Millennials vs. Boomers Approach to Pregnancy

Millennial moms-to-be often use apps to track fertility and pregnancy updates. Along with sourcing the best nursery ideas on Pinterest while constantly researching for the best baby products, we are usually gravitated towards platforms such as Instagram for clothing inspiration and nursery aesthetics.

The search for what’s next never ends, especially while you’re in the midst of preparing for a child.

The millennial mother has advice at her finger tips for everything: from what to eat and what not to eat; from searching to see if it is safe to exercise through the pregnancy; to talking with a doctor or hiring a midwife; to deciding whether to take prenatal vitamins and what to do with the placenta after birth. There are so many trending topics online and in real life that millennial mothers are often faced with a dilemma: who to listen to and what to trust?

Millennials are born in an era of ever-increasing technology. Because of this the mom-to-be is constantly searching; constantly wondering.

What does this over-abundance of information mean for the digital millennial mom-to-be?

Is this over-abundance of information something that can cause conflicting advice for a normal and healthy pregnancy?

In our connected world it’s more common for us to dispense in person advice vs. advice given through google and social media. Sometimes we simply resort to ignoring advice from boomers who’ve experienced pregnancy very differently than millennials have. But maybe that tactic should change.

Studies have suggested that pregnant millennials may experience depression more than their mothers in the 1990’s. Some of the reasons why this is found to be true is due to chronic stress, sleep deprivation, eating habits, sedentary lifestyle, and the fast pace of modern life. All of these attributes may be contributing to an increasing prevalence of depression among young people in general.

It’s the day and age where we are bombarded with information and opinions. When we are carrying a child, many individuals get incredibly personal about their experience and want to convince you to carry the same, birth the same or at least justify why they’re are doing the things they are. Whether it’s the diet that they have chosen during their prenatal experience or the supplements that they are consuming postpartum, it’s an often occurrence that we will hear why other moms and moms-to-be have chosen a momentary lifestyle to better their child and their own life.

And that’s the thing – we are all here to better our lives. We are all making decisions, which are more times than not, influenced by outside sources to ensure the health of our family.

We do not believe the intention behind such over-abundance is a negative one. However, we must learn who and what to listen to. We must learn how to decipher what is being pushed on us compared to what is enlightening us.

Thus, our recommendation is to ask the generations before us that the information we receive is validated (to a certain extent). When it comes to parenthood, we should be comfortable and confident in the resources we receive and confirm that it’s from an original source to determine what works for US. This can be as simple as speaking to our mothers, grandmothers, doulas, midwifes, doctors or even attending birth classes to recognize the best information.

We believe millennial moms have a lot more pressure placed on them to do everything ‘right’ due to the immense amount of information thrown at our faces.

Quite literally.

At the end of the day, regardless of when you are pregnant, mothers throughout all generations ultimately want what is best for their babies. Whatever that may be, never fear asking your grandmother or mother for advice and trust your intuition that is is guiding you to filter the truth from deceit. This can be different for everyone.

For us, we are reminded that by listening to the women that came before us it confirms that more times than none, mother knows best.