An Australian artist has revealed why she has been ‘sleeping alone’ without her one-year-old baby for the past few months.
Sally Mustang and her husband Mitch Gobel, both 31, who embody the ‘free-spirited’ lifestyle of the Byron Bay region of NSW, welcomed their son Azure Sitara on February 15, 2020.
In a post on Sunday, Sally opened up about taking time away from her young son by sleeping in a small cabin ‘deep in the jungle’ without WiFi or electricity, after months of feeding him up to ‘seven times a night’ took its toll on her wellbeing.
The part-time yogi, whose Instagram bio proclaims that ‘sex is art’ in a nod to her website of the same name, said the solitude is her recipe for being a healthy mother and partner.
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In the caption of this touching photo, Byron Bay artist Sally Mustang (pictured with her one-year-old son, Azure Sitara) opened up about why she has been sleeping alone away from her baby for the past few months
The Australian artist (pictured) said the solitude is her recipe for being a healthy mother and partner
In the touching black and white photo that accompanied the caption, Sally cradles the infant Azure in her arms and tenderly kisses his forehead.
‘I have been sleeping alone the past few months. Away from my husband and my baby. In a small cabin a walk from our house, deep in the jungle. I have one battery lamp, no WiFi, no distractions from the dark,’ she wrote.
Sally said she made the decision to sleep alone to ween Azure when feeding him seemingly constantly became too much.
‘Honestly, I had had enough,’ she wrote. ‘I was sick of playing into the tired mother syndrome.’
Although she still feeds her son throughout the day, Sally said weening him at night has rid her of ‘consistent monthly mastitis’, a condition that causes painful swelling in the breasts when milk ducts become blocked during breast-feeding.
Sleeping alone also reignited her passion for life, she said, and finally gave her the ‘energy and space’ to get back in touch with herself after becoming a mother.
‘To make time for myself, seemed so selfish six months ago. Now I know it’s not,’ Sally wrote.
‘It’s really the recipe (for me) to be a healthy happy mother and partner.’
Sally (right) said she made the decision to sleep away from Azure (left) when feeding him up to seven times a night took its toll on her wellbeing
Sally (left, on a sheet surrounded by flowers in the late stages of her pregnancy with Azure, sometime in 2020, and right, shortly after his birth) credits her son with changing her life
Sally said Mitch cares for Azure every night and half the day at least two days a week to ensure she has time for herself.
‘To unplug from the constant responsibility, tending to needs, and giving, I can hear the wisdom of the mother within me/everyone that whispers truth,’ she wrote.
‘The powerful guidance that was/is always there waiting for us to find somewhere quiet to hear.’
Sally said being disconnected from electricity, WiFi and the constant stream of information that floods our phone screens has allowed her to reconnect with nature and who she really is.
‘Without the loud outer noise I am able to hear the voice of deep mystery. Solitude, nature and silence have been medicine for humanity since the beginning of time, just read any history, discovery, spiritual, religious text to gain proof,’ she wrote.
‘Or better yet, give it a go yourself.’
Sally’s candid post, which has amassed 20,600 ‘likes’ since it was uploaded online three days ago, sparked hundreds of positive comments from fellow mothers praising her for acknowledging her own needs as well as her son’s.
Mitch (pictured with Azure in his arms) cares for his son each night and half the day at least two days a week to ensure Sally has time to herself, she said
‘This is wise,’ one woman replied.
‘So good damn important! Good for you mumma!! Happy mumma means happy family!’ added a second.
A third wrote: ‘Wow what a gift. I’m so glad you guys could carve that out and make it happen,’
Others said they were jealous of the carefree life Sally, Mitch and Azure live, fully immersed in nature.
‘I am not envious of much, but of this…..I am,’ one woman wrote.
But responses to Sally’s posts are not always so positive.
Last August, the famously bohemian couple were slammed as ‘inappropriate’ after Sally revealed they had started to ‘make love’ in front of then five-month-old Azure.
Last August, Sally and Mitch (pictured) were slammed as ‘inappropriate’ after Sally revealed they had started to ‘make love’ in front of then five-month-old Azure
Sally shared a post asking why something so ‘natural’ had a line ‘drawn’ through it by modern society, which makes her actions seem unacceptable.
‘We have been making love a lot lately with Azure present. There is so much freedom there but also fear,’ she wrote.
‘Who made me think it was wrong for a baby to witness its mumma and dada make love? To be in that absolute creative devotion together.’
The post – which was live for 12 hours before it was deleted shortly before 8am on Monday morning – sparked hundreds of comments from other parents who questioned her ‘natural’ decision.
Many of her critics said sex is an ‘adult topic’ too complicated for young children to understand, with some insisting Azure could have issues with sexuality down the track as a result.
‘Imagine if he came to you at eight years old and said he was ready to have sex, because sex was such an open topic in your household,’ one woman wrote.
Unafraid of controversial topics, Sally and Mitch (pictured while expecting baby Azure) run a website called Sex is Art where they document their sexual escapades in detail
Free-spirited Sally (pictured near her home in northern NSW) believes everyone could benefit from spending more time in nature and less time scrolling on phone screens
Not one to shy away from controversial topics, Sally addressed her post in a separate Instagram Story.
‘Please note I have worked and studied a lot with sex and sexual trauma,’ she began.
‘In no way am I subjecting my son to this so if you have had a hard story when it comes to sexuality I’m really sorry this happened for (sic) you and I’m sending you love from my heart.
‘I understand your projections will be deep and probably judgmental of me.’
Sally said her term ‘making love’ referenced ‘making out, massage and anything me and Mitch define as love together’.
‘Our house doesn’t have any rooms that aren’t connected so basically we are in one big room in our house. We don’t sit him down and make him watch us at all,’ Sally said of the couple’s decision to ‘make love’ in front of their son
Sally addressed her original post in a separate Instagram Story (pictured)
She said while Azure was ‘present’ he was asleep and lying on the other side of their bed, or playing on a rug with his toys while the couple were on the couch.
‘Our house doesn’t have any rooms that aren’t connected so basically we are in one big room in our house. We don’t sit him down and make him watch us at all,’ she said.
‘What I meant is that free love should be shared freely, we should kiss and touch our loved ones.’
The artist said she was trying to encourage freedom but wanted to ‘apologise for the triggers and if I hurt someone’s feelings’.
‘I am deleting the post due to some really bad energy there and attacks on me and my family,’ she said.
Sally and Mitch first set the internet alight when they started sharing intimate details of what goes on between the sheets in 2016.
Sally and Mitch (pictured together before welcoming Azure) first set the internet alight when they started sharing intimate details of what goes on between the sheets in 2016
Their bohemian adventures quickly earned them a collective half a million Instagram followers.
Photoshoots and fame followed, before Sally took to her personal profile in May 2017 to reveal they had parted ways in a shock split.
They eventually agreed to an open relationship before rekindling their love, with Mitch proposing to Sally in 2018. They were married in May 2019.
More recently Sally spoke about the birth of Azure, which was in a birthing pool at home after 22 hours, calling it the most ‘excruciating’ pain she has ever experienced.
She has been candid on social media about her struggle with breastfeeding, how sore her body was post-birth and how she is adjusting to being a mother.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
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