Comments on: “Case Against Breastfeeding” Overlooks Big Dirty Secret

By: Stop Workplace Discrimination Against Breastfeeding Mothers | Best for Babes

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 05:41:39 +0000

[...] the smug that just makes me really mad), then please read that post or the one I wrote for Mom’s Rising. The reality is that moms are being urged (and sometimes not very nicely) to breastfeed at the [...]

By: How #Breastfeeding is Like Fishing | Best for Babes

How #Breastfeeding is Like Fishing | Best for Babes — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 05:37:38 +0000

[...] mothers are learning how to breastfeed. (For more about the “booby traps”, see our Moms Rising piece in response to Hannah Rosin, our Martin Luther King Day inspired post, and hey, we even wrote a song: The Twelve Breastfeeding [...]

By: 1st-Time Mommy

1st-Time Mommy — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 23:48:36 +0000

I strongly believe in parents’ choice in how their child is fed. There is only one major thing that bothers me about the vehemently pro-breastfeeding camp…

Do you really think there isn’t a “big business” associated with breastfeeding? http://8poundpreemie.blogspot.com/2011/01/big-business-of-breastfeeding.html

By: Anita

Anita — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 19:03:54 +0000

@Kwistina- So happy for you that your son is thriving after being born prematurely and that you’ve been able to breastfeed successfully!

By: Kwistina

Kwistina — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 11:00:37 +0000

@tlawrie, would you mind elaborating? I can see how that would easily fit into both viewpoints.

By: Kwistina

Kwistina — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 10:57:39 +0000

@Melissa, you are so right! My son is seven months now, and I pumped for 4 months until he finally had enough wet diapers that i felt comfortable breastfeeding without the pump. My son was born early, and honestly, the only thing that kept me going was my sister in law constantly nagging me to use formula, lol!!

My son is thriving, healthy, and I can feel the change in our relationship. I no longer feel like the nanny, I sleep better, and my son seems to enjoy the interaction as much as I do.

. . . and we still get samples and coupons and emails to “switch to formula”. I find it funny that the new labels say “almost as good as breastmilk”, I’m breastfeeding, and people like to insist that I should stop BF. I’ve even been giving cans of formula from other people who don’t seem to understand what I mean when I tell them we are BF!

By: Kwistina

Kwistina — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 10:50:33 +0000

@Vanessa, My heart goes out for you-I did the exact same thing. My son was born 6 weeks early, and in spite of a good latch, he wasn’t able to eat enough to exclusively breastfeed. I pumped every 3 hours round the clock, bottle fed him every two, for 4 months. I completely understand where you are coming from, and cannot imagine having to take care of twins!!

On the flip side, this article makes a huge point about lack of resources. My sister has seven children of her own, amongst them a set of twins. When we talk of situations like yours, she grieves that so many mothers have so little support or even quality resources. She ultimately helped me graduate my son into breastfeeding and he is now 7 months old and thriving! I wouldn’t change it for the world-although i might do without the four months of insomnia, and yes, the marital stress as well, lol

By: Celeste

Celeste — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 19:37:47 +0000

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.

By: erin

erin — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 01:47:28 +0000

@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.

By: The Costs of Pumping « The Mama Bee

The Costs of Pumping « The Mama Bee — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 17:01:45 +0000

[...] Bettina Forbes at MomsRising wrote an excellent response to Hanna Rosin’s Atlantic piece — much of this is also relevant to the Ruth Mantell article. [...]