Ok so in case you didn’t know I work as a breastfeeding peer counselor and lactation consultant for a local WIC agency. Breastfeeding is not only my heart and soul, but my bread and butter as well! I take it very seriously and am very passionate about it! I support breastfeeding moms everywhere! No matter what you think or how you feel about it, breastfeeding saves the economy millions of dollars annually!
Soap Box
I will now get on my soap box! Watch out, you might not like or agree with me on many of these things, but that is what makes the world go round!
I feel that breast milk is the NORMAL form of nutrition for a baby. Babies were born to breastfeed. It is a natural process, but often a learned process for mom and baby. Women have been doing for CENTURIES or mankind would have died out a long time ago! Jesus was breastfed people! The only two people in the world that weren’t able to be breastfed were Adam and Eve, but I am pretty sure God took care of that! So to say that it is gross or disgusting or wrong for baby to breastfeed just gets into my crawl and I will tell you!
I understand in this day and age women are influenced by many a “booby trap“. (Please click on the link and it explains the many booby traps women face on a daily basis here especially in America.)
I have many friends that have breastfed and many that have chosen not to and even many more that have tried unsuccessfully due to many different reasons. My choosing to breastfeed my child and to do it in public whenever he is hungry is not to make you feel guilty because of your certain circumstance why breastfeeding didn’t work for you. And I know if you ask any of my friends that couldn’t or didn’t breastfeed you will hopefully hear a resounding response that I fully support their decision on how they fed their child.
If you don’t like it you can cover your head
God gave you eyes and a brain and the ability to move your neck. If you don’t like what I am doing…LOOK AWAY! I am in no way going to put a cover over my kid’s head to feed. I will in no way feed him in the bathroom. I will in no way make him wait longer because you might feel uncomfortable knowing my baby is eating at the dinner table…on my boob!! It’s food people! It’s very important food! Now I do try to be as discrete as possible when breastfeeding. I’m not stupid, but a 10 month old is very curious about the world around him and if you come talk to me or run by or just make a noise on the other side of the room, he will turn to see what is going on! I am sorry! I try my best to not flash you, but things happen.
If any of this offends you, well you read the title! Cover your head or look away. I am not trying to make a statement. I am trying to feed my baby. Get over yourself!
Formula is not the devil, Formula companies are!
I work at a WIC office and I help many moms with breastfeeding. I have had to help a mom feed her baby that would not latch and she was unable to express milk, pump or hand, and formula was fed to the baby! It happens! (See booby traps though) Formula has its place and is needed for some moms. I understand the fact a baby has to eat and if we don’t have breast milk, formula is a safer alternative. (Now my crunchy friends need to let this one go! I work with a very impoverished community and we have to do what is best at that time for baby!)
I do understand that formula plays a very important part in our society, but I am sorry breastfeeding is the NORM and formula is the abnorm. It is called formula because it used to take a “formula” to make to feed the baby. Now here enters the evil formula company. Please if you are getting upset with me, now is the time to stop reading. I am very adamant that formula companies are very predatory and detrimental to breastfeeding in not only this country, but the world!
The formula companies found a way to make formula easier to mix and packaged it in a nice little container that says, “Just like Mother’s milk”. Here is where I call BULLSHIT!!! (my blog, my words!) Formula is made up of 40ish ingredients that are the same very time baby eats, whether baby needs it at that time or not. Breast milk changes all the time to meet an infants needs. It has 100,000 components to it! So many so that they are unable to identify all of them! Scientists can’t even tell you all that makes up breast milk. Because it is specific to the mom and baby at that time of their life. The milk that a mom makes in the first days is different from the milk she makes in the last days of breastfeeding. The milk she makes in the morning is different from the milk she makes in the evening. The milk she makes at the beginning of a feed is different that at the end of a feed. So never is it the same very time. Can the formula companies do this? Well of course not. I know this and so do they. That is why every other day, ok maybe a bit exaggerate, they find something new to add to say now has XYZ just like breast milk.
Ok on a spectrum here is something to think about.
Or this,
Or even this.
Truth in advertising would be nice right?
Breast milk and formula are different, just admit it formula company! Like I said I have no problem with formula, it is necessary and helps many babies and moms. But when I don’t ask for your “help” I don’t need it!
Do not send me home with a “free” bag of samples of your formula “just in case” you need it. Don’t send me “free” samples in the mail 2 weeks after delivery knowing that my baby is probably going through his first growth spurt and I might be questioning my ability to provide for my baby. He is hungry again and I just fed him one hour ago so I must not have enough for him so I will give him this “free” sample of formula that they so nicely sent me, even though I didn’t ask for it or better yet need it! My baby is hungry because he is growing and I just need to feed him more often until my body catches back up with him. But every time you send me more “free” samples I give it to baby and then he no longer wants to go to the breast because I didn’t let my baby tell my body to make more milk and I no longer have any to give him. He won’t latch because you made me under mind my ability to provide for my baby with the “just in case” sample. These samples are not FREE, they cost you dearly!! They make you question your supply and can very quickly make you really have a supply issue instead of the perceived one you had earlier. Breast milk is made on Supply and Demand.
The more my baby Demands it from my body the more my body will Supply it for him! By not offering the breast and using the bottle, whether breast milk or formula, the order wasn’t given to the brain to make more! So stop giving me the “free” or “just in case” samples, you are not helping. Don’t send those “free” samples to third world countries that have compromised water supplies and the only thing that is keeping those babies alive is the breast milk from their mothers! Giving those moms just enough “free” samples to tank their supply and have to buy your “free” formula. NESTLE!!!!
Nasties
I feel that Nestle is one of the worst when it comes to predatory formula companies. Just do a google search on Bad nestle or anything like it and you will find tons of information on why this company is bad for babies!
Step Down
Ok it is time for me to step down and get off the soap box. I warned you before you started reading and I gave you plenty of chances to stop reading. I have strong feelings about breastfeeding and support moms where they are at! (Meeting a mom where she is at, is a common message taught in my line of work) If this had upset or offended you at any point I cannot say I am sorry. These are my thoughts and how I feel. Remember this is what makes the world go round. I choose to not purchase Nestle products and I go out of my way to avoid as many as I can. (the list is redonkuless!!! In case you were wondering)
If you are still reading, thank you for listening! Thanks for being the open-minded friend or follower that you are. Now go out and help a breastfeeding mom! Smile at the mom nursing her little one on the park bench. recognize the mom with the baby under a blanket as doing what is right for her and her child. High five the woman who just whips it out and feeds her baby! It is not about her right to breastfeed, it is about her child’s right to eat! Get out there and make a difference!
~ Kelly
Kelly Evans 