There is still too much pressure on new moms to BF
Find a Conversation
There is still too much pressure on new moms to BF
| Tue, 02-12-2013 - 8:54pm |
How sad. I BF years ago because I could and because of the pressure to do so. Lactivists argued **without foundation** that, as in the earlier thread: I would have a cleaner home, my kids would have higher IQs, fewer ear infections, less risk of obesity, basically less risk of anything and everything. It saddens me that years later, and nothing's changed. It's still the Mommy Wars. No one can prove bupkis. The Emporer is wearing new clothes.
Check out this timely article and especially the sad Comments:
www.huffingtonpost.com/parentingcom/lactation-failure_b_2632623.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
Latest from the board
- Do breastfeeding moms really need to be told this? 13
- Getting a double mastectomy to prevent breast cancer 3
- Rant from In-Your-Face Formula Feeder 2
- Breastfeeding Diet: What to Eat 1
- Another baby at my house needing formula? 5
- Breastfeeding vs formula: Should the state step in? 4
- Shanna Moakler: "Breastfeeding is incestual." 6
- Is Your Baby Part of a Risky Science Experiment? 2
- Role of IBCLC 1
- Breastfeeding "too long" may increase iron deficiency? 1
Memeber Support
Visit our Member Support area or browse the iVillage Help forum
| Q: | Where can I change my password? |
| A: | Log in, go to Edit My Preferences, and click the Account tab. Make and save your changes. |
I think the Mommy Wars will always be with us.
<<my kids would have higher IQs, fewer ear infections, less risk of obesity, basically less risk of anything and everything. >>
The only thing you can compare your kids to is themselves. You can't compare them to someone else's kids - it's meaningless - and you can't go back in time to do a proper comparision.
For me it makes sense - they tell us that putting on too much weight increases our risks. Driving without a seatbelt increases our risks. Using street drugs increases our risks. So most of us try to do what is considered best for us, try to lower our risks. Does that mean we will never get sick, never get into an accident, never die? Of course not...
For me, breastfeeding lowered my children's risks, and lowered my risks. For me, that was important. Will I ever truly know if it made a difference? No, because I can't go back and try it again feeding them a different way.
But as I watch my mother die of breast cancer, I do take comfort that I have possibly lowered my risks by breastfeeding...
~*~ Catherine - CL of the Breastmilk vs. Formula Debate Board
My blogs: Frugal Freebies ~ MyFrugalBabyTips ~ PregnancyStoriesByAge ~ PregnancyOver44 ~ BabyAfter40 ~ Life Begins (Miscarriage) ~ Low Carbs / High Fat Recipes
I think you may have missed the irony of the "cleaner house" quote. Joan Wolf is notoriously Anti-breastfeeding. Lactivists are not making the claim - a formula defender is!
Sad really, that people attribute the foolishness to Lactivism. Kinda like the "breast is best".
Joan Wolf believes that she understands statistics better than practically everyone else.
In my opinion the link you shared adds nothing to the debate. It is just one more opinion piece perpetuating false claimss about Lactivists/LCs/breastfeeding etc. It is "possible" that the woman speaks about her own experience, but one can't legitimately generalize it.
www.huffingtonpost.com/parentingcom/lactation-failure_b_2632623.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
I'm starting to believe the alleged Mommy Wars are really just one-sided Sour Grapes.
http://www.parenting.com/blogs/natural-parenting/taylor-newman/breastfeeding-advocacy-its-movement-not-war
Witch-Power says: <<For me, breastfeeding lowered my children's risks, and lowered my risks. For me, that was important. Will I ever truly know if it made a difference? No, because I can't go back and try it again feeding them a different way.>>
Well said. I think it is so ambiguous and promotes fear when people who are not themselves breastfeeding to say unwaveringly, the term "lowers the risks." There is no way of proving this. As in the article, I've seen too many moms and babies hurt by the fear that they cannot turn to formula without lowering the risks.
Nisupulla: I actually loved the sarcasm of the "cleaner house, more vegetables" blog. Very funny! And too true.
Nisupulla wrote: <<In my opinion the link you shared adds nothing to the debate. It is just one more opinion piece perpetuating false claimss about Lactivists/LCs/breastfeeding etc. It is "possible" that the woman speaks about her own experience, but one can't legitimately generalize it.>>
That's why I referred everyone to the article and to the Comments. So many Comments echoed the writer's situation and ill feelings. One mom's experience is not dispositive and certainly wouldn't be used as a generalization. But the writer's experience and the many Comments following are experiential data; as such, they are all relevant to the debate.
Some trivia: http://blog.revolutionanalytics.com/2011/04/the-plural-of-anecdote-is-data-after-all.html
The plural of anecdote is data, after all
I've used the quotation "The plural of anecdote is not data" in various talks over the years, never knowing the original source. I searched the usual places (though clearly not hard enough!), but never figured out whom it should be attributed to. So I was pleased to learn that John Myles White had discovered the source: Raymond Wolfinger (presumably the political scientist from Berkeley). This attribution comes in this 2004 email from Fred Shapiro, editor of the Yale Dictionary of Quotations:
So I've been using the quotation wrong all this time! I think I'm going to stick with "The plural of anecdote is not data", though: the word "anecdote" to me suggests information surrendered, not collected, and it's the implication of reporting bias that makes the quote so apposite for statisticians.