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Strollerderby
A breastfeeding support poster from 1937
Do we really need more support for breastfeeding? The “Breast Is Best” slogan has thoroughly permeated our culture. Moms who use formula report feeling pressured and guilt-tripped for their choices. Women whose babies can’t nurse often go to extreme lengths to provide breastmilk via exclusive pumping and donated milk. We’ve been inundated with the message that the best food for babies is the stuff our bodies make for them.
Yet breastfeeding rates are still well below what they should be. Clearly, something is missing from all this “support” for nursing mothers.
Breastfeeding doesn't have to suck
I loved breastfeeding. Many of my best memories of mothering my babies involve nursing them. I loved it because it brought us closer and helped us bond. I loved it because it was easy and convenient. I loved it because I knew I was giving my kids the best nutritional start in life.
I’m not shy about the fact that I breastfed my first kid for five years. But I normally don’t talk about how easy and fun it was for me because there are enough high-pressure messages out there telling women that breast is best and they’d better do it.
Today, though, I want to sing about it from the rafters. Breastfeeding is awesome. At least, it can be. You wouldn’t know it from reading the blogosphere this afternoon, though.
Bottle feeding is the better alternative for some babies.
There is no disputing the many inherent health benefits that breastfeeding promotes, for both baby and mom, but in some cases it’s just not optimal. In some cases, it should be discouraged.
Stephanie Greene is one such case.
With all the furor over public breastfeeding going on, it’s a good time to take a look at another issue: problems breastfeeding.
Some women just can’t breastfeed. The baby won’t latch, the milk never comes in, their nipples are the wrong shape. A host of problems can crop up that get between a mama and her best intentions when it comes to feeding her baby.
For women who have milk but can’t get it into the baby by the usual method, there’s an unusual option: exclusive pumping. This means you pump breastmilk for your baby all day long, and instead of getting it straight from the source, your child drinks your milk from a bottle or a feeding tube. Sounds crazy? Maybe. Exhausting? Definitely. But a lot of women do it.
In a revealing essay on Babble, Laura Moser talks about why she went for exclusive pumping, and why she stopped.
Just as I predicted last week, the little city of Forest Park, Ga., is seeing a whole lot of angry mamas baring their breasts in protest over the new breastfeeding ban the city put in place.
Moms staged a nurse-in at Forest Park’s city hall, with about 200 women showing up at the protest. That’s probably more exposed breasts than the city has ever seen at one time before. Nice going, city officials. You’ve really put a stop to your public nudity problem now.
The city may revise their new law in two weeks, and is considering doing so to remove the language about breastfeeding. If they don’t, I foresee plenty more nurse-ins at the city hall. Breastfeeding women don’t like being told when and where they can feed their babies. We like to feed them when they’re hungry, just like bottle-feeding parents do. There’s nothing lewd about using a breast for it’s evolutionary purpose.
Does breastfeeding enhance bonding?
One more reason to believe breast is best: a new study suggests that moms who breastfeed bond better with their babies.
By watching moms’ brains light up in an fMRI while listening to infants crying, they found that all moms reacted more strongly to their own child’s cry than that of another baby. The breastfeeding moms had a much more pronounced reaction though, suggesting a stronger bond with their infant.
Before you leap on this bit of data as proof that breastfeeding is the only way to go, researchers caution that it’s hardly conclusive.
![breastmilkbaby Kathie Lee Suckles Breastfeeding Baby Doll on Today [VIDEO]](http://cdn.babble.com/strollerderby/files/2011/05/breastmilkbaby.png "Kathie Lee Suckles Breastfeeding Baby Doll on Today [VIDEO]")
Breast Milk Baby in action
“Breast Milk Baby”, the controversial breastfeeding baby doll, is back in the spotlight. On this morning’s Today show, host Kathie Lee tried out the doll by allowing it to faux nurse at her own breast. Discomfort ensued, especially on Hoda Kotbe’s part. “Something’s just so weird about what’s happening right now.” said the host, questioning whether little girls should really be practicing how to breastfeed.
I know there are plenty of people who agree with her. But I’m not one of them. Like Kathie Lee, I think this doll is a perfectly fine idea—and, as she pointed out, no worse than little girls playing with Barbie, who is, she noted, “fully matured, if you know what I mean”. I’ll go even further: I actually think playing with this breastfeeding doll could help balance the view of women’s bodies girls get from Barbie (among other things).
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