As soon as I heard "breast is best", formula suddenly seemed like the big bad monster out to get my child. Whether or not it was intentional, those three words had their affect on me. They won. They are society's subliminal marketing campaign for new moms. It worked on me! Additionally, there is a list of possible negative outcomes from feeding your child formula that includes constipation, obesity, lower IQ, weaker immune system, etc. Therefore, again, in my mind I suddenly feel like should I feed my child formula, I will be a horrible mother who selfishly decided to have an obese, constipated, stupid, constantly ill child.
I was a strictly formula-fed baby, except for the first day or so after I was born because of issues my mother had. Guess what? Besides the freshman 15, I have never had issues with my weight. Except for the common cold and occasional bout with the flu, I'm pretty healthy. Did I ever fail a test? Sure -- but that probably had something to do with being an irresponsible teenager and wanting to sit chatting with my friends online or going out instead of studying. I have a college degree, was hired for a full-time job in my field before graduating and not to toot my own horn, but I have been told by authority figures in the workplace that I am a pretty sharp gal. I have to say, formula really wasn't that bad!
I am a breastfeeding mom, my intention is not to "dis" breast feeding. I just wanted to lay the ground work for the next part of this post -- the fact that though so much pressure is placed on new moms to breastfeed their babies, generally, it seems people are hard-pressed to accept a woman breastfeeding their child in public. This raises a problem, because as Murphy's Law would have it, your little one is going to suddenly let out a famished wail once you arrive at that restaurant for lunch or the mall for some afternoon shopping. Unless you've brought along a bottle of pumped breast milk, you're going to have to pop out the fountain of that glorious "liquid gold" to allow your wee tot to eat. Of course, society, though it shakes it's finger at formula, has the same finger on the other hand shaking away at women sitting in the middle of the mall feeding their child from their breast. The aforementioned "Breast is best" phrase should be followed by "...only if you can do it in the most discreet location, cover it up, or do it at home." I personally feel embarrassed by the thought of breastfeeding in public. The gals are a little shy. Even if I had a wrap, I would still feel like people were looking at me negatively for exposing myself in public -- they would know what I was doing. However, if I sat with a bottle, no one would even blink an eye. Why is this? Have we as a society sexualized the breast so much that a woman feeding her child is less acceptable than a half-naked woman in a sexy ad? I can't help but wonder if we will ever reach a time when a woman popping out a bottle will be scrutinized, or if this is even a possibility for the future? If breast really is best, why aren't the fellow mothers in the world giving "the look" to women feeding their baby from a bottle?
A lot of women plan to breastfeed their babies, then have trouble doing so because of a range of issues, or they learn that their breast milk actually causes more sleepless nights for all involved due to that cauliflower or broccoli they ate. They may have an oversupply, which causes babies to be gassier than ever because mom is producing too much of one kind of milk (yes, there's 2!). Or, simply, mom may really, really like to get some sleep and have dad be more active in the feeding department. Moms just need to do what works best for them and their babies, and the dads, too, and not have to worry about fitting into the expectations of society. If the thought of putting your kid to your breast freaks you out - no big deal. If formula seems like satan's spawn - stick to the breast.
Overall, I just don't understand why women constantly need to "one up" each other in this department and can't be more accepting and understanding of their fellow new moms. We're all in the same boat, aren't we? The feeding, changing, learning and yes, yawning boat all along the way.
