Today I picked up my Mum-to-be essential pack from Bounty. I wasn't too happy with its contents.The items that are 'for Mum' all had connotations which I thought were a bit off... The pack came with nipple pads... okay, they will come in useful... laundry tablets, I suppose there will be a lot of dirty clothes... Hmm... a can of diet coke with a voucher exclusively for another diet coke. Then pow! -a pamphlet on life insurance!? So, the general consensus is that when I have my little one I will turn into a leaky, fat, housemaid who should start planning their death... Charming!
I was hoping for some samples of baby lotion, advice on healthy eating, happier sort of stuff, the odd promotion-rubbish, but generally I hoped things like this would be a celebration of mum finally meeting baby. There was a pack within the pack for the baby which came from Pampers which will come in useful, wipes and newborn nappies, that sort of thing... But still, it's called a 'Mum-to-be' pack.
The reason to why I am writing this up on here, is that I usually find that pregnant women do have things mentioned and said to them in passing which wouldn't when not pregnant, it would be seen as rude and unseemly. Not to mention these packs are handed out within NHS hospitals (also Sainsburys and Boots). We should be encouraging women to relax with their bodyshape during this time, altered or not. We should be encouraging women to apply a new routine with their child which does not include just cleaning and weight loss. Also, what about the men? The men could benefit from nappy rash cream too! - they will have to learn at some point so why are these packs and vouchers pushed out to the women.
This slightly relates to why I started this blog in the first place, as I read pregnancy magazines I found them more and more pushy. When writing up my baby shopping lists I found it difficult to differentiate between things I needed and things that they told me I needed. As a first time Mum how can I ever be sure? With these messages how can I feel relaxed or prepared? My answer; stop reading those magazines and talk to women who have done it, speak to anyone in the hospital who will listen or seems enthusiastic about babies (this is not at all difficult to find on an antenatal ward!).
Pregnancy magazines/documentaries/stories usually centre around two things shock and/or aspirational living: 'Look at this poor woman!' or 'Look at this rich woman living it up!'. I would like to see some articles becoming somewhat more humble. I recently saw a documentary on (BBC3 of all places) called 'Cherry is having a baby', it was patronising and a bit rubbish but it interviewed all different types of women from different backgrounds and it made for an interesting narrative. The women who had more in the way of money/career had massive concerns over their body image and changes of lifestyle, whereas younger parents/single mums would remain headstrong and would be very much open to the idea of change. There is a dialogue to be had that would be more interesting to have amongst new mothers and fathers. New found parenthood is tough on everyone, let's not make it worse by singling out women who are already vulnerable to commercial ads.
In any case, I am going off on one. With this I will finish.
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