Breastfeeding is back in style people. Even the mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, is on board. It looks like he'll be spending about two million dollars to promote breastfeeding in city run hospitals. That's great! Everyone knows that the colostrum that a baby gets from his or her mother for the first six weeks cannot be replicated. I have heard horror stories about mothers that wanted to breastfeed and couldn't get the support that they needed when their child was first born.
Thomas Frieden, New York's Health Commissioner, thinks that babies should dine on nothing but their mother's milk for six months. Um. Okay. Can you regulate that? I'm pretty sure my kids were both eating solid food before they turned six months old.
Plus, what about the Mom's that have to go back to work? Is the city going to provide them with breast pumps and a bonus freezer? What about the even more elusive nice private place to pump at work? I have another question for Mr. Frieden. What about the people that have quadruplets? Do they get a pass? Can they supplement? What if your body doesn't make enough milk? If there isn't any formula in the nurseries, what happens if the mother dies?
Okay, I'm playing devil's advocate here. I am hugely pro-breastfeeding. I nursed (although not exclusively) my twins for nine months and I would have done it a lot longer if they hadn't weaned themselves. This is a wonderful program for New York and I hope other cities follow suit in promoting (but not forcing) women to breastfeed their babies.
