Mindful Mothering

04/05/2022

23/01/2022

Mindful Mothering Tonight 8-9pm - https://mailchi.mp/cf6d482c95c1/mindful-mothering-tonight-8-9pm
Join me this evening to set some intentions and set you up for the week ahead https://ruthsabrosa.com/mindful-mothering/

18/10/2021

'Attachment'
'Gentle'
'Crunchy'
'Intensively motherly'

Yeah I suppose
In some ways
That's the mum
I turned out to be

But please don't mistake
Any of these things
For a passive timidity

Don't condemn as a martyr
To this child that I adore

She who took this rabbit heart of mine
And taught it how to roar

Don't label me a pushover
For meeting her every need

Because I'll fiercely defend the practices
That supposedly make me weak

I'll wake frequently in the night
For as long as she needs

I'll not chase every milestone
But rather follow her lead

I'll recognise when she's struggling
And lashing out at me

I'll not retaliate with punishment
But hold her tenderly

I'll ask if she wants a cuddle
When she's screaming in the street

I'll try to exhibit a kind of patience
That doesn't come so naturally

I'll bend over backwards
With such fierce ferocity

You see
It takes a lot of strength
To be
So very ‘weak’

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Words: Karen McMillan (Mother Truths)
Image: Morgan Casey Art (https://therealmorgancasey.com/)

📚 Words taken from "Mother Truths: Poems on Early Motherhood" Available to buy worldwide: https://linktr.ee/mother_truths

23/09/2021

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but attachment parenting in a detached society is exhausting.
No. It’s not your baby.
There is nothing wrong with them if they want to be held all the time.
No. It’s not you.
You’re not doing it wrong.
Your feelings of exhaustion and depletion and being touched out are normal- considering the weight you’re carrying. Those feelings, and the deep ache underneath them - are a reminder that you were never meant to do this alone.
Babies want to be held. And we want to hold them close. Exclusive/extended breastfeeding, cosleeping, babywearing- all of these are intuitive, ancestral practices that have kept our species alive throughout history. Attachment parenting is just parenting!!
But never before have we parented in such isolation. There were always other hands stirring the soup pot, other aunties, and sisters, and uncles and grandmas, and cousins, and neighbors helping with the daily tasks and child rearing. Other arms carrying the weight of raising humanity. Together.
And now, it’s just you. Alone in the kitchen, trying to stir the soup and bounce the baby and play with the toddler and keep an eye on the big kid and answer the phone and sweep up the mess and tackle the laundry and .....
No matter how magical your baby wrap is — it can’t take the place of a whole village.
So no, you’re not doing it wrong. You’re just trying to stay connected in a world set on tearing you apart.
But don’t give up mama. I know you’re tired and touched out, but you’re giving your baby exactly what she needs. And maybe one day, when she’s raising her own babies,there will be a village around her, helping her hold it all together.

Beautiful words and Pic by on Instagram

30/05/2021

Parents are the original baby monitors.

We are designed keep our infants close. Even while we sleep, our bodies monitor and nurture our young. Our nearness promotes bonding, facilitates brain development, and regulates the nervous system. Infants are incapable of surviving without us, so the need to be close is also a hard-wired safety mechanism.

Humans are born earlier in their gestation than other mammals. We enter the world far less developed and far more helpless. A newborn calf can stand up within the first 2 hours after birth...human babies can’t even hold their own heads up until around 3 or 4 months old.

And if we look to our closest cousins, chimpanzees, for comparison…a human baby would need a 18-21 month gestation, rather than our usual 9-10, in order to be born at a comparable cognitive and neurological stage of development to that of a newborn chimpanzee. So our young toddlers aren’t even ready to cut the cord by chimp standards…

So, once earthside, we continue our gestation with the help of our parents. We stay rooted to our parents so that our bodies and minds may continue developing, in constant communication with theirs.

That is why its so troubling when our culture’s separation-focused narrative leads us to start second-guessing the value of proximity. It seems like we get our free pass for the newborn phase, but then after that there’s a bit of distaste for cosleeping or carrying or generally embracing high needs for closeness. I hope we can start to change that.

I hope that we can view proximity as something to honour as much as we can, rather than something to extinguish as early as possible.

That, instead of being considered a kind of lagging-behind or an alt parenting style, we can celebrate the magic that it is...

That we can reconnect with our mammalian nature, and, rather than feeling sheepish about these natural things we do, we can choose instead to roar with pride about them, as our little cubs roar too, right by our sides.

Words: https://instagram.com/realkindparent?utm_medium=copy_link
Image: https://instagram.com/moonandcheeze?utm_medium=copy_link
Shared from Instagram: https://instagram.com/realkindparent?utm_medium=copy_link

03/05/2021

Your Child Will Be Your Greatest Teacher
If you are prepared to listen 'to what goes on in your head' - if you are prepared to truly listen to the talking that goes on in there and the feelings that arise' (because of that talk), then you have enrolled in Lifelong Education. That self-talk runs on a loop, it is habitual. All well and good if the loop is a 'healthy loop', but a disaster when it is a corrupted file. Your self talk tells you what you fear, what you are scared of, what you distrust, what you know, and what you need to know. It shows you where you are stuck in your thinking and the places your mind is in lock-down - not open to a smidgeon of a new idea. The bonus when you enrol the 'listen to what goes on in your head class'? No travelling to class, no student fees AND you can reprogramme the loops. Your child will teach you across the Life Curriculum if you stay present to who he or she is, AND if you stay present to who you are and listen to your mind. It's called "Conscious Parenting".

12/03/2021

3 amazing brands have won our Natural Baby JUNO Best Buy awards! 🤱🧘🏽‍♀️🤸🏼‍♂️

Best for Breastfeeding.... The Vada Dress from Altered Apparel Ltd

Best for Support... Mindful Mothering relaxation sessions and auto tracks with Ruth Sabrosa

Best for Yoga (wherever you are)... Pregnancy yoga sessions with Pregnancy Yoga with Marta

Read the full feature online, or in your copy of JUNO Early Spring Issue 71.

https://www.junomagazine.com/natural-baby-juno-best-buy/

02/03/2021

Celebrate International Women's Day next week with a family empowerment box inspired by the suffragettes and containing activities to educate and inspire ✨
The theme ‘I choose to challenge’ is the theme for International Women’s Day 2021 because a challenged world is an equal world so stand up for your rights and make a badge about a cause that you believe in, Reveal your secret word of empowerment and create a bracelet or key-ring with the carefully selected beads. Sew that word or a pattern in suffragette colours onto the material provided to make a book mark and cut out a circle of sisterhood whilst considering all of the inspirational women you know✨
Also included in this box is a beautifully designed set of yoga cards by . The cards are inspired by suffragette poses for you to colour and practice empowerment yoga with your family. You will also receive a fact file on the Suffragettes and timeline of women’s suffrage activity, delicious herbal kid’s tea and suffragette smarties. Vegan option available 💕
Also included is a discount code to sponsor a word on fabulous 💕
Some of the activities in this box may count towards your International Women’s Day badge 😊
10% of profits will go to the that will supply our local women’s refuge with buddy bags.