Hmm, I'm not quite sure what I want to say yet but feel like I need to respond!! I'm a lactation counselor and have been breastfeeding continously since September 2003.
I'm breastfeeding as I type this post.
My biggest shock - from reading this thread and having discussions with people in general - is how many people need *proof* that breastfeeding is better for babies (and moms!!). We are mammals - meaning we have mammary glands meant to feed our babies. This is *the* thing that we have in common with all other mammals. How can people question that breast milk is not the best for babies? Yes, formula is a lot better than the karo syrup concoction that it was in our parents' generation but it's still not biologically perfect for babies and it never will be. Breast milk is a living substance - formula is not. To say that formula is just as good or close to as good as breast milk completely blows my mind. I think this should be obvious, not something that people need studies to prove to them.
That said - I don't think people who formula feed their kids are feeding them poison or anything. Most formula fed kids do just fine, to the point where you can't really tell formula fed kids from breast fed kids. But honestly, with my children I couldn't see giving them anything but breastmilk based on the information I wrote in the previous paragraph. If I could breastfeed, I was going to ... period.
And it was not easy. It wasn't even easy the second time around when I had already been counseling other moms and helping them breastfeed. The first time around my daughter had severe jaundice. She was supplemented, had a few nursing strikes at a young age, etc. It would have been *so* easy to give up. My second daughter was premature - she also had jaundice (not as severe as my first daughter fortunately but still quite high), was a low birth weight baby, had low glucose levels her first 24 hours of life and ended up being supplemented, needed to be on oxygen while nursing for the first month of her life, etc. The second time around I also had issues - postpartum depression, low milk supply for the first 4 weeks that finally resolved when we discovered the cause - a retained placental fragment that resulted in a secondary postpartum hemorrhage and uterine infection. Fun stuff seriously ....
It would have been easy to give up. I could have justified it and I'm sure both of my daughters would have been fine. But for me, formula wasn't an option (a lot like Doula-2-OB alluded to with her own children earlier).
As a lactation counselor, my goal is to help as may women breastfeed who want to. There are a certain number of women who for whatever reason do not want to breastfeed. I used to feel differently, but I've since decided that if a mom doesn't want to that is her choice. My goal is to support women who do choose to breastfeed - because unfortunately a very large percentage of moms want to breastfeed but then give up. It's *hard*, especially in the beginning. There is a lot of misinformation out there - much of it we have already seen in this thread. There are very few foods you need to avoid, you can drink alcohol. Heck, you can get completely wasted if your baby is being cared for by someone else and you don't even need to pump and dump your breastmilk. Alcohol leaves milk as it leaves your bloodstream. Most medications are safe while breastfeeding (exceptions here obviously, but only in special circumstances). I want to help women who think they need to stop but don't really want to, or are having temporary frustrations and want to give up. A little support and encouragement in these situations can go a long way as I have discovered in my work.
Well, this is already a novel of a post so I'll stop for now. I tend to stay out of debates but I couldn't avoid this one.
