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Originally Posted by NovaScotiaMom  Hi - I'm new to MDC as well and also consider myself very much at the border of crunchiness... so thank you for the original post, bumperbee, and for the support from people like Mommiska.
I am also interested in a few key topics, but very open to learning more about many others. Sometimes I get a little intimidated by how hard-core some responses are, but it is good to know there are others out there like me. I call myself a "hybrid" because my mainstream friends think I'm crunchy but I feel very mainstream when I'm on many of the boards here!
Thanks for the support. I look forward to an evolving lifestyle as I learn!
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I've learned a huge amount here...I think most 'regular' members here have as well. A few of us arrived as fully paid up hippies, but not most of us!
Blucactus has good advice - if you know something is not supported here, then best not to start a thread about it - there can be very hard-line responses.
From personal experience - when I arrived here, I'd done a modified 'Cry it out' with my oldest dd1, and had started to do an even more modified version with dd2. I was pretty intimidated by the threads about CIO here and how harshly every spoke about it (it was all I knew - everyone I knew who had kids had done 'Cry it out' with them.
So - I just read, researched and took it all in - never posted on the topic, I must admit! I ended up changing how I parented at night time (my last 2 children never 'cried it out' and I would advise against it).
So...yes, feelings can be very strong about certain topics at MDC...but generally speaking, those of us who feel very strongly about a certain area have done a lot of research about why we feel strongly, and can give lots of reasons why we parent the way we do. If people want to learn, everyone here is very willing to share what they have found in their own parenting journey.
And you can take some things and leave others. I co-slept with mine when they were tiny little ones, but they got used to napping in their cot from around 8-9 months. And I'd say that from about a year old, they really didn't sleep well with me and preferred their cots...so that's where they slept from then on. So - we did co-sleep, and I highly recommend it! But we aren't co-sleeping with toddlers/older children/3 kids at a time, like some families here.
I think I'm waffling, and my daughter wants me to come up and read her bedtime story (I'm in the UK and it's 8:40 pm here), so must run...hope some of that has helped make people feel more comfortable about staying at MDC - it really is a great place!
I am glad you are here.
Welcome to MDC! I'm also a semi-crunchy mama. I have been able to form some wonderful friendships with other mamas here. However, I must say that in the time I've been here I've gotten more crunchy. I'd say stick around because this is a great place full of diverse opinions and really supportive people. 
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