Ok, I’m laughing right now. Yes, the title of my post sounds… mean? It’s not really but I’ll explain later.
I can’t stress enough the idea of being “plugged” in, specifically as a parent I’ve found during my last pregnancy how much better life as a parent can be when you’re in touch with other like minded parents. One of the first things I did upon finding out we were expecting was to download a pregnancy tracker app onto my phone. At first, I was just curious as to the progress of the growth of our little “bean”. Then I discovered the app linked me to a parenting group.
That February 2012 group changed my life. NO JOKE. I learned about modern cloth diapering, baby led weaning and a bunch of abbreviations including EBF (exclusively breast feeding). All of these stuck with me. Most importantly, EBF. I knew I would be lucky enough to stay at home with this baby, a luxury I didn’t have with my first. I knew I would be breast feeding but I didn’t know I could do it full time, 100% of the time. I had automatically assumed that when you breast feed its normal to supplement with formula.
Now, this post is not meant to be preachy. If you’ve read my post on encouragement for breastfeeding moms you’ll know that I only mean well. I am more than well aware of women who give birth to preemies who just can’t latch on, women who suffer from low or no supply, moms who have to take medication and are unable to breast feed, etc. What bothers me is an uninformed decision to not breast feed, reasons like: “I don’t want my boobs to sag” or “I don’t want to be chained to my baby”. These reasons are stupid simply because they are wrong. A quick search on medical information linking breast feeding to breast sagging will inform you that nursing has little to no effect on the sagging of breasts. Actually, you’re breasts are more likely to sag from being pregnant rather than nursing. Being chained to a baby? Well I suppose that is just how you look at it. I exclusively breast feed and I do not feel chained to my baby, I can pump and have someone else feed him but for the most part I love knowing that only I physically provide his primary source of nutrition.
I try to look at things in the larger scope of life. Babies are only babies for one year… then you’ve got a crawling-running-real-food-eating-toddler!
Yes, breast feeding is the most natural way to feed your child. No, it is not for everyone. I just wish some women would discontinue the use of bullshit reasons for not breast feeding their babies. Before you give a vain and selfish excuse for not providing your child with the best nutrition they can receive, at least do a little research 😉
fioraliz.com 
Its the difference betwern eating a spinach salad or a kale salad. Sure plenty of studies claim a higher nutrition profile to kale over spinach so I might think kale is the way to go, but both are adequete and healthy choices so if I was required to have someone clamped to my breast and suffer pain discomfort cracked skin etc in order to attain the kale salad while the spinach was widely available with none of thos drawbacks I’d have to be an idiot to choose kale over spinach. The only reason the breastfeeding discussion doesnt reach the same conclusion is that people think babies are more important/valuable than mothers and thats because mothers are always female wheras babies could be male or female, and we live in patriarchy. On the otherhand if I was terribly poor and the kale was free but the spinach had to be store bought I might consider the financial burden against the physical and personal burdon and decide which of my needs is greatest but whatever choice is best for individual mums (maybe they want to share parental duties with thr fathe evenly, formula makes this possible in infancy) should be decided based on the mothers needs and desires becaus the consequences to her are far greater than the consequences to a person eating spinach rather than kale, the baby is fucking fine either way basically and hello every persons life is of equal value, male or female, young or old.
You lost me at comparing breastmilk vs. formula being the same as kale vs. spinach. You are talking about possibly the most natural, nutrient rich substance that builds humans vs. something made in a lab derived from cows milk. Here are few things breastmilk contains since you seem to be grossly uneducated on the subject: self digesting fats, the exact sugar-ratio-fats that an infant needs, antibodies to pathogens in the baby’s environment (synthesized by the mother within hours of coming into contact with said pathogens), hormones to support growth and regulate behavior, and stem cells. Yes, stem cells. So please do yourself a favor and never make such a ridiculous comparison ever again.
Also, this is not about equal rights and a baby having more rights than its mother, ultimately it is that mothers choice to nurse or not. Just like it was her choice to have that baby or not. There is a bigger issue here and part of it is this miseducation that formula is just as good as breastmilk. It is not. If you can’t breastfeed then you have a second option being formula. Just remember that breastmilk doesn’t get recalled. There is no corporation behind breastmilk working hard to sell it to you for their profit. These are things to think about.
I do believe there are few moms that can’t breastfeed, but the majority of woman can! I have breastfed 4 kids, and yes, there can be latching issues but it is fixable. I think a lot of woman just don’t have their whole heart into making it work, or expect to fail right from the get-go. If you believe you’re going to fail you will!
Hm, I’ll have to disagree with how “it’s not for everyone” because it SHOULD be for every baby. I can say that because I’m a breastfeeding snob as many take it. Snob or not, I advocate for babies, not for an uninformed choice by a mother making a decision so hastily and, yes, you said it, stupid. 😉
I agree, it should be for every baby… It’s unfortunate that not all moms see it that way.