Frankly Jen, if you watched the video accompanying the article, Rosin and her cohorts were the ones NOT being supportive. Since when is a bedroom “defiled” by nursing or pumping? In their little tete a tete, they did everything but compare a breastfeeding mother to a cow. That was after Rosin calling children “a pain.”

One has to wonder why she didn’t opt for a goldfish.

If it isn’t clear, I found her article scientifically and journalistically flawed, not even attempting objectivity, and Rosin herslef whiny and selfish, her group circling ’round and deferring to Queen Bee Dr. Mary themselves guilty of the very things Rosin claims to dislike about the breastfeeding moms.

Something about pots and kettles, perhaps.

As a new mother, I have a 5 month old, I was determined to breastfeed my baby. When we took my daughter in for her 3 day old check up it turned out that she had lost more of her birth weight than she was supposed to and her doctor recommended that we supplement with formula to get her weight up. I was devastated both by my inability to nurture my daughter and by the fact that I was being ordered to give her “poison.” I was so ashamed as well. I told another new mommy friend, in confidence, what had happened and it turned out she had been through the exact same thing with her son when he was born. But she had not confessed this to me until I told her, because of the stigma of giving her child formula. After we got my daughter’s weight up I was able to exclusively breast feed her, at first with the help of a nipple shield, due to latch issues, and then without the shield.
Since I have gone back to work I have continued to give her breast milk exclusively because I hope it is what is best for her health and development but have come to realize that it is not the panacea it is purported to be. We put my daughter into day care about a month ago and within a couple days she had a runny nose and ear infection. It is not that I was naive enough to believe that because I was breastfeeding her she would not get sick, but I secretly hoped it would be the case. And, I was really surprised that she got an ear infection right away. I asked her doctor why that was because I thought breastfeeding was supposed to prevent ear infections. She told me that the findings on that were inconclusive, which goes along with what Rosin said in her article.
While I am glad that I am able to breastfeed my daughter I think Rosin’s article brings up a lot of good points. Formula is not poison and breast milk is not a magic elixir that will protect your child from illness and make her a super genius. It is not that simple. Plus, breastfeeding is nice but it is a huge time suck (no pun intended) and pumping is just weird. I work from home most of the time, and don’t mind pumping at home. But when I have to go into my office, I have the choice of pumping in our server room, a supply closet, or a bathroom stall. It feels humiliating to be stuck in one of these places with my shirt undone, holding a pump shield up to each breast and watching the milk squirt into bottles while my co-workers are on the other side of the door.
I plan to keep feeding my daughter breast milk until she is one. But reading this article made me realize that if I do ever have to supplement with formula again, it is not as if I am doing something that is going to cause her harm. It is really hard for me to shake that notion but I do believe that we have become indoctrinated with the

When you make a case against something so natural and so basic to humanity

There is emerging science that points to important health benefits of lactation for the woman’s health — take a look at Stuebe et al. JAMA 2005 (lower risk of type 2 diabetes years later), and Stuebe et al. AJOG 2009 (lower risk of heart attack years later in life) and higher HDL-cholesterol levels years after weaning (Obstet & Gyn Jan 2007). A sweeping conclusion that breast and formula are somehow equivalent is factually and biological a misnomer based on the inherent differences in constituents such as lower protein levels in breastmilk, immunoglobins, adipose tissue hormones, etc.. Because study findings are inconsistent means that the studies are flawed not necessarily the hypothesis. The very fact that scientists cannot randomize women to breast vs formula means that this research is much more difficult, and studies are subject to the influences of extraneous factors that may be responsible for the divergent results.

Choose however you’d like to feed your baby–if you can — – most women in the world do not have the option.

I think it’s beautiful how all the ‘you formula feeders don’t even deserve babies’ comments are helpfully illustrating the author’s point that people cling to the conclusions they like and ignore the fact that the next study just contradicted those results or that even the study they like has in bold letters a disclaimer about how there are dozens of uncontrolled variables that can’t be factored out.

Madeline: ‘All that’s less a case against breastfeeding than a case for changing the way the workplace operates, how we see women AND men as workers and parents, maternity/paternity leaves, etc., etc.’ YES!

Not only am I “broken” but I guess I just didn’t try hard enough. Nice…

I do not support formula feeding simply because the predominate pressure in US society is to use formula. Whether exclusively, occasionally or to “supplement” all us broken mothers out there who cannot provide adequate nutrition for our babies ourselves.

Formula feeding is normalized. You see formula ads, coupons and freebee’s everywhere when you are pregnant/birthing. Mothers are encouraged to formula feed those first few colostrum days, when the milk is slow to come. If we drop the “breast is best” and adopt the attitude that formula is equal….we are in effect giving in to the social bias that has been generated through profit seeking mega-companies like Nestle.

Women need a bit of pressure to breastfeed, and those of us who are breastfeeding advocates are trying to counteract the pressures coming from marketing. Breastfeeding should be the norm, and the FIRST option for all mothers. Formula is the exception to the best choice.

Honesty, I do agree that we mothers need to support each other. Mothering is hard. But if you cannot handle the challenges of breastfeeding, how equipped are you to be a great mom? Sure, many kids survive (thrive even) formula feeding. They also survive absentee parenting, abuse, neglect and other charming parenting styles. Children are resilient for sure, but shouldnt we as mothers want the best for our children, not simply the easiest?

If you cannot afford kids, dont have them. If you cannot emotionally support your kids, dont have them. If you know that parenting is a challenge you cannot fully master, dont have kids.

(ok, caveats here…no I dont think formula feeding is = to abuse/neglect. I also dont think having kids is a right all people are due. And, I do know that some mothers, who are wonderful, supportive, nurturing mothers are unable to nurse for medical reasons, and obviously, formula is a good solution for them. However, too many people claim to be unable to breastfeed when they really mean to say unwilling. An unwillingness to bear the “burden” or survive the “struggle” of any parenting difficulties should make you reconsider parenting.)

Shannon LC Cate, I’m sure your kids are bright and healthy. When people say “breast is best,” they don’t mean formula-feeding is inadequate, just that breastfeeding is ideal. And I understand that some people can’t breastfeed, and that it is unfair that there is some benefit not every parent can provide their child. But some things are unfair yet true.

I’m sure there’s a lot of stuff that would be beneficial for my children but that I won’t be able to provide. That’s life; we all do our best, and no parent does every ideal thing.

Beans Mom,

Did you finish the article? Rosin didn’t dislike breast feeding her third child. She was just a bit ambivalent about all the years she’d been doing it. The last paragraph was all about how she loved holding her baby against her body and would miss it.

I agree with those who’ve said that this should be a decision women make and are supported for regardless of which thing they choose (or end up needing) to do. I’ve never breast fed a baby (two adopted kids) and I couldn’t be more supportive of breast feeding. I think it’s super cool and was always jealous of the convenience of the boob when I was carting bottles and formula all over the place. But I’d also like to see more of this kind of realistic looking at the supposed medical benefits of breast feeding. My formula babies are considerably healthier than the average kids their age. And I dare say, on the upper curve of smart, too.

“A”, i loved your comments about bfing and vegetarianism. Spot on.

I think that if Rosin wanted to offer up the best and most accurate advice about the science behind breastfeeding then she could have delved into similair studies and not just ones that pertain to breast or bottle feeding.
She could have compared all of these different studies and how they relate to our society and then she could have drawn parallels between those and the studies also done on breast milk.
This is just one of the many issues I had with this article.
Another involves her take on the family dynamic in regards to the nursing mother and baby relationship. She suggests that by doing so dad gets left out in the cold. The reason this irks me is because it’s a very common, very widely spread misconception that a father cannot bond with his baby because he’s unable to feed it.

I recently had my first child and no one has taken me to task for not breastfeeding. I did try, but found it painful, and wasn’t producing much even after a week of trying and pumping and gave up after the first cracked, bloody nipple. Yes, I put my own needs above that of my baby (the need to not feel pain), but he is healthy and happy and isn’t that the most important thing? call me lazy or whatever (I am to a point), but I would rather spend time with my child snuggling after a bottle, then being frustrated trying to keep him attached to a nipple and worrying that he’s getting enough.

I’m pregnant with my first child, and just becoming aware of the “breastfeeding debate”. So far, it’s reminded me a lot of the “vegetarian debate”.

See, I’m a vegetarian. Sometimes I tell people this– like, for example, when we get into a conversation about meat. (It happens more often than you’d think, oddly.) In certain social circles, a frequent response to this is: “I wish I could be a vegetarian– I tried it– my doctor told me I couldn’t, he said I need a lot of protein.” Or something along those lines. The impression I get is that my interlocutor feels pressured to be a vegetarian. Sometimes this is explicit: people will tell me that they feel pressured to be vegetarians. Sometimes– about 1 in 3– this conversation then turns into a lecture about how vegetarianism isn’t really all that healthy, anyway.

This type of answer always takes me aback. I’ve certainly never pressured anyone not to eat meat. I’ve never heard a conversation in which someone was explicitly pressured to be a vegetarian. I don’t even volunteer the info unless the topic comes up, and I don’t talk about my reasons unless asked. I, and the vegetarians I know, are happy to sit at a table where others are eating meat. Even where I live– urban West Coast– vegetarians are a distinct minority. Even in my yuppie-haven neighborhood, there are restaurants that have nothing vegetarian on the menu. I seriously don’t know where this perceived pressure towards vegetarianism is coming from.

So far, the conversations I’ve had about breastfeeding have been very much like this, too. I’ve been asked if I plan to breastfeed– I don’t volunteer it. When I say yes, I get one of two responses: “I really loved breastfeeding my kids”, or “I really wanted to breastfeed, but I couldn’t because of [XYZ].” I haven’t asked for reasons– this is the answer women volunteer. Even from my midwife, what I heard was “we encourage breastfeeding, and we’ll give you the support you need if you choose to do it.” That’s some pretty mild pressure!

Now, I know there is more material in the media about the benefits of breastfeeding than about the benefits of vegetarianism; for breastfeeding, pressure does exist. However, I’m getting really tired of defensiveness from the “embattled majority”. On both issues.

One last parallel. I’m not a vegetarian because I believe that keeping my body “pure” is a one-step prescription for health. I’m a vegetarian because commercial meat farming is environmentally damaging and ethically questionable; because the way I eat, veg is cheap; because it seems to make sense as the way humans were meant to eat; and because, now, it’s a habit. All of this is generally accepted wisdom, and none of it precludes eating meat in moderation. I also don’t plan to breastfeed because it’s a one-step prescription for a superbaby. I want to do it because it reduces cost and packaging, and because it’s obviously something humans were meant to do. Basing the debate on “health” loses track of the issue.

I didn’t agree with Rosin’s article either.

It seems to me that Rosin is criticizing breastfeeding because of all the burden it places on a woman who is trying juggle a lot of things that are not accomodating to breastfeeding, such as the demands to return to work, a work environement that does not accomodate breast pumping, etc. Why doesn’t she attack those obstacles instead? Wouldn’t it be nice if women had extended maternity leave so that they wouldn’t have to sacrifice so much to fit in nursing their child until 12 months of age? Rosin downplays the signficantce of breastfeeding to make herself feel better about not wanting to nurse her third child and then uses the small effect sizes of research studies to defend her decision. But even small effect sizes can be statistically significant, and don’t most parents want to do everything they can, even if the benefit is to a smaller scale, to bolster their child’s health? My fear is that by downplaying the importance of nursing, you are making it harder to change those policies that make nursing so difficult(i.e., good maternity leave, state laws protecting the rights of nursing mothers).

I agree with all the comments. It is time for mothers to encourage one another. We have hard jobs as mothers. Let’s build each other up. I get so tired of people setting up teams and going at it. We have the stay at home vs. working, breast vs. bottle, conventional vs. unconventional. It is exhausting.
I did breastfeed my children and partially for the cost saving benefits. Formula is expensive and breastmilk is free. Also, I am extremely fogetful. I would forget diapers all the time but my boobs were always with me.

Actually, I think she also wrote it for everyone, nursing or non-nursing, who likes to know what the real evidence is as opposed to the hyperbole. I went through a bit of agonizing over breast-feeding because I have bad allergies and the evidence as to whether nursing prevents allergies is a lot less straightforward than you’d think reading Dr. Sears – some studies even show that kids have MORE tendency towards asthma if they’re nursed by asthmatic mothers. It’s just a lot more complicated than the pro-breast soundbites make it sound. I’d rather know the truth. I nursed anyway, but I didn’t do it because I was sure that it would prevent allergies.

Amen, Bunny. I think the most feminist thing all women can do is MYOB and let each mother make the decision that is best for them and their family.