Molly and Me!

There has been a lot of discussion recently about what Natural Parenting is and whether or not following some of it's principles make you a "Natural Parent" or? well... what else?

To me, Natural Parenting is more about purpose. Babywearing, Breastfeeding, Co-sleeping, Baby Led Weaning, Cloth Nappies... they all fall under the Natural Parenting ethos but the motivation behind them is what makes someone a "Natural Parent". I, personally, do not fall into the category of "Natural Parent" for Babywearing or Co-sleeping, these are things that I fell into naturally, but led entirely by Molly's needs. Breastfeeding, Baby Led Weaning and Cloth Nappies are all things I have done with a sense of purpose, with research behind me and an idea of how I wish to parent. It's instinctual to want to breastfeed Molly but it's certainly not been easy or something that I think has made Molly as happy as she could be, at times. I can see that, through a 7 long week growth spurt when she was getting upset and was impatient for milk, she might have been happier on formula, with a fuller belly, BUT my belief that her long term health is more important than her short term happiness pushed us through and I believe these motivations fall under the title of Natural Parenting.

The Bundle Jungle was created to support and promote Baby-Led Parenting. If you Formula feed, use a pram/buggy, weaned traditionally and use disposable nappies you can still be Baby-Led if you followed your baby's cues to arrive at your current parenting styles. Some members will be a mix of Natural and Mainstream parenting and many other styles but, what we all have in common is our approach and our technique of following our children's cues and fitting our lives around theirs.

All of this, I think, lends itself nicely to an authoritative approach to parenting older children, teenagers and beyond.

However, even if you're adamantly parent-led in your approach... you will always be welcome here, at The Bundle Jungle, as we wish to encourage debate and discussion so that we might all teach each other a thing or two. Rambo and I are always learning and I think that's the way it ought to be, not to assume you know it all and to be open to suggestions. That's the way we run our lives in general and this forum too, we expect the same from our members and hope that everyone feels welcome at all times.

I hope this clears a few things up and also opens up a bit of discussion about what it is to be NP/AP or, BLP!