HB is a lot crunchier than my IRL world. "Crunchy" being defined as pro: unmedicated birth, breastfeeding, attachment parenting, making your own baby food, DIY, etc.
People look at me like I have two heads around here when I mention that I am interested in an unmedicated birth. My friends didn't make their own baby food. No cared that DD wasn't EBF and had formula.
I have to remind myself a lot of the times that HB isn't like my real world. Is HB like your real world?
hostess / eggplant / 11068 posts
Yeah, HB is pretty much my IRL world - I only have one close friend who has a daughter the same age as LO and we did everything very similarly and it's pretty much HB-ish.
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
Yep! Very similar. I don't have too many mommy friends, but the ones I do have are pretty green and crunchy.
GOLD / papaya / 10206 posts
No way, people think I'm totally crazy often. BLW, extended BFing, natural birth. Thank goodness for HB making me feel normal.
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
@prettylizy: oh yeah! I want to do BLW with my 2nd and people are going to think that I am weird!
admin / watermelon / 14210 posts
hmmm all of my friends breastfed, some coslept, all made their own food, but no one had a natural birth, did blw or cloth diapered. so slightly crunchier than real life!
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
Nope. First, I don't have many mommy friends. Most of my friends irl don't want kids or aren't having them. The friends I have certainly are not crunchy. 
GOLD / papaya / 10206 posts
@Andrea: my mother keeps asking if she is eating enough, can't we just feed her some cereal? lol!
honeydew / 7589 posts
My real world is MORE crunchy than hellobee, but that's probably because my peer group is mostly doulas, anthropologists, and midwives... Most of my friends had natural births, almost all of them EBF, and several cloth diaper.
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
@prettylizy: sounds like my mom re: breastfeeding. She's not eating enough!! How would she even know?
pomelo / 5331 posts
I guess it's crunchier... some of my friends look at me like I have 8 heads when I mention BLW, I don't know anybody who had a natural birth, I have some friends who BF and others who don't but the ones who don't tried and couldn't. I don't know anybody who cloth diapers or makes their own food. In general, I think the Internet and message boards tend to attract people who are interested in those more natural, "outside the box" types of things! Researchers
GOLD / papaya / 10206 posts
@Andrea: ha! My FIL asked me about that once too (his daughter formula fed, as did MIL, so it's his first expierence with BF) "Did you have to train her to eat enough? How do you know when she's done?" I laughed, "Nope, she eats until she's full, then she stops. Easy peasy"
pomegranate / 3983 posts
My IRL world is a mix, but my world (the way I do things) is totally crunchy so I like having the online support from people in similar mind frames.
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21616 posts
I would say for the most part... but HB has kind of become my world. I have very few friends, and very few mommy friends. Really, I only have my family here. I do have a good group of friends at church but only a couple are moms.
I think in general most of my friends EBF, DIY but not as many babywear (I get comments on it ALL the time) or make their own baby food.
GOLD / papaya / 10206 posts
@Minnie_Girl: that's hilarious! Cruncy as Jello.
@ladyfingers: we are a lot of researchers over here, it's true
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
@prettylizy: haha!! That reminds of another story with my mom. She walked in on me pumping and said "THAT's pumping?? I thought you just squeezed your boobs and milk came out." Sure mom, you can do it that way or use a machine to do it much faster!
GOLD / papaya / 10206 posts
@Andrea: omg, could you imagine hand expressing enough to feed a baby regularily. Silly mommies!!!!
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
@prettylizy: hehe, she had no clue and was too afraid to ask I guess!!
blogger / pineapple / 12381 posts
HB (as a group, not the site) is way more religious and conservative than my world... But that's ok! Still a great group of ladies (and men).
wonderful olive / 19353 posts
Nope! I only know one person that cloth diapers and she lives in a different state, and everyone is totally cool with not EBF. One of my friends quit BF her daughter at 6 months just so she could go on a diet and lose weight! =\
GOLD / eggplant / 11517 posts
Not really, because none of my close friends have kids! So we don't really talk about any of the pregnancy/child rearing topics that come up on here...
GOLD / wonderful coconut / 33402 posts
I would say no. I don't know anyone IRL that does cloth diapers. Or wanted a natural birth.
About half BF and half did formula.
bananas / 9628 posts
HB is far more conservative than my real world! Also people seem to have more $$ than my real life friends. I don't know anyone IRL that has cloth diapered! I do know a lot of ppl who BF.
grapefruit / 4800 posts
Where I live now is way more laid back (one may say redneck or free range) than I see on HB.
pineapple / 12234 posts
It's about the same! Except people IRL don't know baby gear like you guys do
pomegranate / 3212 posts
So so so crunchy! Everything on here is just like the majority thoughts where I live..
blogger / pomegranate / 3491 posts
probably a mix - I know some mamas who BF and some who FF, some cloth and some use disposables, etc. I fall somewhere in the middle in both circles...
cantaloupe / 6751 posts
Most ppl around me breast feed, cosleep, make their own baby food, and most baby wear. I only know a couple ppl who cloth diaper. I don't know anyone who had an unmedicated birth.
pomegranate / 3503 posts
I live in a pretty crunchy city now but most of my good friends are back east. I would say they're a mix.
blogger / pear / 1964 posts
I think my friends IRL are pretty close to HB. Lots of unmedicated births and BF-ing, though I might be the only one cloth diapering.
bananas / 9227 posts
Yep, pretty similar. But to EBF is the manta around here, so is an unmediated birth. At birthing class they held for all new mommies to be in the area, they made a HUGE deal about rice sacks ... how they no longer offer their own rice sacks but we're welcome to bring our own and use their microwave. She then proceeds to explain how you make one using a sock. Ummm yeh.
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
@Crumbs: is a heated rice sack supposed to get you through an unmedicated birth? 
pear / 1672 posts
I guess it depends on whether we're talking demographics or choices about kids. Demographically, HB is very different. Most of my friends live in large urban cities, are in their mid to late 30's and are mostly women of color (mostly black women and Latinas).
In terms of choices about children, I would say HB is about the same in that there is a mix of sorta crunchy to un-crunchy with maybe more folks leaning towards the slightly crunchier.
I tend to lean towards the slightly crunchier side, so HB has been a great resource for me as I prepare for the arrival of our baby next year.
pineapple / 12526 posts
Yep, most of the ladies I know here are very crunchy, AP, etc like most of the HB community.
pomegranate / 3244 posts
Not at all. I am in a pretty competitive grad program, and I know of three people (out of 150+) in my program that have kids. And none are babies. For most of my friends, kids are something that are still 2-3 years away (the same goes for me). People here on HB are a lot more religious and conservative than the people I know IRL.
That being said, I do appreciate having somewhere that placates some of my baby fever! All my IRL people would think I am CRAZY if I let out the extent of my baby fever, hahaha.
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