Maternity Dept.: Baby Food: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker
Maternity Dept.: Baby Food: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker
This article was brilliant and made me squirm...it takes a lot for an article to make me squirm. In general, the articles from 'The New Yorker' are thought-provoking, and dead on - which is why I have a subscription to begin with.
My own first experience with breast feeding (or rather my decision about breast feeding) was somewhat of a nightmare. I was very young, and, I had just been through 48 hours of labour with the birth of my daughter. I was approached by people at the hospital and made to feel like some kind of moron for choosing to bottle feed. I did not have a mom to talk to, no one in my immediate circle of friends talked about breast-feeding and in fact, everyone I knew, including my own siblings had ALL been bottle fed. So to me it was only natural to breast feed. Looking back on this I wish I had decided differently for many reasons.
With the birth of my son, 6 years later, not only did I know more, but I STILL decided to bottle feed. To my consternation and horror, I was treated even worse.
This is a touchy subject - aren't they all? Like most things what is best for the child should prevail - and again I probably should have chosen differently...but I also believe in the right of individuals to decide what works best for them. Attaching a political agenda to the very personal decision to breast feed may seem OK in a Dr. Spock sort of Utopian dream...but in the end it does not add value to us. As the article so rightly points up, what is more important to a baby? Breast milk or time with mom? Further, if we are going to end up putting our kid in kennels for children (day care) then what good does breast feeding ever do when said children are going to be exposed to not just germ-filled, mass baby-sitting centers - but places where children seldom get any one-on-one attention and the average kids manners are worse than a typical baboon...because who truly cares about really taking care of kids in a kennel?
Just curious. Not that anyone ever weighs in on my ponderings...however, I have to say that any benefit from suckling our children surely disappears once they are loosed into society in general.
This article was brilliant and made me squirm...it takes a lot for an article to make me squirm. In general, the articles from 'The New Yorker' are thought-provoking, and dead on - which is why I have a subscription to begin with.
My own first experience with breast feeding (or rather my decision about breast feeding) was somewhat of a nightmare. I was very young, and, I had just been through 48 hours of labour with the birth of my daughter. I was approached by people at the hospital and made to feel like some kind of moron for choosing to bottle feed. I did not have a mom to talk to, no one in my immediate circle of friends talked about breast-feeding and in fact, everyone I knew, including my own siblings had ALL been bottle fed. So to me it was only natural to breast feed. Looking back on this I wish I had decided differently for many reasons.
With the birth of my son, 6 years later, not only did I know more, but I STILL decided to bottle feed. To my consternation and horror, I was treated even worse.
This is a touchy subject - aren't they all? Like most things what is best for the child should prevail - and again I probably should have chosen differently...but I also believe in the right of individuals to decide what works best for them. Attaching a political agenda to the very personal decision to breast feed may seem OK in a Dr. Spock sort of Utopian dream...but in the end it does not add value to us. As the article so rightly points up, what is more important to a baby? Breast milk or time with mom? Further, if we are going to end up putting our kid in kennels for children (day care) then what good does breast feeding ever do when said children are going to be exposed to not just germ-filled, mass baby-sitting centers - but places where children seldom get any one-on-one attention and the average kids manners are worse than a typical baboon...because who truly cares about really taking care of kids in a kennel?
Just curious. Not that anyone ever weighs in on my ponderings...however, I have to say that any benefit from suckling our children surely disappears once they are loosed into society in general.
posted by Colette at 4:18 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home