Oy, this crunchy mothering board is hurting my brain

[suranyi]

Man oh man, as the father of a now 17-month-old, the one thing I’ve learned about parenting is this: ignore what other people tell you to do, just do what works.

[Cat_Whisperer]

I got a warning on the Mothering board in a very short time by posting a list of what the childhood diseases that they don’t want to vaccinate for are actually like. Useful information that actually helps children is not welcome there.

[Wile_E]

I’m still confused about crunchy. Is it good or bad? I guess it can go both ways, crunchy potato chips = good, crunchy underpants = bad.

[Dangerosa]

@Unauthorized_Cinnamon

I promise I’ll never cheat on the SDMB again, because after getting sucked into this “breastfeeding-friendly” group, I have developed a permanent scar due to constant facepalming.

Now this is a private group (sorry, you can’t witness the crazy first hand), and my good friend invited me to join, telling me I would like it because “they really like research and stuff like you do.” It turns out this means they like to take their foregone anti-scientific conclusions, cherry pick “studies” that support their view, and shout down dissent as being intolerant.

Turns out topics that are considered totally true and sane include:

[ul]
[li]Reiki[/li][li]Chi and energy meridians (and which ones will be disrupted if you pierce your clitoral hood)[/li][li]The need to consume your baby’s placenta after birth[/li][li]Sugar, dyes, preservatives, and especially HFCS are The Devil, and you shouldn’t even give your kid Tylenol for a fever because it has these things[/li][li]Breast milk cures everything, from ear infections to small pox[/li][li]Vaccines at best should be approached with great caution, and are unnecessary if you have good hygiene, nutrition, and you breastfeed[/li][li]“Chemicals” are bad[/li][li]It goes without saying that homeopathy is awesome[/li][/ul]

But I think the last straw is the general support for withholding medical care from newborns. Not just skipping the eye salve or something, but like refusing antibiotics for Group B strep during labor, or the final, final straw - unassisted childbirth followed by refusing to take the newborn to see a pediatrician.

I guess I always knew there were loons out there, but it’s really a different thing to see it up close and personal. And I’m really freaking annoyed that it’s so hard to find other people who are supportive of breastfeeding and natural childbirth, who maybe do question typical medical practices when they aren’t based on evidence, but who don’t just chuck the rationality baby out with the hidebound tradition bathwater.

Sorry, I’m just venting. But I knew you guys would understand.

Yep.

Those yahoos (maybe not those specific yahoos, but that type) was my first exposure to mothering boards. I have no issues with crunchy. But the crunchy/crazy overlap IS significant.

[Ellen_Cherry]

I was lucky; the first mom/parenting board I got on was called Moms Online, now long defunct … but I have many friends I’ve kept in touch with since joining that forum way back in 1997! We’ve all moved to Facebook now but it’s amazing, this group of women I bonded with over breastfeeding — we’re now talking teen issues. Two are even now grandmothers! (Well, their child who reproduced is not the same child they were breastfeeding back in '97. :eek: :D)

[Alka_Seltzer]

You might enjoy Mitchell and Webb’s Homeopathic A&E.

[Lynn_Bodoni]

@Cat_Whisperer

I got a warning on the Mothering board in a very short time by posting a list of what the childhood diseases that they don’t want to vaccinate for are actually like. Useful information that actually helps children is not welcome there.

How DARE you! Facts are nasty disgusting things that make us THINK!!! And might upset us!!!

[gurujulp]

@Dangerosa

Yep.

Those yahoos (maybe not those specific yahoos, but that type) was my first exposure to mothering boards. I have no issues with crunchy. But the crunchy/crazy overlap IS significant.

I have to agree to everything on Unauthorized Cinnamon’s list- I like that stuff- quoted below.

Natural childbirth outside the hospital
Exclusive breastfeeding for 6mos
Child led weaning
Baby led solids
Cloth diapers
Pro-bedsharing
Attachment parenting

Placenta- meh- it ain’t me, gonna eat it, Jack. If she wants to, that’s all her, but highly doubtful.

My mom is borderline crunchy crazy, but mostly intelligent crunchy granola, but lines vary for people. I have, myself, been crunchy crazy in the past.

Not for birth stuff, but still…

[Cat_Whisperer]

@Lynn_Bodoni

How DARE you! Facts are nasty disgusting things that make us THINK!!! And might upset us!!!

I don’t think anything can make those people think - they know what Oprah and Dr. Oz and Dr. Phil tell them, and that’s good enough for them.

[WhyNot]

@overlyverbose

Oooh! Take this opportunity to tell them that you can’t wait to use a pacifier!

No, no, no! Tell them you let your teething infant gnaw on a frozen waffle once! That sends them straight into Crazyland! (Anyone remember that one?)

@Unauthorized_Cinnamon

That’s the thing - the crunchy is the part I’m looking for, but it came with a side of crazy. And it does seem this particular kind of crazy coincides with crunchy a lot. But I embrace the crunchy! Here is how crunchy I am:

Natural childbirth outside the hospital
Exclusive breastfeeding for 6mos
Child led weaning
Baby led solids
Cloth diapers
Pro-bedsharing
Attachment parenting

Your ideas intrigue me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter. You do publish it with only soy based ink on recycled hemp paper, right?

You think you’ve got it bad. I’m part of a religion filled with wonderful people with interesting ideas who are 98% batshit insane.

There are interesting non-batshit insane people out there, right? Like, I assume you actually exist. And I exist. There must be more of us. So how do we connect while keeping the batshit people at bay?

[Smeghead]

These types always remind me of my favorite quote from Better Off Ted:

“Those are just facts, and facts are just opinions, and opinions can be wrong!”

[Kolga]

@WhyNot

You think you’ve got it bad. I’m part of a religion filled with wonderful people with interesting ideas who are 98% batshit insane.

Sing it, sister. Avoiding the batshit is getting to be a full-time job.

[jz78817]

you can’t reason a person out of a position she didn’t reason herself into.

[Wallet]

@Ellen_Cherry

I was lucky; the first mom/parenting board I got on was called Moms Online, now long defunct … but I have many friends I’ve kept in touch with since joining that forum way back in 1997! We’ve all moved to Facebook now but it’s amazing, this group of women I bonded with over breastfeeding — we’re now talking teen issues. Two are even now grandmothers! (Well, their child who reproduced is not the same child they were breastfeeding back in '97. :eek: :D)

Wow - I’m still a member of an e-mail loop from Mom’s Online - we all had our babies in Sept '97.
They’ve gotten me through so many tough times, from breastfeeding to 8th grade angst.

Nice to meet a fellow loopie!
Wallet

[Guinastasia]

I once saw a thread where a woman flipped out because her mother-in-law rubbed WHISKEY on her baby’s gums instead of ora-jel. Her reasoning? “Her GERMMY fingers were in my baby’s mouth!!!”
Uh, first off, wouldn’t your “germy” fingers be in his mouth for ora-jel? And second, alcohol is a sterilizer.

(And it’s not like she put it in the kid’s bottle – she dipped her finger in it, and rubbed it over the kid’s gums. My dad did that for me when I was teething.)

[drachillix]

@gurujulp

On topic, I am very much a believer in breast milk- I share some of the beliefs in the [del]purifying powers of[/del] antibiotics natural to it, (lol) but I have seen repeatedly on my mom’s intentional community where folks with pinkeye have it cleared up in less than 24 hours with direct from source breast milk applications…

Unpastuerized milk is a perfect medium for growing bacteria and lots of it, not killing it.

There is no mechanism for passing functional components of moms immune system via milk through babys digestive tract into the bloodstream to help fight infection. If anything, babys immune system builds immune response by exposure to pathogens on/in moms body.

[Cat_Whisperer]

@jz78817

you can’t reason a person out of a position she didn’t reason herself into.

That’s it exactly. I need to remember that.

[Inner_Stickler]

@WhyNot

There are interesting non-batshit insane people out there, right? Like, I assume you actually exist. And I exist. There must be more of us. So how do we connect while keeping the batshit people at bay?

Start your own messageboard and ban the stupidheads.

[Sam_I_Am]

@drachillix

Unpastuerized milk is a perfect medium for growing bacteria and lots of it, not killing it.

There is no mechanism for passing functional components of moms immune system via milk through babys digestive tract into the bloodstream to help fight infection. If anything, babys immune system builds immune response by exposure to pathogens on/in moms body.

There are studies that have quantified the topical antibiotic properties of breastmilk, such as this one that showed 28% inhibition of coliform bacteria In vitro activity of human milk against the causative organisms of ophthalmia neonatorum in Benin City, Nigeria - PubMed Not as good as antibiotics, sure, but can provide some good. It is also proven to be anti-inflammatory.

Re: no mechanism of immune components through the digestive tract to the blood, many of the immune components are effective within the digestive system. And there are mechanisms for breast milk immune components to trigger the infants immune system via the mucosal membranes.

[Nava]

@jz78817

you can’t reason a person out of a position she didn’t reason herself into.

May I steal that?

@Cat_Whisperer

I got a warning on the Mothering board in a very short time by posting a list of what the childhood diseases that they don’t want to vaccinate for are actually like. Useful information that actually helps children is not welcome there.

Rephrasing an old Spanish joke: less reading and more watching TV!