I’m tired of the articles that blame moms.
Yes, we carried the child and we passed on our DNA, but we didn’t do (or fail to do) anything to cause food allergies. As moms we protect our children. We are the same moms who labor through elimination diets, hawkishly read labels, seek out the best doctors, and make sure our kids have the right meds. We do anything and everything we can to keep our children safe.
Let’s agree that it’s not your fault your child has food allergies:
It’s not because you breast-fed too long.
It’s not because you didn’t breast feed long enough.
It’s not because you fed your child peanut butter too soon.
It’s not because you didn’t feed your child peanut butter soon enough.
It’s not because you used anti-bacterial soap.
It’s not because your kids played in the dirt.
It’s not because you gave your child soy formula when none of the other options worked.
It’s not because you had a craving for ice cream while you were pregnant.
We all made the best decisions we could based on the information we had. Maybe someday we will have hard evidence on what does cause food allergies and how to prevent them. I sure hope we do. In the meantime…
Enough with the Mommy guilt trip already!
6 comments:
Amen! Yuck to mommy guilt! It always seems to creep back around my life! This is a great reminder!
Cindy :)
Thank you for this post! It is so hard dealing with the guilt and the shoulda coulda woulda's when you have a child with multiple food allergies. You hit the nail on the head: We did the best we could with the information given. Now I will do things differently if given the chance to have another child, but it still will not ensure that child will be allergy free. Thanks again!
Cindy, zahra, thanks so much
Great post, and a wonderful reminder to us all. I have definite mom guilt - for just about everything - including my son's food allergies. As you said though, enough with the guilt!
I stop agree! Thanks for your powerful encouragement and words! It is what it is and as allergy families we've become more compassionate-
I meant to say.. I totally agree!
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