November 2014 Moms
moroccojade
member
Parenting in your area?
moroccojade
member
Just curious to hear what parenting styles are like in general where you live. (Let's hit on some stereotypes - in reality probably EVERY area has a mixed bag - but let's make some gross generalizations here. :P )
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Older moms, younger moms?
Midwives, family doctors or OBs?
Intervention free births, lots of drugs, or elective cesareans?
BF or FF?
Co-sleeping or baby in their own room right away?
Anything else?
And..
Where (approximately) do you live if you feel comfortable sharing?
Do YOU fit the stereotypes or you will be the odd mom out?
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Older moms, younger moms?
Midwives, family doctors or OBs?
Intervention free births, lots of drugs, or elective cesareans?
BF or FF?
Co-sleeping or baby in their own room right away?
Anything else?
And..
Where (approximately) do you live if you feel comfortable sharing?
Do YOU fit the stereotypes or you will be the odd mom out?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Parenting in your area?
Midwives, family doctors or OBs? Definitely OBs. Everyone I know sees an OB and there's only one MW in the city.
Intervention free births, lots of drugs, or elective cesareans? My guess is lower than the national average for CS but definitely more women have interventions. I can't think of anyone that I know that has had or is planning a med-free birth.
BF or FF? I do seem to see a fair number of women breastfeeding young infants. Not too often older infants so I would imagine, best case scenario, we are average for BF-ing and duration of BF-ing before transitioning to formula or milk.
Co-sleeping or baby in their own room right away? Co-sleeping seems to be the norm, though not bed-sharing. Families around here seem to have the typical fear of bed-sharing.
And..
Do YOU fit the stereotypes or you will be the odd mom out? I am certainly an odd mom out. I was 27 when I had DS1 (older than the average for a first child here as most of the women I graduated with already had multiple children); I'm seeing a MW for a med-free birth; I BF for 2 years and would have longer if DS1 hadn't weaned; I am also comfortable bed-sharing (after the NB stage) but SO is a heavy sleeper so we didn't move DS1 into bed with us until recently. DS1 was in our room for 5 months before we moved him to his room.
- I would say most of my friends are in their early to mid 30s. I'm on the older end of the range, at mid to late 30s.
- Almost all of my friends see midwives (we have a great midwife group in town, affiliated with a great university hospital. The midwives are all certified nurse midwives and deliver in the hospital)
- All of my friends wanted to breastfeed, although I had several friends who had major issues and couldn't make it work.
- Most of my friends hoped to have a med-free birth (took Bradley classes, had doulas, etc), although about half of them had difficult labors and ended up with epidurals.
- About 1/2 of my friends co-slept. I think I'm the only one with a LO still in our bed (that's a whole OTHER issue).
- About 1/2 of my friends use cloth diapers. Cloth diapers are big in my area.
Again, I think if you look at my larger region, you'll see more people who are having kids younger, don't breastfeed, have no desire for a med-free birth, have not heard of cloth diapers, etc. I just live in a little yuppy bubble
Older moms, younger moms?
Generally younger moms, low income, multiple kids. It seems people tend to get married and start families younger in our area as well.
Midwives, family doctors or OBs?
Intervention free births, lots of drugs, or elective cesareans?
I wouldn't say "lots of drugs", but most women I know IRL have had an epideral. I don't know anyone who has had an elective C-section (nor have I heard of any doctor that would provide one). I hadn't heard anything about women wanting to go med free until I joined TB.
BF or FF?
Co-sleeping or baby in their own room right away?
Where (approximately) do you live if you feel comfortable sharing?
Do YOU fit the stereotypes or you will be the odd mom out?
N14 Nov. Siggy: CELEBRATION!
Older moms, younger moms? I would say older. People here tend to be highly educated and work high-paying jobs in research fields. I'm a teacher, and most of our moms are older. The international moms from the Middle East and Asia tend to be a little younger, though.
Midwives, family doctors or OBs? Midwives AND OBs. We have a ton of med schools and hospitals out here, so we definitely have the medical element of OBs, but we also have birthing centers, "crunchy" hospitals, and midwives. My practice is a combo of OBs and midwifes.
Intervention free births, lots of drugs, or elective cesareans? I don't know of anyone here who has received an elective Cesarean, but we probably run the gamut. There are a lot of folks who believe in intervention free births (hence the birthing centers, midwives, doulas, and massage/birth offices that specialize in prenatal massage and yoga), but we also have some really advanced hospitals where interventions are common because they specialize in high-risk cases. I think everyone is able to find what they're looking for, more or less.
BF or FF? Mostly BF. The hospital where I will be delivering has a BF rate of 95% or higher.
Co-sleeping or baby in their own room right away? I really have no idea. I plan on using a co-sleeper for several months, but I haven't really talked with others to find out what they did.
Where (approximately) do you live if you feel comfortable sharing? I live in an affluent suburban area in NC where most of the residents are from out-of-state or international.
Do YOU fit the stereotypes or you will be the odd mom out? Demographically, I'm sort of the odd mom out. I'm a little younger, I'm a local (I'm from NC originally), and my household income is less than half the average for my town.
@missnacholover, do you agree with these generalizations? I wonder if working at an affluent school has skewed my opinion one way or the other.
Here are my views.
Older moms, younger moms? Definitely more older. I think most women in this area establish their careers before thinking about families. But there are definitely some younger moms too, just not many that I've seen in my circle. I'd say most of my friends/coworkers were in their 30s before starting families.
Midwives, family doctors or OBs? There are 900 billion hospitals around here so I'd say the leaning is more towards OBs. But again, this is just what I know.
Intervention free births, lots of drugs, or elective cesareans? I think there is probably a bit of everything!
BF or FF? From my experience, BF is highly supported. The hospital where I'll be delivering highly encourages it.
Co-sleeping or baby in their own room right away? No clue. It seems from my friends/coworkers most actually co-sleep for a little while but seem to move baby to their own room rather quickly.
Where (approximately) do you live if you feel comfortable sharing? I live in an affluent suburban area in NC where most of the residents are from out-of-state or international. (Ditto)
Do YOU fit the stereotypes or you will be the odd mom out? I think we fit the stereotype. We're financially in the norm for our area and I'm an older mom!
Midwives, family doctors or OBs? Midwives/Dr. ...equal mix.
Intervention free births, lots of drugs, or elective cesareans? Lots of drugs & I've heard several women straight up say "Just do the CS"
BF or FF? BF
Co-sleeping or baby in their own room right away? Putting baby right in bed with them O_O
And..
Where (approximately) do you live if you feel comfortable sharing? Southern Ohio
Do YOU fit the stereotypes or you will be the odd mom out? Probably the odd mom out, as my child will always be clothes in public, be given baths and not drink Mt Dew from their bottle
Midwives, family doctors or OBs? Midwives are definitely popular. Even for the moms in their mid-40s. A few have family doctors... very few go to OBs. People sometimes get sent to an OB for an appointment or two if they have some issues, but I only know ONE person who started seeing an OB right off the bat. (And she regrets it.)
Intervention free births, lots of drugs, or elective cesareans? Quite a few home births, those who aren't planning one are at least planning an intervention free birth at the hospital. Of course, outcomes are all over the board.
BF or FF? BF all the way. People actually get dirty looks if they are bottle feeding in public in some areas around where I live.
Co-sleeping or baby in their own room right away? Many co-sleep and bed share. Some due to necessity (only being able to afford a 1 or 2 bedroom place.) And lots are just attachment parents.
Anything else? Quite a few people cloth diaper.... Very few use regular diapers like Pampers -- they use the beige, more eco-friendly ones if their child is in disposables. We have a high Asian population here, so many put their child on the toilet "early" - which I do as well. (So easy, cheap, and good for the environment.)
Also, people are into fancy strollers and a lot of yoga and Starbucks. And kale, hemp hearts, and goji berries.
And..
Where (approximately) do you live if you feel comfortable sharing?
Vancouver
Do YOU fit the stereotypes or you will be the odd mom out?
I fit the stereotypes pretty well.
Older moms, younger moms?
Who you callin' old? Haha. Everyone I know is in their early to mid 30s and either on their first or ttgp. This is pretty specific to my part of the city and vastly different in other parts of DFW.
Midwives, family doctors or OBs?
Intervention free births, lots of drugs, or elective cesareans?
I don't know anyone who has attempted or even wanted to attempt med free. I think everyone I know is in the "I don't want to feel that shiz" camp. I also don't know anyone who wanted a csection. The only people I know who had them were emergency situations.
BF or FF?
Co-sleeping or baby in their own room right away?
Where (approximately) do you live if you feel comfortable sharing?
Do YOU fit the stereotypes or you will be the odd mom out?
Older moms, younger moms? It's fairly generational here. Used to be young (18-22ish) then went to older (mid 30s+) now it's inbetween (26-34).
Midwives, family doctors or OBs? OBs for sure. There aren't many midwives that I know of.
Intervention free births, lots of drugs, or elective cesareans? Mix of med free & using meds.
BF or FF? BF is heavily promoted now. It has only become the norm in the past couple of years.
Co-sleeping or baby in their own room right away? No clue, I'd guess a mix. I assume co-sleeping (baby in a bassinet in parents room) is gaining popularity.
Anything else? Not that I can think of.
And..
Where (approximately) do you live if you feel comfortable sharing? Central Missouri.
Do YOU fit the stereotypes or you will be the odd mom out? I fit the stereotype.
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Midwives, family doctors or OBs? Generally all my friends have gone with an OB. I do know a lot of people who have used a MW, but it's definitely not the norm.
Intervention free births, lots of drugs, or elective cesareans? I would say most people want lots of drugs. Or they have had elective cesareans. I personally want an invention free birth.
BF or FF? both. Most of my friends have FF. I live in an area where people still look at you strange if you NIP. If your BFing, you are most likely covered or you are doing it at home or even worse in a gross bathroom. (which bothers me to no end.)
Co-sleeping or baby in their own room right away? I have seen both.
Anything else? more people are getting on board with cloth diapering and baby wearing. You are still considered pretty granola if you do. I just want to do what's best for me and for my baby.
And..
Where (approximately) do you live if you feel comfortable sharing? I live in city west of Edmonton, AB.
Do YOU fit the stereotypes or you will be the odd mom out? I think I don't fit the general stereotype, but I won't be the odd mom out.
Younger moms
Midwives, family doctors or OBs?
Mostly OBs, but I also have a lot of friends who swear by MW and home birth.
Intervention free births, lots of drugs, or elective cesareans?
Its weird if you dont get an epi.
BF or FF?
50/50
Co-sleeping or baby in their own room right away?
Own room
Anything else?
Pretty much I don't fit in lol
And..
Where (approximately) do you live if you feel comfortable sharing?
Minnesota
Do YOU fit the stereotypes or you will be the odd mom out?
Totally the odd ball...
Midwives, family doctors or OBs? Mostly OBs.
Intervention free births, lots of drugs, or elective cesareans? We have a pretty high c-section rate (in the later 30%s) at our 2 main hospitals that deliver babies, but most moms who deliver vaginally have an epidural. I do know a few women who had natural births, but c-sections & epidurals are definitely the majority.
BF or FF? BF. Almost everyone I know BF for at least a little while.
Co-sleeping or baby in their own room right away? I've seen a lot of both.
Anything else? I found it interesting that circumcision rates are getting much lower in many parts of the country, but here, it is in the high 90%s. An L&D nurse I had said it was extremely rare that a mother opted to not circ in her experience, & when they did, it was usually because they were Jewish & had to wait until a certain day to do so. Lots of places claim newborn boys are circ'ed 50/50, but definitely not here.
And..
Where (approximately) do you live if you feel comfortable sharing? Louisville, KY
Do YOU fit the stereotypes or you will be the odd mom out? I fit most of them...except that I don't BF.