Definitely the fragmentation of our society can take the biggest blame here How many of us grew up with children around us at every stage? I mean, once we weren't little children anymore, how many of us still had little children and their needs in our every day lives? Not many (lucky you, BG!) - we grow up with our peers and maybe a sibling young enough for us to have vague memories of nappies and nothing else.
Even with fragmentation, there is still instinct in us that a lot of women ignore. Not just about their children and pregnancies, but even before that. We curse our periods instead of understanding them, until we realise they are important when we decide we want to have kids of our own. I'll encourage DD to use a Mooncup and cloth pads when her time comes, so that she doens't see this natural and most important function as an inconvenience and awful aspect of being female.
I learnt a really valuable saying once. It's something you say to yourself when you come across a situation where you feel helpless and think you don't know the answer: "If I DID know, what would it be?"
This saying is magic - you give yourself permission to use instinct right away with it! I"m glad I learnt it before I fell pg, cos I've been using it in my subconscious ever since