Nurshable

Letters to a Daughter

  • The Meaning of Choice

    Dear Daughter, I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the word “choice”. It’s a word that is thrown around in many situations where true choice does not actually exist. It’s a word that is often used in contexts where the… Continue reading

  • This is Not About You

    Dear Children, I write you letters, but these letters are not about you as you are in the distant future, but what you are today and what I am today. I do not yet know who you will be, and… Continue reading

  • The WIO (Wait It Out) Method of Sleep Training

    (Please read this first: I Am Not A Better Mother Than You.) Dear Daughter, You are three months old, almost everyone agrees that you are too young for “sleep training”, “cry it out”, “Ferberization” and all those other methods of… Continue reading

  • What You Pump is What Baby Eats (Myth)

    Dear Daughter, One day you will be nursing your own child. One day you will inevitably be told that you should pump to see what your baby is getting from the breast. It will sound like very good advice. I… Continue reading

  • Little Pitchers Have Big Ears

    Dear Daughter, The things that we hear as children leave deep imprints in how we see the world as adults and sometimes for the test of our lives. We guard carefully the things that people have said about us. Both… Continue reading

  • Breastfeeding is Not Beautiful

    Dear Daughter, One day when you have children of your own, you’ll realize that breastfeeding isn’t beautiful. It’s a mix of many things. “Beautiful” is an over-simplification. Sometimes we’ll be sitting in the rocking chair together in the middle of… Continue reading

  • BBQ Cat

    Dear Daughter, I am daydreaming of BBQ Cat. It is now 4:25AM. I began trying to get you to sleep “For Real TM” at 11PM. I tried it all. Your nose is snuffly and you have some gas, I’m pretty… Continue reading

  • The Truth About Your Body

    Dear Daughter, You lay on my lap nursing in your sleep. Long and chubby, with an impossible amount of thick curly dark hair. Behind those whispy lashes are big blue eyes, and you have a prominent little nose even in… Continue reading

  • I Cannot Always Make It Better

    Dear Daughter, You are finally asleep in a wrap against my chest. It is 5:28AM, and for the past two hours something has been bothering you. Most of your days are spent without much in the way of crying. You… Continue reading

  • Fitting You Into The Schedule

    Dear Daughter, I hear a lot about “scheduling” and how to “fit a baby into a family’s schedule. There’s some gobbledygook about training and waiting to feed you and making sure to never feed you unless you’re hungry, and spacing… Continue reading