Amid a Worsening Formula Shortage, Mothers Are Asked: ‘Why Not Breastfeed?’

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/16/well/family/breastfeeding-formula-shortage.html

by blondie9x • 4 years ago

19 7 4 years ago

arcanus• 4 years ago

I'm a man. My outside observation is that women are frequently very judgemental about the decisions other women make about breastfeeding, diapers, and overall parenting strategies.

My wife had a great deal of trouble getting our first child to latch and breastfeed, while our second child took to it immediately. This was despite a great deal of effort, significant paid time off, lactation experts, ert. My perception is that the 2nd child was simply more naturally able to feed. But, the response from outside observers has often been that my wife is a better mother for an action I truly believe was largely out of her control.

I'm very sympathetic to families who need to use formula. It's not a stigma, and we should do more as a society to support families who are unwilling or unable to exclusively breastfeed.

Finally, I'm not in medicine but my review of the literature indicated that the advantage of breastfeeding is largely overstated. I do believe it has small benefit the first six months, but after that the impact simply was not apparent in the effect size.

ngetchell• 4 years ago

I agree completely and you wrote my response better than I could of.

commandlinefan• 4 years ago

*could have

garciasn• 4 years ago

Same. Ours was so bad we ended up unintentionally starving both of them trying to breastfeed (we only realized that's what happened to our son AFTER we had our daughter). My wife stayed at home and pumped DILIGENTLY for hours on end every day to make sure she had enough to feed our kids breast milk--of which she was BARELY able to do.

While it SUCKED to have a single income and two kids, we made it work; a lot of others simply CANNOT do that and formula is necessary. Anyone being a Karen about it needs to shut the fuck up and mind their own damn business.

---

I have no commentary on the medical benefits or not; we just decided it was what we thought was best and went with it.

tempnow987• 4 years ago

My wife had a great time breastfeeding our first. Guy could eat and did. Zero issues.

Second, she needs a bottle to supplement, and even there she is not as great an eater.

The reality - fed is best in my view.

If you are getting so into breastmilk hype you are letting your kid get hungry I think that's a bad call?

The only irony is that one of the richest countries in the world has supply issues for what may be a critical item for children.

Good thing we are being told repeatedly that inflation and supply chain issues are "transitory", whatever that means. Rumor has it that there might be a strike on west coast ports? That should help sort things out!

timnetworks• 4 years ago

Crutches are nice, but why not try running?

uuee• 4 years ago

Nuance: Many women choose not to breast feed (e.g. wanting to go back to work or for reasons of convenience, etc).

As family structure in Western countries weakens -- generational knowledge/support etc about these topics isn't passed on.

It would be interesting to compare formula use in more traditional countries vs the western ones.

Amid a Worsening Formula Shortage, Mothers Are Asked: ‘Why Not Breastfeed?’

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