Breast feed children...does nature know something we don't?

Question

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6356827.stm

Considering womans breasts for thousands of years were the source of bonding, nurishment, immunity boosters, and food...what a concept. Nature actually got that right...and society, just like we did with God, has bastardized it into oblivia.

Answer 1

The whole reason breasts are considered "attractive" to men is an instictual one, if you think back to primitive times. When a woman's breasts fill with milk, they increase in size. This indicates an ability to feed her young, thus propogating the species. Of course they're attractive!

But society has separated the pleasure derived from sex from the reason it is pleasurable (so that we will reproduce). Western culture in particular emphasizes independence, even in children. We hurry to get kids to sleep on their own, and of course breastfeeding is seen as a way that the mother is "tied" to the child, decreasing her independence -- her ability to work, go out, do whatever she wants.

I agree, breastfeeding your child is the most natural and beneficial thing you can do for him or her. Many people don't do it for selfish reasons. But I really believe that most of the people who choose formula do so because they are told that it is just as good as breastmilk and that they shouldn't feel guilty if they "can't" breastfeed (a popular myth -- most can or we wouln't have survived as a species). These misguided women are not fully informed about the benefits of breastfeeding to mother AND child, and even if they do "try" it, the minute they have a problem (a poor latch causing sore nipples, mastitis, or a low milk supply often caused by being told to pump, for instance) they give up because they have no support, nobody to help them through it and to tell them that weaning is NOT the only solution to the problem. I firmly believe that if most women had those two things -- education about breastfeeding and support -- they would breastfeed their children. I really do not have a problem with people choosing to use formula for their children, IF THEY ARE MAKING AN INFORMED CHOICE. But that's the thing, it usually isn't!!

So get out there and EDUCATE and SUPPORT pregnant woman thinking about that choice, women in the hospitals who need guidance and help establishing the breastfeeding relationship with her child, mothers who are trying to maintain the it after the first 6-8 weeks, and pediatricians who give out cookie-cutter advice based on formula-fed infants therefore misguiding breastfeeding mothers.

Answer 2

I think it's the other way around - nature's always had it right, and we though we knew something that nature didn't. Look, it's easier to mix some powder with liquid and make a substitute food for a baby!!! Cool!!

I'm with you here..