Katie Price (shown above bottle-feeding son Harvey in 2002) is taking some shit for not breastfeeding. Which, you know, is to be expected. Nursing is one of those areas of motherhood where people feel totally comfortable telling each other what they should and should not do, regardless of whether it's any of their business. This, because many people view breastfeeding as a clear and absolute moral choice, akin to the decision to not kill puppies or run over people with your car. Breastfeeding = good; bottle-feeding = evil.

But the issue with Katie Price is not just that she has chosen to not breastfeed, it's that she has been vocal and visible in her choice to not breastfeed. She loudly proclaims her happiness with her decision, and her discomfort with the very idea of breastfeeding, and she poses for pictures bottlefeeding her young. This, say the Boobie Police, amounts to a promotion of bottle-feeding, and is downright dangerous. It might send the message that bottle-feeding is - oh the horror - okay.

Look: we all know that breast is best. We also know that it's best that babies and toddlers not watch television and that they never eat sweets and that they only eat homegrown organic fruits and veggies and that they have their parents' undivided attention at all times and that they never see or hear the name 'Elmo.' But the reality of parenthood is that we can rarely if ever hit the benchmark of 'best', and that it can sometimes be more damaging to pressure ourselves to strive to for that benchmark than to allow ourselves some shortcuts. I'm all for promoting breastfeeding as the best choice possible for nourishing babies - but I'm not for sending the message to mothers that they're grossly negligent if they don't breastfeed.

Snark on Katie all you want for being a silly, be-siliconed tart, but please? Leave the milk-jugs out of it.