Boobs R 4 Babies

After what I have been through I cannot sit and be afraid to offend mothers who formula feed their babies. This is not about who is a better mother, it never should have been. 

I believe breastfeeding is the most feminist thing a women can do! Taking the right to feed their babies their OWN breastmilk, the most healthy, enviornmentally friendly, cost effective, emotionally bonding food available and keeping the right to nourish their babies away from a formula corporation who is literally only in it for the money.

Women do not fail to breastfeed. Health professionals, health agencies and governments fail to educate and support women who want to breastfeed.

Without support, many women will give up when they encounter even small difficulties. And yet, according to Mary Renfrew, ‘Giving up breastfeeding is not something that women do lightly. They don’t just stop breastfeeding and walk away from it. Many of them fight very hard to continue it and they fight with no support. These women are fighting society – a society that is not just bottle-friendly, but is deeply breastfeeding-unfriendly.’

To end this trend, governments all over the world must begin to take seriously the responsibility of ensuring the good health of future generations. To do this requires deep and profound social change. We must stop harassing mothers with simplistic ‘breast is best’ messages and put time, energy and money into reeducating health professionals and society at large.

Breastmilk vs. Formula is a Black & White Issue. I’m appalled there is even a debate! Breastmilk is a ‘live’ food that contains living cells, hormones, active enzymes, antibodies and at least 400 other unique components. It is a dynamic substance, the composition of which changes from the beginning to the end of the feed and according to the age and needs of the baby. Because it also provides active immunity, every time a baby breastfeeds it also receives protection from disease.

Compared to this miraculous substance, the artificial milk sold as infant formula is little more than junk food. It is also the only manufactured food that humans are encouraged to consume exclusively for a period of months, even though we know that no human body can be expected to stay healthy and thrive on a steady diet of processed food.

For all of these reasons, formula cannot be considered even ‘second best’ compared with breastmilk.

Officially, the World Health Organization (WHO) designates formula milk as the last choice in infant-feeding: Its first choice is breastmilk from the mother; second choice is the mother’s own milk given via cup or bottle; third choice is breastmilk from a milk bank or wet nurse and, finally, in fourth place, formula milk.

Currently milk banks are a scarcity themselves in the US, one major reason because of the extrememly low breastfeeding rates we have  resulting in little & expensive milk and usually reserved for premature babies where breastmilk is superior to any medicine offered in the NICU.

Our society is setting us up for failure! The laissez-faire and general ignorance of health professionals, mothers and the public at large. I was one of those mothers!!! I get riled up and angry when I see other women knocked down and losing out when the situation could have been fixed!

As a result, in the absence of communities of women talking to each other about pregnancy, birthing and mothering, women’s choices today are more directly influenced by commercial leaflets, booklets and advertising than almost anything else.