Breastfeeding Debate

Happy Monday everybody.  So I was getting ready this morning, and what do I hear on the The Today Show?  I hear them discussing a new article titled, “The Case Against Breastfeeding,“ by Hanna Rosin.  What?  Did I hear that right?  The case AGAINST breastfeeding?

Below is a link to the article and I’ll let you read it and judge it for yourself.  Rosen is not against breastfeeding at all.  In fact, she’s currently nursing her child, but she’s making a statement in the “shift” about how mother’s approach breastfeeding, what is expected of them, and what society expects of mothers.  There is also a link to her podcast, which got an interesting conversation going.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200904/case-against-breastfeeding

So what do you think?  Has there been a shift?  If so, is the shift good or bad for mothers and babies?  Let me just say that I have friends on both sides of this issue and I make NO judgements here.

Ellie

I found the article to be very compelling. Although not yet a mother myself, as I am planning for that prospect in the near future, I have been educating myself on this topic for some time now. My opinion has been that breast milk is best though breastfeeding is not required, thinking that breast milk provides additional nutrients and support for baby’s immune system. This article clearly implies that those benefits may not be substantiated.

I also feel strongly that it is nobody’s business what Mom and Dad decide on the topic. What is right for me is not necessarily right for you. Inverted nipples, infection, surgery, etc. all play a part in whether breastfeeding or pumping are options. No one should be made to feel inferior about their choices. Formula certainly isn’t poison.

I am lucky because my employer is very supportive regarding breastfeeding/pumping and we have a private, locked lactation room complete with cold-storage – so kudos to them.
If I am able to breastfeed or pump when baby comes along, great – If not, that’s okay too as far as I’m concerned. This article made me feel so much more at ease with that decision.

When my son was born, he was hospitalized for several weeks. I remember feeling crushed I was unable to breastfeed. I, like many of the women in the clip, felt whether or not I breastfed my baby was a indicator of whether or not I was a good mother. I pumped for two months, and found solace knowing I was helping my baby the only way I could at the time. However, in the end I realized…breastfeeding does not make you a good mother and likewise, not breastfeeding does not make you a bad mother!

I 100% believe that breast feeding is best, however, I am a mom who simply could not breast feed. Having my son 11 weeks early, my milk never fully came in, he got my milk when he needed it most, in his first 3 weeks of life…after that, I got barely any and eventually had to stop pumping all together because I was making myself sick. It was a devastating decision for me, because I felt I would be judged for not breast feeding, however, I now realize I am not a bad mom. If you choose not to or can’t breast feed, it does not make you a bad mom.

i am the mother of 5 very healthy grown children that were not breastfeed. i feel there is too much pressure placed on mothers to breastfeed. i have seen mothers who aren’t that healthy and smoke breastfeed their children does this mean that those children are going to be healthier than a nonbreastfeed child? it should be a mother’s choice and she should not be made to feel like a failure or a bad mother because she chooses not to breastfeed.

I was induced early due to me being a diabetic.  Unfortunately my milk had not come in and they tried their best not to feed my son a bottle for as long as they could.  With me having a c-section I was in the hospital recovering for a couple days and they fed him through a syringe.  I pumped my milk for 4 months when it finally came in and he received breastmilk for that long.  Unfortunately, I had to pump everytime he was eating so I was missing out on feeding him which bothered me alot.  That is when I stopped pumping and gave him the breastmilk that I had stored in the freezer and later gave him formula.  I think there is so much pressure for us to feed our children breastmilk and to be honest… I think formula is just as good.

Sorry, but formula is not just as good. I’m a milk donor to the Mother’s Milk Bank of Ohio, and nurse my 29 month old daughter.

It is absolutely NOT NORMAL to give a human baby the milk of another species of animal. It’s not even natural for human adults to be still drinking milk of any kind- milk is meant for the young offspring of a mammal. Not all human cultures drink milk or eat dairy. 

Not that long ago, if a woman died or didn’t make milk for her baby, the baby was fed by a wet nurse, still getting human milk.  They weren’t given horse, cow, goat or dog milk.

Why cow’s milk- goat’s is closer in composition to human milk?

I don’t see breastfeeding as a choice. We are mammals, after all. We’re named after our mammary glands, which are the milk producing parts of the body.  If we weren’t meant to nurse our young, then we as a species wouldn’t still be here.

Oh, and I was formula fed. had allergies to all of them and was a sick baby, sick through childhood and get sick easily now.

I think the problem today is that for-profit companies have convinced medical doctors (whom they provide with cash and other incentives) to convince women and families that artificial baby milk is “just as good”. 

Think about it. Nobody really profits if you breastfeed. Maybe Medela profits if you buy a pump. But there’s no real money to be made by breastfeeding, so no one is marketing it.

Ellie,

Here’s the straight scoop directly from the horse’s mouth - my mouth, that is - single mother of four daughters, including a set of twins and you guessed it, I’m a lactation specialist.

I exclusively breastfed my single order children and my twins were formula-fed.  And guess what??! All four of my daughters are 4.2 GPA students. Imagine that. :-)

All four of my girls had their fair share of coughs, colds, and ear infections.  Not exactly a revelation, is it? :-) Oh, and by the way, they all have flawless complexions.

And, to top it all off ...

I was a formula-fed baby and I think I turned out all right!  Yep, that’s right - raised on formula and still managed to get a degree in radiology and OB health education.  Amazing, isn’t it?

As a lactation specialist, I advise moms-to-be and new moms to keep an open mind about feeding issues.  It’s simply a personal choice.  As of late, I’m finding a lot of moms who are choosing to do a little of both (breast milk & formula) and I think that’s a fabulous idea!