Changing the View - Putting the "Eats" Back into BrEAsTS!

Everyone wants to do their best for their baby, but with so many conflicting opinions and social pressure to "get your life back," many moms find it hard to find the time, energy, and willpower to go the distance as far as breastfeeding is concerned.

Change is Coming

Things are changing. While the formula companies of the 40s and 50s were successful in getting women to think their boobs were not as good as their substitute, we are slowly gaining our lost ground. Organizations like the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) are taking on the misinformation from the formula companies and we are starting to see more normalization of a perfectly normal, ordinary, and beautiful bodily function. With breasts on the cover of Time magazine, used in the way that they were intended, you can see how far we've come. Natural does not equal dirty, no cover-up is needed.



Still the battle wages in the pediatrician's office. Instead of a list of donor moms whom mothers of slow weight gain babies can go to in case of an emergency, they are handed a can of dried powdered chemically altered cow's milk loaded with additives in an effort to try and match what has been found naturally in mama's milk. The problem is that these additives are in a chemically made form, and are not as good as the bio-available form of the nutrient found in boob milk. The formula manufacturers cannot duplicate what is in mother's milk, and trying to do so may be more dangerous than we think.

Duped AND Degraded

From 2001 to 2009, I was one of those misled mamas. Even though the World Health Organization announced that donor milk is preferred over formula, I was chastised by my pediatrician for using donor milk from a single trusted source. I left the office with my 5-day-old with a sample can of formula and tears streaming down my face.

This was 12 years ago, but I still remember the shame I felt from the doctor's uneducated stance on milk-sharing. With the formula shortage front and center in current news, we finally may see a permanent turn to milk-sharing as the primary source of infant supplemental feeding.

So the battle for thoughts wages on, including battling the opinions that come out of the mouths of our health professionals. The facts are clear though, breastfeeding cuts healthcare costs, decreases the likelihood of cancer for both mom and baby and cuts the rates of infant mortality and illness.

Now we just need to convince the public so moms aren't shamed for doing the best they can for their little ones.