Replies to '10/07 The Latest Debates'

While reading your post, you had me agreeing and nodding my head...all the way up to the 3rd from the last line.  What on earth makes you such an expert as to say that?  When my daughter was born 15 years ago, mothers (especially new mothers) were made to feel like a failure if they didn't breastfeed.  So, wanting to be the best mother I could possibly be, I tried.  For 3 weeks I had a screaming, crying, totally upset baby attached to my chest.  I contacted the breastfeeding support group at the hospital where she was born, not once but numerous times and was told, every single time, NOT to supplement her with a bottle and to keep her on the breast only.  I remember sitting and rocking her at 3:00 a.m., tears running down my face, wondering how I could make this screaming object shut up.  Finally after 3 weeks I went back to MY doctor who immediately saw how horribly wrong everything was going and insisted that, for my physical and mental health as well as the health of my baby, I put her on formula.  It was like having a totally different child.  As soon as she got her tummy full she slept through the night and was a joy to have.  Preaching that "ignorance, stress and lack of support" is the cause of not enough milk is the most absurd statement I have ever heard.  My mother had 4 children over a period of 19 years.  She could have been a wet nurse with me and my sister; with both of the boys (who were born in the middle) she had NOTHING.  Needless to say when my son was born 3 1/2 years later, I vividly remembered the hell I went through and put him on formula immediately.  Both of my children are well adjusted, of well-above normal intelligence and are extremely loving, generous and kind.  I think if a woman enjoys the breastfeeding and is capable of providing for her child, it's a wonderful, precious thing.  But don't you dare make statements you are not capable of backing up, just to make yourself feel better.   

Michelle 

Bloomington, IN