The washington post article kinda slanted it in favor of the mom at the beginning, but then seemed to point out everything that has already been done for her. I wonder how non-medical pro-breast feeding women are taking it? To be honest, I've never really thought about breast feeding as an issue. I would say I lean towards the feminism side of thinking, but this ranks pretty darn low on my "women's issues list". Sure, breast milk is better b/c antibodies & what not... but formula feeding kids doesn't mean the child is going to be permanently damaged. Eh, I imagine my disinterest comes from the intention to formula feed my kid (s) when I have 'em b/c I just can't see breast feeding with a more-than full time career. Kuddos to those who can find the time, but I can't imagine it's for me.
Test block is next week, thus why I am up at 2am commenting on a now-completed issue. I don't want to study, but typing on SDN somehow counts as not quite procrastinating...
Sigh....okay, pro bf non-medical moms:
Formula vs bf is similar to working vs nonworking in that it's an artificial distinction. First of all, the two are not mutually exclusive terms. You could, as a working mom, breastfeed while you're at home, and have your baby drink formula when you're away. Or you could breastfeed till it just became "too much" and then switch to formula.
Here's why I advise mothers to nurse instead of use formula:
1) I work in a nido, a Montessori infant environment, and we recommend best practices. This includes "breast is best".
2) I'm into eating well. Formula always tastes, smells, and looks the same (it mostly smell pretty nasty, if you ask me). So baby isn't developing a palate. That said, my son's favorite foods are still hot dogs and grilled cheese.
3) My formula fed infants are statistically more likely to have GERD, ear infections, ENT visits, more absences due to illness. Beware, this is a very small population sample (50 students over the past 3 years), and totally non-random. By the time you have kids, there will be more published data about this, but you could google now, if you care. There is a lot of BAD research about breastfeeding, so read the data, some if it is really unprofessional.
4) As a working parent, I was concerned about attachment issues, and nursing was my way of ensuring that I was working at putting in enough time with my son. This was probably totally unnecessary -babies are pretty good at getting your attention, irrespective of whether or not you are their only food source. But it made me feel like a better person, anyhow.
5) Formula is expensive, and we had no money. What can I say, I'm cheap.
How do I feel about moms using formula? Ironically, it's sort of the way I feel about Dr. Currier....you went to all the bother to carry this thing around for 9 months, but you don't want to bother to feed it? Suck it up and finish what you started : ) She went and got herself a PhD and she can't take a stupid exam? C'mon, suck it up, don't be such a wuss. There are a lot of easy outs you can take as a parent, and I have taken some, that just wasn't one of them. I think it would be ok for her to be slightly accomodated (an extra 15 minutes of break time, so maybe she had time to eat?) but 2 days? I'm with Kimberli Cox on that.
I also think that those of us in medicine should follow best practices as it applies to speaking to pts, and part of that, if you'll ever be anywhere near ob/peds/IM/fam med/er, is at least comprehending what breastfeeding actually entails, and what expressing milk entails. It's honestly not that big a deal, assuming you're not contra-indicated for some reason. Once again, Dr. Currier is annoying.
