Guilt-Free Breastfeeding

I thought this article was great, for addressing a few points about breastfeeding, and not just the simple ones.

Read up here!

I am a firm believer that breast is best. Mother's milk is the perfect food, and it is ever-changing to meet baby's needs. Knowing this, and how very important this is for baby's health and development, and for how a person may choose to parent their child-- knowing this helps me to understand all the more, the heartbreak and the anguish felt by mothers who are unsuccessful at breastfeeding their children.

I cry with them, in many cases, and try to explain how powerful their role of parent is, even without milk, and help them learn to use kangaroo care and babywearing to help recreate the bonding that happens while nursing. However, all this grief aside, WHO, exactly, would be better off if we pretended that bottle feeding is just as good? Should those of us who successfully nurse be asked to keep it on the down low? Some people think so, but they are wrong.

Fact is fact. And sometimes, when the art of breastfeeding doesn't work out, there is grief. But just as in life, we all get some things and watch as others get other things. We don't get to choose the hand we are dealt, and some hands are better than others. But I am no more in favor of suppressing breastfeeding education than I am in banning bottles. Both are ridiculous options that serve very short sighted purposes. How about we support a mother who is successful, we support a mother who works and pumps, and we support women with inadequate supply all at once? Can that be so hard?