Mother guilt

I got an interesting private message from a reader who was worried that I might be speaking out too strongly and that I could cause some mothers to feel shame or guilt over the choices they have made.

Specifically she mentioned that when things are rough and time is limited sometimes mothers have to take dietary shortcuts to manage their lives, stress, and relationships. I understand that not every mother can afford a home cooked organic, nutritious meal for every meal.

It is not my intention to shame or guilt anyone. It is my intention to empower you with knowledge and to learn from your personal experiences.

Instead of feeling guilty about doing x or not doing y, just make an effort to be more thoughtful forward. We all make mistakes, we all do the wrong thing sometimes, and guess what, sometimes you do what science says now and then science changes and you did the wrong thing anyway.

Don't beat yourself up. Make the best choices you can with the information available to you.

To be blunt, I do think it is a shame that some people go into conception, pregnancy, and child raising completely blind and ignorant. That makes me incredible sad because there are so many ways in which you can improve the quality of your child's life, health, and behavior if you have some knowledge about science. Science is amazing.

I had another reader comment on my Facebook post that, before reading this blog, she had no idea that a mother's diet had any effect on the health of the baby. She plans to share this information with her friends, who she assumes also never thought about it. This is exactly the outcome I wanted. I want to empower people to make better choices going forward, not shame them for choices that are too late to change.

I understand that not all people have access to knowledge or have the time or ability to read and process the information. I hope to help here by taking the time to do the research for you. I try to break down the big tough academic stuff the best I can into digestible chunks so that even someone busy can learn a little something. I also have made an effort to post an annotated bibliography with clickable links at the bottom of each blog so that you can read more about things that interest you or check my sources to make sure you trust them.

Most importantly... I don't have any answers. I'm not here to tell you how to live your life, manage your body, or raise your kids. I'm just here exploring the science, beliefs, and experiences that I have access to so that I can make the best choices for my life, my body, and my baby. I sincerely hope you will learn something here, too, and that you will take away something valuable that will help you and your child to have the best possible life.