Any other “unconventional” mom’s out there? What makes a mom conventional in the first place? Car seats carriers, strollers, bottles, 
cribs, rice cereal, epidurals, pacifiers…do all these things equal conventional? And slings, no artificial nipples, selective or no vaccinations, co-sleeping, water births, making your own babyfood, cloth diapers…do doing those things make you unconventional?And does conventional depend upon the others you live around and the people you share your life with?
I want to hear what you do that may be termed unconventional and what you do that is conventional. We all make lots of parenting choices and every mom does what is best for their family. Certainly my choices are not better than yours and vice versa…just different. So no defensive (or offensive!) comments, just what you do that is “the norm” and what you do that is different. :)
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julamber
llarsonhorst2
A Little Bit of All of It 
November 28th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
What is the norm in my community (church, friends, family) that I also do: Breastfeeding for one year, natural childbirth (at least attempting it, though in my family it is the norm to not use drugs), having newborns sleep in your room, using a baby carrier of some sort, using a carseat (vs. holding baby on your lap unrestrained).
What is outside the norm that I do: BLW/no baby food, EC, homebirth, cosleeping long-term, nursing for 2+ years, not using spanking as a discipline tool, keeping my kids rear-facing in their carseats for 2-3 years, keeping my baby with me in church (i don’t use the nursery until they’re toddlers), not using plastic dishes/sippy cups for kids.
But what I feel really blessed and thankful for is that my closest friends at church probably don’t do any of the things I listed as my ‘outside the norm’ stuff – and that hasn’t been a barrier between us. We’ve all been able to mark out our own territory in our parenting journeys and still build relationships between ourselves and our kids. I may privately raise my eyebrow at things they do and they do the same to me, but it hasn’t become divisive and we tend to take a ‘that’s just how X is’ approach to our parenting differences which I really appreciate.
March 7th, 2011 at 1:48 pm
I think that is key…that each parent make the best decision for them based on their experience/insights/intuition and it not be a hinderance in relationships with others.
November 30th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
The posts here are great. Thanks for having them. I love visiting other sites about parenting! It seems like there is always something to learn about it. I don’t have time to read it all right now, I found this site when looking for something else on Yahoo, but I’ve bookmarked your homepage and will come back again soon to see what’s new. Visit my site if you’d like to read more. Thanks again – great site!
March 7th, 2011 at 1:49 pm
Thanks!
February 20th, 2010 at 11:48 am
when I had my kids I was surrounded by quite a few “Earth Mothers”, who were very strict on the whole “breast feeding until 3”, “homemade baby food”, “cloth nappies” etc. I fully admired their ways of parenting, but found that personally – it wasn’t my way. One of the results of this though, was that I avoided being around them a lot. I grew apart from people who I had really considered my friends .. why? Because I felt judged … as though I was hurting my child by not conforming to their way.
March 7th, 2011 at 1:42 pm
I’m sad that they made you feel that way. :(