Breastfeeding Support?
Choosing to breastfeed or formula feed is a personal decision that every mother must
make and every mother should be supported in whatever decision she feels is best. She should not feel pressured either way especially from her doctors or nurses. Both choices have yielded good end results, as I am sure we all know perfectly healthy, well rounded adults who were both breastfed and formula fed .
I am pro-breastfeeding and have breastfed all three of my babies. In doing research for this article, I was on a lot of breastfeeding advocacy websites and was really turned off by what I was reading. They condemn the formula companies for marketing to pregnant women (as if that is weird since pregnant women are their customers,) but have no problem pushing their own views by using guilt and intimidation. Here are a couple of links from
www.kellymom.com:
In an article titled : The Real Breastfeeding Issue Goes Far Beyond Mere Guilt by Cynthia Good Mojab, MS, she states:
"parents hear about the "benefits" of breastfeeding, as though they are perks above and beyond what mothers could want for themselves and their children. These "benefits" are measured against the poorer health outcomes of formula feeding-outcomes so common in the United States that they are seen as the "norm" by which we measure health."
In another article titled The Guilt Issue, by Nancy E. Wight, MD, FAAP, IBCLC: she states:
"disappointingly few women choose to breastfeed, and even fewer choose to continue beyond six months. The issue of "choice" is the logic artificial baby milk companies use to defend their products. Why would a rational adult, when presented with the choice between health and illness, choose illness? The truth is, the "choice" between breast and bottle is really a sham, with everything in our society pushing us towards bottle feeding."
These articles were on a breastfeeding SUPPORT website. This kind of language and rhetoric does not support anyone. The authors of the articles infer that choosing formula feeding is a death sentence for the babies. I would challenge them to produce a real study where ALL formula fed babies are sicker than their breastfeeding counterparts. If that were the case, then maybe we can start using such harsh language, but at this point, that's just not the reality of the situation.
I find it interesting that they say if a woman choosing formula has done her research and still decides to formula feed, that is ok because she is making an informed decision. They imply though that most moms who formula feed are not making informed decisions. What makes them think formula feeding mothers haven't done the research?They just could not imagine a mother deciding to formula feed under any circumstance. If they truly believe breastfeeding is best, why do they then use the same tactics they condemn formula companies for using? They claim formula companies trick women into breastfeeding by claiming formula is just a good as breast milk. So why do they want to trick women into breastfeeding by using, guilt, intimidation and questionable studies? We can support mothers who want to breastfeed without undermining those who do not want to breastfeed. When advocates start demonizing formula feeding and try to intimidate women to breastfeed at any cost, the message of the great benefits of breastfeeding gets lost in the hate of formula feeding mothers.
I am all for breastfeeding research and talking about the real benefits of breastfeeding, but some of these studies are grasping. This is a link to an article about a recent study done of breastfeeding:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6342ZG20100405It states:
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - If most new mothers could follow medical experts' recommendation to exclusively breastfeed for six months, the U.S. might save $13 billion in healthcare and other costs each year, a study published Monday suggests.
How they can even calculate something like this when they go on to say:
These types of studies cannot prove that breastfeeding itself prevents certain illnesses, because there may be other important differences between babies whose mothers breastfeed and those whose mothers do not -- though researchers try to account for those factors to the extent possible.
This statement alone contradicts the supposed outcome. Since the researchers did not account for other factors except whether a baby was breastfed or formula fed, how can they then place a monetary value on breastfeeding?
There's room to support ALL mothers in the decision to breastfeed or formula feed without all the hate.
Breastfeeding Support?
By: kate
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