Milk

So two of my friends, who do not know each other, both wrote blogs today about breastfeeding. Was there something in the news I missed yesterday? One, I feel, is a realistic account of what it is like to breastfeed, which I appreciate because I feel like people don't really talk about it. They just talk about how great it is for the baby. The other one is a shout out to support breastfeeding and how our culture doesn't really support it. Now, I don't want to into too much detail about breastfeeding, mostly because people like my dad read this and it makes me feel a little awkward. However, I feel like I need to respond.

I intend to breastfeed. I know full well that some women have problems and I think that if it is not possible to breastfeed, there is absolutely nothing wrong with giving your baby formula (I don't think anyone's blog was saying there was). But I do feel (and I think this comes from my husband being a pediatrician and seeing this first-hand) that some people make mothers feel bad when they are not able to breastfeed and when it doesn't come easily. It makes them feel like a failure and there are a lot of things to feel like a failure about already with a new baby. Women also don't have the support they used to have when having a baby. I mean, there is a whole generation who were bottle fed because people were saying it was better than breastfeeding. Some of our moms don't know how to breastfeed and it seems like something that should just come naturally. But it doesn't always. That's all I'm saying. I'm all for the better conditions for mothers to make it happen and for people to not be so weird about public feeding. However, there is a perfectly nutitional alternative if it is causing too much stress in an already stressful time.