I stumbled upon a blog that had a good post and then it also pointed to a good article. I've been working on my own article on bottle feeding, encouraging bottle feeding mothers rather than bashing them. Here are some good quotes from the articles. The links are below the quotes:
"One afternoon at the playground last summer, shortly after the birth of my third child, I made the mistake of idly musing about breast-feeding to a group of new mothers I’d just met. This time around, I said, I was considering cutting it off after a month or so. At this remark, the air of insta-friendship we had established cooled into an icy politeness, and the mothers shortly wandered away to chase little Emma or Liam onto the slide. Just to be perverse, over the next few weeks I tried this experiment again several more times. The reaction was always the same: circles were redrawn such that I ended up in the class of mom who, in a pinch, might feed her baby mashed-up Chicken McNuggets." So true!!!! I have faced this a few times (luckily my friends and small group are totally supportive of me, so they haven't done this) only in Christian circles it's a look of disapproval and a hint that a lactation specialist is all you need.
"After a couple of hours, the basic pattern became obvious: the medical literature looks nothing like the popular literature. It shows that breast-feeding is probably, maybe, a little better; but it is far from the stampede of evidence that Sears describes. More like tiny, unsure baby steps: two forward, two back, with much meandering and bumping into walls. A couple of studies will show fewer allergies, and then the next one will turn up no difference. Same with mother-infant bonding, IQ, leukemia, cholesterol, diabetes. Even where consensus is mounting, the meta studies—reviews of existing studies—consistently complain about biases, missing evidence, and other major flaws in study design. 'The studies do not demonstrate a universal phenomenon, in which one method is superior to another in all instances,' concluded one of the first, and still one of the broadest, meta studies, in a 1984 issue of Pediatrics, 'and they do not support making a mother feel that she is doing psychological harm to her child if she is unable or unwilling to breastfeed.' Twenty-five years later, the picture hasn’t changed all that much. So how is it that every mother I know has become a breast-feeding fascist?" Good question! In general, our culture is on a breastfeeding bandwagon. It would be nice to see bottle feeding mothers supported at times.
Breastfeeding and Postpartum Depression
The Case Against Breastfeeding (Unfortunately the article title is misleading. The article does not say don't breastfeed, but merely tackles why it's okay not to breastfeed).
NOTE: Please don't be offended by my post. It is not intended to offend or to say breastfeeding is bad. It is simply the outpouring of a heart that wishes to support bottle feeding mothers in a culture that at the least ignores them and at the worst excludes them. Since I have gone through the pain of postpartum depression and having to bottle feed I now understand bottle feeding mothers and wish to encourage them with my own discoveries and story. I am not against breastfeeding at all. I think people who breastfeed are blessed.
Mommy and Her Girls
About this blog
This is my blog to share about anything and everything mommy! Feel free to enjoy following me on my mommy journey and to comment, encourage and pray as you feel led along the way.
About Me
- Carissa
- I have been married for thirteen years and I am the mother of two daughters. I'm taking a break from being a teacher at a Christian school to be a stay-at-home mom. Most importantly, I'm a dedicated Follower of Christ.
3 comments:
I believe you had excellent reason to not breastfeed but nothing man makes can even come close to being the same or equal to what God makes. I was strongly encouraged to not breastfeed before my first child was born so I spent the duration of my pregnancy researching. I found overwhelming evidence to support breastmilk as the best food for an infant. I understand what this woman is saying but it has probably become an emotional issue. The choice to breastfeed is usually just that....a choice. We all have tendecies towards friendships with others based on their choices but please do not belittle breastfeeding. It is a gift from God and simply should not be degraded. We all recieve different gifts from th Father and there is no need to justify why others recieve while we don't. Your blessings are not mine and mine are not yours but please don't belittle mine bc u have not recieved them.
If I could have I would have LOVED to breastfeed for a whole year. I wish I could! I think there are lots of good things that come with breastfeeding. However, if you read the second article, the author details all the research on breastfeeding and has discovered that it does not give a child such an enormous leap ahead as has been touted by the media. She, in fact, said that it does give a slight advantage. But this fact has meant that many mothers have been subjected to judgment if they do not breastfeed. My intention in this post is NOT to belittle breastfeeding at all. My intention is to point out the way that bottle feeding mothers are treated. We are RARELY encouraged. I want to encourage mothers who have to bottle feed. THAT is my intention. This post was not written in a way to even put down breastfeeding at all. It was to bring awareness to the fact that bottle feeding mothers are not subjecting their babies to bad health and don't mash up chicken nuggets to feed them :-D
Anonymous:
I think you misread Carissa's words if you think she is belittling breastfeeding. Her point is that there are many inaccuracies that have been and continue to be perpetuated about breastfeeding that are used by militant breastfeeding advocates to humiliate, bully, and deride mothers who do not -- for whatever reasons -- breastfeed.
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I had a militant breastfeeding advocate accuse me of neglecting my daughter when I opted to pump and use the bottle instead of the breast. Thank God that was the decision I made for my daughter after much prayer, because the "safe" anti-depressant I was on was detrimental to my child and she had to be switched to formula because of the adverse reaction she was having to my tainted breastmilk. I am thankful that she learned to take a bottle from the beginning, because the 6-week nightmare we had trying to figure out what was wrong with her would have been made even worse had she not known how to take a bottle and had to make that transition because I was medically incapable of feeding her my milk.
I will do the same with my son (who is due any day now), because of my history with PPD. I am currently not on an anti-depressant, but in the event that I need to be on one again, I would rather my child be able to eat than go hungry for days learning to switch from the breast to the bottle because I can't give him my milk.
Bottom line, I think we all need to remember that these decisions are very personal, emotional, and sensitive decisions. Any judgment or militant attitude from either side does nothing to support mothers and their babies. We should seek to edify one another and respect each other's choices. Unfortunately, the breastfeeding camp, by and large, opts not to extend grace. Instead, they tend to bully, judge, marginalize, and humiliate women who bottle feed -- even when we have legitimate reasons to bottle feed.
Rarely have I ever met a bottle feeding mom who bullied, judged, marginalized, or humiliated a breastfeeding mother.
In fact, I can't recall a single bottlefeeding mother who has done that...
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