I know plenty more women for whom breast feeding is a hassle, inconvenient, and damn expensive in terms of lost time and freedom. Being on another continent is less typical than many mothers, but plenty of people have jobs that take them away for long periods of time or whose shifts simply are not compatible with stopping work to hook a pump up to their breasts. Or they simply find the idea makes them sick and use formula because it’s better for them psychologically than the feeling of being reduced to a milk producer like a domesticated cow.
Birth control, breast pumps, counseling for abuse? Are we going to do pedicures & manicures as well?
Apparently, crazy has taken on a new meaning and now is defined as “someone with whom I disagree”.
Sure I will. Right off the bat, you blamed La Leche League for giving women the idea that their baby “must” have breastmilk while she’s gone. If you understood all the benefits of breastmilk…one of which, by the way, is saving tons of money…you wouldn’t understand that it’s not a matter of “must,” it’s a matter of good sense.
Sure, well, whatever. Has nothing to do with the topic at hand, but thanks for stopping by!
Yes, this is true and it is a problem.
I won’t deny that these attitudes exist among women who have born children. Statistically speaking, it’s slightly more common than women who are on a different continent from their babies. But I usually hear this sentiment uttered by those with no particular dog in this race–people without babies.
At any rate, I fail to see how it pertains to this discussion. Those who don’t or can’t breastfeed don’t need pumps. Now, back to discussing those who do.
Unfortunately, the breast-feeding taliban seems determined to demonize formula (one of the greater technological innovations of our time right up there with hormonal birth-control in terms of liberating women). And you don’t have to tit-feed a baby (or have one suck on your uterine walls) to know how to take care of one. I was my youngest brothers legal guardian. He was raised on forumula and feed by whoever’s chore it was to feed babies that day.
Nah. It’s more like whiny, pedantic bore fixated on a single issue or cause. One poster clings to her idiotic assertions about mommies, breasts and vaccinations. Another one shows up primarily to write about her bizarre worldview of a specific culture. Then you come by to turn every thread into a recitation of conservative talking points.
After a while you just read certain people’s posts merely for vague train wreck amusement value rather than with the desire to genuinely learn something or interact with them.
I’m adopted (I know, the horror!), so I for one am quite grateful for formula. It can quite literally be a matter of life or death, so I never badmouth it, even though I’m pro-breastfeeding. But it IS expensive. Say all you want about liberating women, I’m all for that…but if you think formula feeding is all sunshine and roses, you’re dead wrong. Ask anyone who struggles to afford it.
Awesome.
Well, if they can’t afford the pump, they shouldn’t be having the baby in the first place, and should be advised to have an abortion.
Yeah… I guess I should just parrot all the liberal talking points and then engage in straw man after straw man in lieu of actual discussion. That seems to be all the rage around here 
This thread reminds me distinctly of my last game of Whack-A-Mole.
Wow, I was thinking of Whack-A-Mole too! Must be the liberal hive mind at work.
I’m not even a liberal, but now I’m considering it…
A breast pump can be liberating than formula. Breast pumps are easy to use, cheaper than formula and relatively portable. Hell I can hand pump and still get about twenty ounces a day fairly quickly. Most mornings I can get about nine ounces in about ten minutes while my daughter takes a nap. Breastfeeding or pumping has the additional advantage of weight loss. You burn about 500 calories a day extra when you express milk. I’ve personally lost all 37 pounds I gained from the pregnancy in about three months. I’m still losing weight as I continue to pump.
Formula is messy and expensive. You have to clean your hands very carefully when you use it to avoid contamination. You also have to store it properly or risk contamination. Unlike breast milk, it cannot be left out for more than two hours at a time and must be thrown out after a day. My pumped milk keeps fresh for three days or so.
Formula is okay but it increases health risks for both mother and baby. We should do what we can to help women nurse and pump.
Yeah, but if they are struggling to afford formula, they are struggling just to survive and need considerably more help than a breast pump. Some sort of co-opt living arrangement for the poor where people can share time resources (essentially recreating the old extended family in the urban world) would probably be their best shot out of poverty. Formula is incredibly advantageous to such living arrangements. It can be bought in bulk (lowers the price) and one or two people can handle the nutritional needs of many babies allowing the maximum number of people to earn.
Breast pumps can help in the same situation. Breastmilk is FREE!
But what about when they have to air lift the breast milk to Tijuana? Huh!? How free is it then!?
If price is a consideration most people are far better off with a good quality breast pump than with feeding the child formula. Formula is simply not that cheap even when bought in bulk. You can get a good quality breast pump complete with bottles for about $250 total. The pump should last you for a year at least. On the other hand my daughter would go through about a can of even the cheapest formula in about four days at $15 per can. That’s over a thousand dollars in a single year just for formula. Some babies require specialized formulas that are even more expensive.
Walking outside their homes increases the health risks for both mother and baby, but we don’t force women to stay locked in their houses. If you like to breastfeed that’s one thing, but I see too many women (okay, every woman I have ever met) who hate breastfeeding. Telling them not to do what it takes to keep their sanity (stopping breastfeeding switching using formula) is just evil. And once again, if a woman can’t afford the cost of baby gizmos (breast pump or formula) she shouldn’t be havng a baby.