When It Stings, But Isn’t Meant To - Social Commentary is not a Personal Attack

🤔Lately my criticism of certain sleep training practices has been met with a type of defensiveness and anger that I find difficult to name.

🤰The same has happened in the past when I have criticised the birth and maternity care system.

I’d like to make something clear here:

👉Nothing I say on this platform is a direct criticism of you, your loved ones, or your parenting.

🏨Yes, on a systemic level, I am concerned by the medicalisation of birth and the fear mongering that goes along with it.

🏕On a personal level, I couldn’t care less if you had an elective c-section, got the epidural or freebirthed hundreds of kilometres from civilisation, so long as you felt supported.

🍼Yes, on a systemic level, I am concerned that infant feeding has been hijacked by capitalism and profiteers.

👶On a personal level, I honour your parenting journey regardless of whether your baby was formula fed from the start, combination fed or breastfed for years.

🥱Yes, on a systemic level, I am concerned that sleep training is proposed as a socially acceptable (albeit statistically ineffective) solution to the cultural problem of villagelessness that leads to parental exhaustion.

🛏On a personal level, your sleeping arrangements and routines (or lack of) have no bearing on the love I have for you.

We’re all doing our best.

Respect, to each and every one of you.