“Case Against Breastfeeding” Overlooks Big Dirty Secret
Posted March 17th, 2009 by Bettina ForbesHere’s what Hanna Rosin is missing in “The Case Against Breastfeeding”: Moms are being urged to breastfeed but set up to fail.
Ms. Rosin finds that breastfeeding no longer works in her life and doesn’t want to be made to feel guilty about not breastfeeding her third child. Unfortunately, instead of examining why it doesn’t work, and why something that can be so easy, pleasurable and beneficial is being made so difficult, Ms. Rosin conducts a selective, cursory review of the scientific literature, concluding that the evidence is “thin” in favor of breastfeeding, a point of view that was furthered on the Today Show.
We all agree that mothers should not be made to feel guilty, whether they choose to breastfeed or not. What would be far more helpful, though, is to ensure that expecting parents have the best, evidence-based information to make their decisions on how to feed their babies, and that they can actually carry out that decision without constant interference. For the 74% of mothers who want to breastfeed, that is simply not the case. Many women throw in the towel before they want to—according to CDC data, 60% do not meet their personal breastfeeding goals, and only 11% meet the minimum six months of exclusive breastfeeding recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). They unfairly blame themselves and lash out at other mothers, instead of at the “booby traps”—the cultural and institutional barriers that are tripping them up at every turn.
As soon as an expecting woman tells her doctor that she plans to breastfeed, she starts receiving formula samples and coupons in the mail—coupons and samples which her friends who checked off that they do not plan to breastfeed will not get. She will probably have taken a childbirth education class, while a breastfeeding class is optional at best. She’ll expect to receive breastfeeding support in the hospital; she won’t know that in fact, “most hospitals perform poorly on breastfeeding support”. She won’t know that only 3% of the 3,000 maternity centers in the U.S. are designated “baby friendly” and follow a protocol proven to result in breastfeeding success.
While in the hospital, 25% of babies will be supplemented with food other than breastmilk, whether or not there is medical indication and often irrespective of parental request. Mom and baby will leave the hospital before the mother’s milk has fully come in and before breastfeeding is established. 70% of mothers will receive a diaper bag filled with more formula samples and coupons—a practice known to be highly effective in undermining breastfeeding duration. At home, the new mother will be subject to disapproval from family, peers and a society that normalizes bottle-feeding.
Having received insufficient support in the hospital, the mother will probably need to find a lactation counselor to address unnecessary breastfeeding complications. Unfortunately, professional help is not only scarce in some areas, but often not covered by health insurance. While the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the AAP both recommend exclusive breastfeeding for a minimum of six months, it seems that neither organization requires that doctors be trained in even the basics of breastfeeding support (such as latching in the first hour, or referring patients to lactation counselors or support groups as needed). Finally, if moms manage to make it through the gauntlet of the first few weeks, they face discrimination in public, and from stores, restaurants, airports, and employers. The U.S. has the worst maternity leave policy of any industrialized nation, despite evidence that breastfeeding benefits employers.
No wonder women like Rosin and her friends are ticked off (although their anger is misplaced); breastfeeding has become a lot harder than it is supposed to be! Worse, too many have a miserable experience breastfeeding. The longer we let women suffer through unnecessarily difficult nursing experiences without removing these barriers or “booby traps,” the more disgruntled they will become, the more likely they will be turned off by the nursing experience altogether, judge each other, and miss what can be a wonderful part of motherhood.
As for the scientific debate, Tanya Lieberman, IBCLC does a great job listing the facts, and I’m sure the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine has more to say.
I do find it hard to believe that the World Health Organization, Unicef, the AAP, hundreds of respected scientists and doctors as well as every other medical and scientific body would go so far to promote breastfeeding if the evidence were as marginal as Ms. Rosin asserts. Consider that there is no financial gain to be had for promoting breastfeeding, there are no kick backs to be had, funding for a hospital’s NICU, or charitable donations for “causes” that breastfeeding actually protects against. The converse can not be said to be true, the deep pockets and lobbying power of the formula industry and the pharmaceutical companies that own them are well-known.
Instead of ending the mommy wars, it seems that Ms. Rosin has only added fuel to the fire. We hope it’s an opportunity to put heat on the barriers that are undermining us all.
(Author’s note: Special thanks to Melissa Bartick, M.D., Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC, and Cindy Turner-Maffei, MA, IBCLC.)
40 Comments
I trully believe that breast feeding is a personal choice. I also believe that breastfeeding is the best choice for your baby. Not only because of the thousands of benefits it has for the mother AND their child, but the unbreakable relationship that mother & child gain with just a few short minutes, a few times a day. Someone, anyone, please tell me how formula derived from a cow, a plant, or other source, is better or even equal to human milk for a human child?
I think it is trully horrible how America’s society treats breastfeeding mothers. It’s terrible that most of our society treats breastfeeding as a private, sometimes shamefull, act, or as sexual because it involves a woman’s exposed breast. Weren’t breasts created for that single purpose?
I am a stubborn breastfeeding mother who has beaten the odds. I got no support from nursing staff while in the hospital, I was told by nursing staff that using a pacifier “would inprove my infant’s suck”. Which is completely bogus, I had latching problems afterward for weeks. I still get formula samples & coupons bi-weekly & my daughter is 4mths old. & if I chose to go back to work, I would have to pump in a staff bathroom. I would have to sit on the toilet in a disgusting, cramped, smelly bathroom & I’d have to use my 30 minute lunch break to do it. I have dealt with over 10 clogged ducts, reynaud’s of the nipple, engorgment & a number of different trials & tribulations & I am still a breastfeeding mother.
It doesn’t make sense to me how someone can say that breastfeeding “no longer works in their life”. How does it not? How convenient is it make sure u have enough formula & clean bottles & nursing water when u go visit family or go to the grocery store? How convenient is it at 2am to heat up water & mix a bottle when ur child is screaming? Breastfeeding is the most convenient thing about being a mother. My boobs are built in bottles & the kitchen is always stocked, ready, & available. lol I never have to worry about having enough money to buy formula or making sure that I have enough, or making sure that I’ve cleaned the bottles appropriately.
The benefits for the mother AND the child are amazing! Just to name a few, breastfeeding helps produce oxytocin which is emitted while being intimate, yes sex included but it’s emitted during just intimacy too. Oxytocin ALSO helps in contracting the uterus back to it’s “pre-baby” size, which aides in reducing the risks of postpartum hemmorage. Breastfeeding mothers get oxytocin EVERY TIME they nurse. Formula mothers only get it immediatley after birth, in hospital.New mothers carry a big risk for hemmorage for weeks after birth! It also reduces a woman’s risk for breast cancer by up 50%. It also reduces the mother’s risks for reproductive cancers as well. As for the baby, human milk is low residue, so the baby actually uses almost all of what they take in, formula is not. Hence the dramatic differences between breastfed baby poops vs formula fed baby poops. The baby also attains some of mom’s immunities, that’s why if mom gets a nasty cold, baby does not. Breastmilk also has some antibacterial properties. Not to mention, breastmilk is free & breastfed babies save their parents a ton in healthcare costs. It is proven that breastfed babies have less ear infections, colds, virus’, etc. Reason being- when a breastfed baby spits up, some of the milk goes into their nose & eustachian tubes. The antibacterial properties in the regurgitated breastmilk do their thing & viola, less ear infections and colds! There are thousands of other benefits to human milk & breastfeeding, but my post is long enough.
Anyone that believes there is no difference or even little difference between breastmilk & formula is horribly misinformed. It saddens me that even after succeeding everything I’ve been through with breastfeeding, I am still being undermined. I can’t help but take it personally.
[Reply]
December 29, 2009 at 9:38 pm by VanessaI have to say that Hanna Rosin’s article was a breath
of fresh air. I’m the mother of 7 month twin boys and have
been feeding them expressed breastmilk since birth. Since
I live in Oregon I had tons of resources at my
disposal all of which I utilized. But the fact of the matter is
despite all my efforts my boys never latched well. So I turned
to pumping. But that was an exhausting enterprise and I’m
not at all convinced that it was worth the time away from my babies.
Yet from many of the breastfeeding advisors I was made to feel
guilty if I didn’t make the sacrifice. At the 6 month mark, seeing how
breastfeeding was depleting my energy (it exhausted me so much
and I couldn’t keep up with my own nutrition) I decided to cut my
pumping time in half. Guess what? We three thrived. My energy returned,
the boys may have gotten less milk but it was better quality and my relation
ship with my husband improved since I wasn’t spending all my free time pumping. Breastfeeding is just one aspect of the mother-child relationship.
To continue breastfeeding at the expense of the others is not good parenting.
[Reply]
November 3, 2009 at 3:10 pm by MelissaIt does not surprise me that even a gentle article like this has obviously been misinterpreted by some as just another attack on mothers who just plain don’t want to breastfeed. Did they not see the statistic that almost 80 percent of women WANT to breastfeed but only 11 percent exclusively do at 6 months? Obviously those who do NOT want to breastfeed are a minority. Hooray for you, you’d rather have your “career.” You’d rather pay someone s else nourish and take care of your infant.
As this article beautifully points out, something has been broken and this article points those things out as “booby traps.” Any nursing mother, myself included can tell you story upon story of a time when something made nursing difficult. I, myself am stubborn, and I was going to breastfeed come hell or high water. Now what I did not know was that my son would have to be in the NICU for 12 days. The NICU did everything they could possibly do to try to make breastfeeding impossible. Sure they support breastmilk- pumped off unit and delivered, only. So I know the depth of difficulty but in other ways I have had it easy. A supporting family, an understanding workplace, $80 a month to rent a hospital grade pump, and my own sheer determination.
I know I am doing something amazing for myself and my son. I wish that the greater society would understand that nursing isn’t just about nutrition (although it is the world’s finest), it’s about the relationship that you build between you and your child. I would like to say in fact my son is as great as he is today because I have nursed him now for 9 months. My goal is a year minimum.
I don’t know if others feel the same as I do but I hate when people say there is no difference between formula and breastmilk, no difference between nursing and bottlefeeding, and then throw in a story about all the people that they know who were formula fed and are 1. healthy as a horse 2. the smartest person alive and 3. Well adjusted. It completely undermines all the work and effort that I have had to put into nursing my child in this nursing-unfriendly society. If it was all just the same, I would probably opt to formula feed.
[Reply]
erin Reply:
June 30th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
@Melissa,
Ok. I wasn’t breastfed and neither was my husband. We are both healthy “as a horse” well adjusted…very much so, and both have college degrees and good jobs. My sweet baby girl is 10 months and I only breastfed for 1. It was one of the most horrible experiences of my life. It was not bonding, it was painful. She didn’t gain weight. I developed PPD. As soon as I quit breastfeeding all of that went away. She has never been sick, she is ahead in ever milestone. She is perfect. So no, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you do what works for you and your individual child.
[Reply]
Nice article you got here. I’d like to read a bit more about this matter.
[Reply]
August 20, 2009 at 4:16 pm by Mary Ann HallI believe that some of the issue here is being overlooked. This is not just an issue of feeding. I happen to be a breastfeeder and all of my grandchildren were or are being breastfed. I am also a retired La Leche League leader. I was taught that LLL is one of the few protectors of the mother-baby bond and relationship. Some people seem to have forgotten that this is not just about feeding(in any way) or any other single act performed between a parent and child. This is about a parent’s presence with the child. A mother who ‘chooses’ to work outside the home (as opposed to one who is forced to by means beyond her immediate control) gives her parenting up to others who may not parent her child in the way in which she feels is appropriate. This certainly also includes feeding and a host of other issues. It continuously amazes me that people have children and then as quickly and as often as possible, choose to leave them. Many mothers who want to can stay home with careful planning and support. From a feminist view, we CAN have it all but we cannot have it all at once. It speaks poorly of our society that children in the United States are not valued for their presence, let alone the way they are fed.
[Reply]
Leave a Comment