Details
- Last Login
- 02/07/2012 11:11 pm
- Total Posts
- 6840
- Posts Per Day
- 2.53
- Member Since
- 01/10/2005
- Location
- Ukiah, California
- Occupation
- I'm a College Student; An Arist; And I'm also a good friend! ^ ~
- Gender
- Female
- Birthday
- 05/29/1986
- Website
- Personal Website
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Wish List
About
I am currently a college student pursuing several AA's, then continuing to a BA and someday a certification as a Waldorf Teacher. My dream is to some day write and illustrate children's books.
I am not religious nor am I atheist. I consider myself spiritually eclectic, but I relate very strongly with Paganism.
I have a wonderful boyfriend fiance named Steve. Or Sinister Soul here on Gaia. His new account is Sinastir. He makes me happy and brings lots of joy to my life. He takes care of me and helps me to take care of myself. And now we have a beautiful daughter together. Lilia Anna Lynn was born June 24th 2008, after a drug free and intervention free labor.
I have the best family I could have ever asked for.
We practice attachment parenting, but more specifically unconditional parenting. What does unconditional parenting mean to me? It means I do not do unpleasant things to my daughter (Punishment) to "teach" her right from wrong. However, no punishment does not equate no discipline. Discipline is to teach. We teach by setting an example and by working with her to meet her needs. A child whose needs are met is more willing to work with you to meet your needs as well.
Parental Love with Strings Attached
Many people say "My child is loved and that's all that matters." However I do not buy that. How much I love my daughter isn't what is important, even abusive parents love their children, what matters is my daughter feels loved and knows that my love is unconditional.
Lilia sleeps in bed with us at night, and will be allowed to sleep in bed with us until she is ready to move on to a bed of her own.
She is breastfed as a toddler, and will continue to be breastfed into her childhood until she tells me that she doesn't want/need to nurse anymore.
We use cloth diapers and do our best to make sure that our ecological foot print is as small as possible. It's part of our responsibility as members of this planet.
We do most of our shopping at our Local Co-Op and buy mostly organic foods. We are vegetarian, and I do almost all our meal preparations vegan. I buy local and handmade as much as possible.
We have completely boycotted Wal*Mart and Nestlé.
Here's Lilia eighteen months old with her baby and bear in a sling.
She's wearing my favorite fitted cloth diaper without a cover on. Hehe.
On respecting other people's parenting
I am respectful of parenting that is different than mine so long as it is respectful of the child. As long as you are responsive to your child's needs I can respect our differences. There are certain things however, I do not tolerate.
I am adamantly anti-spanking ~ I believe spanking is a clear human rights violation. There is no scientific support for the use of corporal punishment as an effective disciplinary technique.
Report on Physical Punishment in the United States: What the Research Tells Us About it\'s Effects on Children
I am anti Cry it Out ~ Babies cry for a reason even if you cannot tell what it is. Even if you have done everything to comfort them you can imagine, a baby still needs to know that you are there. Always respond to your baby's cries.
Science Says: Excessive Crying Could Be Harmful to Babies
Harvard Researchers Say Children Need Touching and Attention
Unless you seriously fear harming your child, I associate Cry it Out infant training with parental neglect. (This is coming from a mom with an infant that that had a medical condition that caused her to cry for seven months and most of the time the reason for her crying was unknown to us. It's hard work but worth it for your child!)
"Just Let Her Cry"
I am against routine infant circumcision ~ The amputation of a baby boy's foreskin, tearing it away and cutting it off for aesthetic reasons is not only extremely painful, but also dangerous. There is a reason that you have to sign a consent form; Your son could die.
Circumcision Study Halted Due to Trauma
The foreskin is not a birth defect. It has a biological purpose and it is there for a reason. It is your son's p***s, let him decide what he wants to do with his foreskin. Female circumcision is illegal in many US states. How is it that we do not question male circumcision?
The Case Against Circumcision
I do recognize there is sometimes a medical need for circumcision with boys that have certain penile malformations.
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Breastfeeding
I am pro breastfeeding / anti formula (Without a medical need) sometimes to the point of offending people ~ Before everyone thinks I'm attacking them because this is a very touchy topic, I want it to be clear that I think donor human milk should be available via medical insurance to all babies who need it. Human milk substitute is rarely medically needed, except in cases of metabolic disorder. Why is that we are pumping milk from cows to feed our babies instead of relying on each other? Human babies need and deserve human milk.
Milk Share
Human Milk Banking Association
of North America
I recognize and respect that a woman's breasts are her breasts and it's her right to decide what to do with them. However mother's need to fully understand the risk of choosing costly inferior human milk substitute over free breast milk. Breast milk and formula are not the same. The cold hard fact is that breastfeeding is normal, and anything else is increasing the risk of illness (Diabetes, Leukemia, Breast and Cervical Cancer, Obesity, Viruses) and death.
Report Finds that Using Formula Doubles the Death Rate for U.S. Infants
Breast-feeding Could Save Lives of 1.3 Million Children Every Year
There are many things that are getting in the way of woman breastfeeding. A big problem is the culture. We live in a culture where the main biological purpose of breasts, feeding children, is forgotten. Instead we associate breasts with sex, and see them as objects of desire for men. This stops many women from breastfeeding. It almost stopped me. Women that try to breastfeed get bad advice from the medical community, some that irreversibly damages breastfeeding. Fear is a big factor in why we are not successful as well. Women stress over it so much because we have not been exposed to it in our culture and daily lives, so it's not normal to us like it should be. Another factor in the United States is lack of paid parental leave for new moms and being forced to go back to work when their baby is sometimes only six weeks old.
101 Reasons to Breastfeed Your Child
All that said, I am not trying to guilt trip moms that have to give their infant formula. Don't starve your baby, your baby needs to eat. I'm saying we need a new system that allows moms and babies access to human milk instead of a substitute that is obtained from a cow.
The formula companies really do not care about your baby and their health. What they care about is making money. This is why they give formula to new moms, in hopes of them failing at breastfeeding (Having formula in the house reduces your likeness of successfully breastfeeding because it makes you question your own ability to feed your baby) and turning to formula.
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Journal
Yvie's Journal That She'll Probably Never Write In That is Now Her ART Journal!
[:journal-num-posts:]I've decided to start putting my art and the art of others in here! ^.^
Multimedia
Signature
This is me breastfeeding my daughter Lilia at the San Francisco Zoo.
His name is Tiger.
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