that affect all families. Last month, Allison B. Carter posted a piece in the New York Times about her decision to be a stay-at-home mom. It’s not a “luxury,” she argued. […]
Doing whatever I want doesn’t automatically make me a feminist. I’m a feminist because I advocate for a world in which every woman has the freedom and resources to do the same. When my partner and I started talking about having a baby—how it would change our lives, what we would need to do to […]
Breastfeeding was a war zone and we were both casualties. It was my friend who finally made me see sense. She’s a doctor so her opinion cut through in a way my other friends couldn’t, even if they’d told me the same thing. “Mia, you’ve been on antibiotics for 70 days in the past six […]
When will we all stop criticizing each other online and accept that everyone’s path is different? The buzzing is so loud sometimes. So incredibly loud. Sometimes I wonder if we aren’t all little bees, buzzing away throughout our days, trying to please the queen and not sting anyone. We’re little bees, flying from flower to […]
Implying that mothers are sick or “selfish” for wanting to continue nourishing and nurturing their babies past a certain age is not only misinformed, but is demeaning to women, mothers, and children. Almost every time I read an article about extended breastfeeding—or even breastfeeding past six months—someone comments that at a certain point, breastfeeding is […]
I look like a typical 51-year-old, and it is just bizarre realizing that my appearance is something many young women dread. I’m going to tell you a story that is so common and so troubling it is effectively split off from the emotional lives of young women, tucked away into whatever neural recesses exist for […]
It’s a lot easier to put baby’s needs first when you’ve got the money to do it. When we discovered we were pregnant, like so many other parents, we turned childrearing into a graduate-level research project. I spent hours studying breastfeeding, cosleeping, and attachment parenting. I read studies—I choose to believe some experts (Dr. Sears) […]
