Ever been bullied online and felt like everything you were doing was wrong? Or how about being degraded on the way you feel, think, and act including the way you choose to parent?

If yes, then you aren’t alone! Chances are MOST of us parents have dealt with the horrible “Perfect Parent Syndrome” aka PPS. If you haven’t dealt with it firsthand, take a look at your social media feeds like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

You’ll find parents suffering from PPS trolling through everyone’s posts and judging the way others choose to live their life. Maybe I was naïve but I truly believed that once I became a mom I’d get unending love and support from other moms out there especially on social media. But boy was I wrong!

Looking back, it actually started before I even brought my child into the world. Throughout my pregnancy, I had witnessed how cruel and unsympathetic people truly were because they couldn’t understand what I was going through.

Long story short, I battled Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) throughout most of my pregnancy. It caused me to lose 30 pounds and forced countless of hospital visits, and stays, because of how malnourished and dehydrated I was. Instead of getting love and support, I was told on numerous occasions that I was mentally unstable, not a cancer patient, lucky that I am even able to have a baby, and to “suck it up like most of us moms do.”

Fast forward to my first couple of months as a new mom, I reached out to many moms about my journey with breast-feeding as well as other “controversial topics” like vaccinations.

I, and hundreds of other moms were belittled in choosing to or not choosing to breastfeed and vaccinate, to name a few. Even up to just a few months ago, I felt like I was doing this motherhood thing wrong. Was I really that bad of a mom that I could not fully breast-feed my child? Am I harming my child? Will this affect his learning and growth as the years go by?

Every single comment by the “perfect parent” turned me into a “striving to be perfect” mom. Until I realized that it simply does not exist. Motherhood, and parenting, is not a competition. It’s our own personal journey and experience that we have full control of no matter what the outside world tells us to be.

I’m here to tell you to trust your instinct. Whether you breast-feed or formula feed and/or vaccinate that YOU ARE AN AMAZING MOM!

REPEAT AFTER ME: I AM THE BEST MOM FOR MY CHILD.

Believe in yourself as a mom and know that you are making the best decision in the benefit of his or her future. Don’t feel the need to explain yourself to others because your journey is far different from those around you. There is nothing more beautiful than moms supporting other moms despite their differences in beliefs and parenting styles.

So for 2018, I encourage you to listen more, open your mind, and hearts, and support your mama friends.

Love,
Amy