mothering magazine

Published

just curious

do any of you subscribe

i have heard goo and bad .....please state your opinions here

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Mothering Magazine is very "alternative". As a whole, they are pro natural childbirth, pro homebirth, pro cosleeping, pro cloth diapering and pro midwife. They believe in informed consent and refusal (and some would say they are anti) on vaccination, obstetric intervention, and circumcision. They are extremely pro-breastfeeding and anti-formula industry.

Mothering holds true to the general philosophy of attachment parenting, which advocates gentle birth, extended nursing, cosleeping with your kids, slinging your baby/kid, etc.

They comply with the WHO Code on infant formula and advertising, which I applaud, since Parenting and Parents can't seem to gather up the b*lls to do this. And they're a nice counterpoint to the typical standard line you see in so many parenting magazines, which try so hard to be "non judgemental" and "balanced" that their articles come off as wishy washy, ill informed and under researched. In addition, you won't find too many of the mainstream magazines doing serious exposes on crib manufacturers, diaper manufacturers and formula companies because they depend so heavily on their advertising dollars. The conflict of interest is quite evident.

To some, Mothering is way too far to the left politically and espouses a very slanted view. They feel it should be more mainstream, and shouldn't induce "guilt" on the part of mothers who make different decisions. I disagree. I like Motherings' unapologetic stances (with some of its political stances an exception to the general rule). Their website is great, too, and includes a VERY active message/forum board.

Hey, it's like reading The National Review or Mother Jones. You're going to get a particular viewpoint. Just depends if you're willing to be open to those views.

Alison

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They comply with the WHO Code on infant formula and advertising, which I applaud, since Parenting and Parents can't seem to gather up the b*lls to do this. And they're a nice counterpoint to the typical standard line you see in so many parenting magazines, which try so hard to be "non judgemental" and "balanced" that their articles come off as wishy washy, ill informed and under researched. In addition, you won't find too many of the mainstream magazines doing serious exposes on crib manufacturers, diaper manufacturers and formula companies because they depend so heavily on their advertising dollars. The conflict of interest is quite evident.

Allison

I subscribe and like this magazine. They are really alternative. THeir reporting is much "harder" and gets more into the expose and serious journalism. This is not the fluff (nursery decorating and cupcake decorating) crap that most mainstream parenting magazines contain. The emphasis is on intelligent thought rather than product placement.

Laura

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just curious

do any of you subscribe

i have heard goo and bad .....please state your opinions here

I found it irritatingly self-righteous, High Granola to the point of silliness, rigidly one-wayist, and the anti-vaccination stance is irresponsible. Not a fan.

On the other hand, Parents, Parenting and American Baby are useless fluff.

My favorite is "Brain Child" http://www.brainchildmag.com/ and I think anything you need to know about baby issues can be found in Dr. Sear's books.

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I found it irritatingly self-righteous, High Granola to the point of silliness, rigidly one-wayist, and the anti-vaccination stance is irresponsible. Not a fan.

Mothering Magazine tends to bring out strong opinions in people, as you can see. :)

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Mothering Magazine tends to bring out strong opinions in people, as you can see. :)

:chuckle yes, it does. For me, I suspect it's a personality thing. I'm into evidence and I'm into being pretty laid back and letting people do what they want. I don't tend to parent according to any agenda; it's too exhausting. I understand that other people do it differently (I just wish they would understand that too).

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:chuckle yes, it does. For me, I suspect it's a personality thing. I'm into evidence and I'm into being pretty laid back and letting people do what they want. I don't tend to parent according to any agenda; it's too exhausting. I understand that other people do it differently (I just wish they would understand that too).

Well, its like anything really. If you're not a vegetarian then you most likely wont be caught reading Vegetarian Times.

If you're not "into" that kind of parenting, if you're not curious to learn more, just don't pick it up.

It is pretty thought provoking, but I enjoy it, even if I don't agree with everything that is published. Its been my experience that they do a good job backing up articles with "evidence."

I wish I had been exposed to Mothering before I had gotten pregnant for the first time way back when - things would have been different, I just was never exposed to an alternate way of doing things outside the mainstream USA field of vision.

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I found it irritatingly self-righteous, High Granola to the point of silliness, rigidly one-wayist, and the anti-vaccination stance is irresponsible. Not a fan.

On the other hand, Parents, Parenting and American Baby are useless fluff.

My favorite is "Brain Child" http://www.brainchildmag.com/ and I think anything you need to know about baby issues can be found in Dr. Sear's books.

I took a look at "Brain Child" and the first thing to jump off the page was the following statement:

THE MAGAZINE FOR THINKING MOTHERS

As if other mothers don't think. :) A bit condescending . . . . :)

However, I looked further and decided to subscribe . . .. interesting essays.

Thanks.

As to the op post . .. . some of the stuff I find interesting but hard and fast rules about circumcision, breastfeeding, immunizations bother me.

steph

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
I took a look at "Brain Child" and the first thing to jump off the page was the following statement:

THE MAGAZINE FOR THINKING MOTHERS

As if other mothers don't think. :) A bit condescending . . . . :)

However, I looked further and decided to subscribe . . .. interesting essays.

Thanks.

As to the op post . .. . some of the stuff I find interesting but hard and fast rules about circumcision, breastfeeding, immunizations bother me.

steph

I agree. I do not care to be condescended to-----or falsely complemented-----just due to my choice of reading materials. I subscribe to quite a few professional journals and a couple of magazines. I read many, many more at the Library. I have found some useful articles in Mothering, some I could not bother with. It's like anything. Take what you can use, discard the rest. Most magazines are NOT worth subscribing to anyhow, except professional journals, at least to me. You are paying BIG BUCK$ for a lot of ads and crap.

If you want to check it out, go borrow some from a subscriber or visit the public library and find out for free, if it's for you.

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I agree. I do not care to be condescended to-----or falsely complemented due to my choice of reading materials. I subscribe to quite a few journals and a couple of magazines. I read many, many more at the Library. I have found some useful articles in Mothering, some I could not bother with. It's like anything. Take what you can use, discard the rest. Most magazines are NOT worth subscribing to anyhow, except professional journals, at least to me.

Unfortunately we don't have a local library up and running yet and so I'd have to drive 70+ miles . . .

I do subscribe to online journals though . . . . I love the convenience. Although there is something very nice about going to the library itself . .

steph

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

Ah Steph I would die if I lived that far from a library. I have a choice of MANY branches all within 20-30 min from my door. I could NOT LIVE without MY LIBRARY!

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I subscribed to Mothering many, many years ago (at least 16). I found it to be a pleasant alternative to "Parents" which was (at that time anyway) filled with nothing more than advertisements and redundant stories.

I agree, "Mothering" is very different than what we may typically find in parenting periodicals but I personally found many, many good ideas particularly for a "high need" baby.

It's like another poster pointed out, you take what you like and leave the rest. Another magazine I subscribed to many years ago was "Homesteading". Like Mothering" it was very grass roots and some of the articles were just too far out there for me to be interested in but I found a great deal of useful information as well.

I'm just surprised to hear the name "Mother Magaizine" after all these years, I'd forgotten all about it.

Opal

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