Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Weighing in on the motrin ad after the viral mommy fury has passed on by...

I'm always late to the party :-)

google: motrin ad, mommy, babywearing, bloggers and you can find the ad. Essentially it was a bitchy girlfriend to girlfriend "babywearing is cool and I have to even though it HURTS" motrin ad. It was stupid yes, the tone was all OFF...but you know what?

I have worn all 4 of my kids and Sprout is not worn anymore. I can't. I suffered a serious back injury in his birth and wearing him puts me in jeoporady of permanent nerve damage. Fun huh? Motrin wouldn't be my friend in this anyway BIG OLD MASK FOR RUPTURED DISC ISSUES but guess what...I wore him anyway even though I knew there was something bizarrely wrong with the way I was feeling (numb from hip to knee all the time) because I felt I had a duty to. All my other kids were worn in a sling from day one. I felt he deserved the same bonding...and it instantly let me connect with moms who had similar views on parenting. The sling was part of my mommy uniform. It is true. It really was my visual cue to "attachment parent!"

Now, I can wear him safely for short periods of time on my back as long as I don't have to do any forward bends (which are against the LAW now anyway).

But you know what? The first time I ran into a friend and I had him in the stroller 4 people commented on it in a disapproving way!!!! Like I'd suddenly become this detached parent because he wasn't in the sling!

Crazy huh? I actually related to the ad. But I still think it was in poor taste and badly executed.

7 comments:

krista said...

i will say that very little offends me when it comes to ads. i'm actually more taken aback when an advertising campaign is thoughtful and insightful. the interesting part, however, is how this particular ad touches on the backlash that i think seems to be so prevalent regarding how to parent/love a child. the slings never worked for me. finn hated them. and i mean, really really hated them. i honestly have six (six!) different types of slings that were handed down to me. and i so so wanted to be the babywearing mama. but i realized that i wanted it for me more than for her. she clearly didn't want it. even from the beginning, she was much more comfortable in her stroller. and screamed whenever i tried to carry her in a sling. (i do use the baby bjorn which she has always loved because she can face forward and her arms and legs are free) i went through a feeling of such inadequacy and then realized: it's okay. baby squirms and kicks and screams in the sling. baby will not be in the sling.
and i think the best thing you can do for your baby is to be healthy. if that means not wearing him all of the time to give your back a rest, then he'll be the better for it because you'll be able to play with him longer.
sorry. comment.
hope you're well this holiday season, mud mama.

krista said...

i do have one more thought.
my mom never "wore" me. i was always in a stroller if i wasn't being carried. which means i was usually in the stroller :-)
my mom and i are insanely close and have an intense bond. putting me in a stroller didn't harm our bond. i'm not saying that babywearing doesn't create a bond, but i think it's an overgeneralization on the part of naysayers to think that it's harmful to not do it.
okay, i'm done.
sorry...i've got a non-sleeping teething baby and i'm running on adrenaline at the moment. she is finally napping but i'm all hopped up.
xo

krista said...

*bah*
on the first comment of mine up there...it's supposed to say
"sorry. long comment."
not: "sorry. comment."
that just doesn't make any sense.
maybe i should try to nap!

Kerry said...

LOL! Comment away K!!!

Bonny said...

oh, take good care of yourself, m'dear! I had moments & thoughts like that, with the twins. Not just about babywearing, either. Lots of things I'd done with the others that I "should" do with them. And it just didn't work in that situation. You're a good mama. :-)

Anonymous said...

There are millions of other ways to bond with your babies. They're all different anyway and arrive at different times of your life and so you're different for each one. There's nothing wrong with adjusting your parenting accordingly. They don't all always have to be treated in exactly the same way. You do what's best for all of you at the time. If that includes breastfeeding and sling-carrying and homeschooling great. If not, then it's no one's business but yours. When they're living in your skin, they can make judgements on your choices. Until then, back off. And there's no need to beat yourself up over doing what you need to do even if it's not exactly what you want to do.

Kelly said...

Mudmama - I know you're busy but we do miss you!