The War on Breastfeeding

[Tgo01]

Most can and those that don't want to are stupid selfish bitches.

Well that's kind of mean.

[Neveragain]

Well that's kind of mean.

Hey, have a kid and life is no longer about you. That kid at some point will be expected to change your adult diapers

[Tgo01]

Hey, have a kid and life is no longer about you. That kid at some point will be expected to change your adult diapers

Here I thought the US' defense of this was bullshit, but seeing the vitriol in this thread spewed against women who use formula I'm beginning to think there might be some truth to their argument.

[Methais]

What's strange to me is how these companies were ever able to convince consumers that formula is better than breast milk.

We live in a world where people with probably 2000 lifetime kills are going to spend the next several years trying to collect 100,000 ultra rare items and probably pay thousands in the process trying to buy them for some shitty reward that they'll never actually attain, and even if they did, it will probably be worth 0.1% of what they sunk into it.

tldr: people are dumb as fuck, you can convince most of them of anything if you make it sound good

[Whirlin]

I guess it also depends on how we are defining "can't." Like she can't produce breast milk or she's on medication that prevents her from nursing, or "can't" as in she's too stressed out from work and family and other issues to also breastfeed a newborn. The latter could be seen as she doesn't want to breastfeed rather than she physically can't breastfeed.

That's a fairly isolated list... and I don't think the latter is a fair justification either, as the insinuated reason is purely on the mother, and doesn't take into account other external factors.

If we're talking about a working woman, it is possible that a company (a) doesn't offer a new mother's room/privacy/etc for pumping, (b) a work environment doesn't allow time away from work/desk/etc to pump as necessary, (c) doesn't offer proper refrigerated storage. It's not only about the mothers' intent to breastfeed, it's also about society's ability to enable breastfeeding. And all of that isn't taking into account the public breastfeeding stigma/dramafest that seems to be surfaced every year.

In terms of other problems, four additional physical things come to mind: (a) if the woman has had breast augmentation, it could impede upon milk production, depending on the extent/manner of the surgery, (b) infants born with tongue-tie, which occurs when that little membrane that is under your tongue, and in front of your front teeth to connect upper/bottom lip is too large. That can lead to problems latching, (c) inverted nipples, (d) Premature babies who need to be brought into the NICU are typically initially introduced to bottles, and have a hard time transitioning to breastfeeding.

I actually agree with Neveragain, but just with the asterisks of considering the other things bought up in this post... work environment, society, and ability. Honestly, if a mother is enabled on all those fronts and subsequently chooses not to, it seems greedy.

And now that I think about it... I wonder if the US stance is more about the work environment and worker's rights than the big pharma lobby.

[Amerek]

tldr: people are dumb as fuck, you can convince most of them of anything if you make it sound good

Whats amazing is how people abandon common sense and biology so easily.

Someone suggests vaccines cause autism? Let's just stop, get a relative explosion of polio and measles, and just kill the kids instead.

Someone has an opinion you can change your sex? Let's lop of people's wee-wee's and call whatever they get a vagina. There is some massive regret associated with gender reassignment surgeries (especially for men). Who would have guess that?

[Tgo01]

If we're talking about a working woman, it is possible that a company (a) doesn't offer a new mother's room/privacy/etc for pumping, (b) a work environment doesn't allow time away from work/desk/etc to pump as necessary, (c) doesn't offer proper refrigerated storage. It's not only about the mothers' intent to breastfeed, it's also about society's ability to enable breastfeeding. And all of that isn't taking into account the public breastfeeding stigma/dramafest that seems to be surfaced every year.

Not everything is because of the big mean company or those bible thumping Christians shaming women in public.

In terms of other problems, four additional physical things come to mind: (a) if the woman has had breast augmentation, it could impede upon milk production, depending on the extent/manner of the surgery, (b) infants born with tongue-tie, which occurs when that little membrane that is under your tongue, and in front of your front teeth to connect upper/bottom lip is too large. That can lead to problems latching, (c) inverted nipples, (d) Premature babies who need to be brought into the NICU are typically initially introduced to bottles, and have a hard time transitioning to breastfeeding.

Just off the top of my head; some women just don't produce any or enough milk, certain medications prevent women from breastfeeding, women who use illegal drugs shouldn't breastfeed, surgery can preclude women from breast feeding, certain medical conditions can prevent women from breastfeeding, post partpartum depression can affect a woman's ability or desire to breastfeed. There are all kinds of reasons for why a woman can't breastfeed.

Honestly, if a mother is enabled on all those fronts and subsequently chooses not to, it seems greedy.

I guess I just don't feel I'm in a position to judge women on how they choose to feed their babies and shaming women for choosing not to breastfeed feeds into the stigma for women who actually can't breastfeed their babies.

We're not talking about abusing the child or not feeding the child at all here where I can for sure judge a woman.

[Amerek]

Also, why in the hell do we need a United Nations resolution to *encourage* a natural biologic function? Do they really have nothing better to do? I say abolish the U.N.

[Tgo01]

Also, why in the hell do we need a United Nations resolution to perform a natural biologic function? Do they really have nothing better to do? I say abolish the U.N.

I'm also confused about this. Like this needs some sort of UN resolution. If countries feel this strongly about this issue why can't they go ahead and implement it in their own countries? That plus what I mentioned earlier about this falling on the shoulders of smaller and poorer countries to sponsor at the UN really makes this entire thing sound so strange.

[Amerek]

I'm also confused about this. Like this needs some sort of UN resolution. If countries feel this strongly about this issue why can't they go ahead and implement it in their own countries? That plus what I mentioned earlier about this falling on the shoulders of smaller and poorer countries to sponsor at the UN really makes this entire thing sound so strange.

It reeks of politics and fake news. There's something going on that is beyond "the U.S. is against breastfeeding!" Also, NYT.