"The great thing about the internet is that it allows women to connect with each
other to share information and experiences," said Jennifer Laycock, a Columbis,
Ohio, mother who blogs about her exclusive pumping on thelactivist. "Now
that I've been writing the site for a few years, I'm amazed at how much email
I get from readers who are thankful to have finally found someone who understands
their choice," she said.
A champion pumper — she donated twenty-seven gallons to a milk bank during
her
daughter's
first year — Laycock advocates for women she says are breastfeeding, just
not nursing, and sometimes getting flack from what she called "hard core
breastfeeders." As she sees it, mothers who pump are trying to do right
by their babies, often with very little support and compassion. And she's eager
to raise the profile of pumping, just as many nursing mothers have tried to
remove the stigma of
nursing
in
public: "I've pumped on planes, on subways, on tour
buses, in amusement parks, on a rifle range. You name it; I've probably pumped
there," said Laycock.
If some pumpers sound vaguely defensive, it's because they're tired
of explaining their choice. Women who have only nursed their children can have
a hard time understanding exclusive pumping, which many see as an overly mechanized
chore to achieve a natural end. Others, including husbands and relatives, urge
these women to use formula rather than embark on a grueling pumping schedule.
Even doctors may be less supportive of pumpers, who nevertheless feel they're
making
a medically responsible choice.
"I don't think there's any question" breast milk is superior
to formula, said Dr. Ruth Lawrence, a professor of pediatrics and expert on breastfeeding
at the University of Rochester. "I would opt for breast milk in a bottle
rather than no breast milk at all."
Still, she said, drinking pumped breast milk from a bottle differs considerably
from nursing. "Babies who suckle at the breast — that's the physiological
way to feed. The baby doesn't get the same kind of activity — tongue,
mouth, swallow — when it is feeding from the bottle." And, she added, "it's
been shown that the die is cast for obesity in the first year of life, and we
tend to overfeed babies when we bottle feed them." 
"I would opt for breast milk in a bottle rather than no breast milk at all." - Dr. Ruth Lawrence
The balance of foremilk and hindmilk that helps nursing babies
first satisfy their hunger, then feel full is missing when pumped milk mixes
in a bottle. And psychologically there can be more pressure to finish a bottle
when expressed
breast milk represents so much work for the mother.
Dr. Lawrence worries that most women aren't getting the proper support
when they set out to nurse their babies, and that some women find the idea so
distasteful they don't try. "Some women do it because they can't
envision the baby suckling at their breast. I suspect it has to do with our whole
modern attitude about the breast. It's become such a sex object."
Although there are certainly some women who exclusively pump because of such
attitudes, most come to it accidentally, through a combination of a bad start
at nursing and a conviction that breast milk is best, even if it doesn't
come "straight from the tap."
