Is bottle-feeding a mark of bad motherhood?
A new study out of England investigated how mothers who chose to formula feed their babies felt about that choice. They were looking for feelings of guilt, etc. in relation to not breastfeeding. I found several things in the piece disturbing. First, they kept calling it “formula milk”. Perhaps that is an appropriate term, but it just seems wrong to me. Formula is NOT milk. It is a milk replacer, a milk substitute, but not milk. Second, only 39% of women agreed with the statement that “breastfeeding is natural, all women can do it”. While I suppose that some would take issue with the “all women can do it” part, since there are a rare few that can not, it is still sad that such a large percentage of women sees breastfeeding as difficult and unattainable. Finally, I am concerned about this whole idea of how a baby is fed being “moralised”. The authors seem to think that we need to find ways of being more supportive of bottle-feeding mothers and stop making them feel guilty for their choice. While I certainly wouldn’t advocate running around pointing a finger at all moms who formula feed and telling them they are making bad choices for their babies, I find nothing wrong with continuing to be honest about the risks of choosing not to breastfeed and encouraging moms to make informed choices. Perhaps things are different in England, but my experience here in the US is that breastfeeding moms are also made to feel guilty – for “depriving” the father or other family members of the joy of feeding the baby, for choosing to stay out of the workplace to care for the baby, and for having the audacity to do such a thing in a public place.
You can read the article here