Friday, March 23, 2007

EW!

I was just reading on a message board, and this was what one poster wrote:

The World Health Organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics both advocate breastfeeding as the best possible option for babies. The second best is pumped breast milk. Number 3 is another mom's milk. The last option is artificial baby milk.

For starters, I had pretty nasty PPD with my oldest that was exaserbated (sp???) by breast feeding. I stopped really early on an used formula. I didn't even attempt to nurse with the little one because I was already on antidepressants - the whole pregnancy - and knew it would be a horrible, horrible decision. I knew from the minute that little "PREGNANT" showed up on the stick that we'd be using formula. I get really sick of the nursing Nazis who compare formula to poison because they have never walked in my shoes, nor the shoes of any other woman who cannot breastfeed. For me, it was for psychological reasons, for others it's physical. And believe me, the psychological/emotional reasons are just as valid as the physical ones. Just ask any mom who's ever suffered from PPD. You do what you have to do, and for me, it was bottles and formula. I will never regret that decision, I would never go back and change it, and it doesn't make me less of a mom, or a worse mom, than one who breast fed. Bottom line is, for my kids and my family, formula was best. Quote the "pros" all you want, but that quote does not cover every family or every situation. Sometimes, breast simply is not best.

Sorry, went off on a little rant there.

That wasn't even what got me about that post. What got me was that they'd say that giving your child another woman's milk is better for them than formula. Okay, now say it with me --

EW EW EW EW EW EW EW!!!!!!!!!!

Can you IMAGINE feeding your infant something that came out of another persons BODY?? I don't care what kind of screenings they might have, that's just GROSS! Even with tests there are diseases and stuff that won't show up at the time of a test and that could put an infant at risk of some serious disease! I mean really, it's better to give a baby someone else's bodliy fluid than formula?? G.R.O.S.S. I think I ought to check to see if that's accurate... I just can't imagine why anyone would want to do that! You don't know that person, and even if you do I still wouldn't want my friends or family giving my child their breast milk. It's still nasty nasty nasty!!

I'm sure there would be people who'd tell me I might feel differently if I'd nursed (see above: I did, for a short time), but I don't think so. Regardless of how you fed your own children, doesn't the very idea of feeding them something that came out of another woman's breasts just make you gag?

If not, please tell me why not! And if it does, feel free to comment with some major EW's! I can't believe I'm the only one completely repulsed by the very idea.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Rebecca! I didn't breastfeed - and really have no "good" reason other than I wasn't comfortable with it & didn't want to do it. Paige is a smart & healthy 2 year old who never had anything but formula... so I am FINE with my decision - regardless what others say.

I can't imagine giving my DD milk that came from someone else - there is just something not right about that. IMHO.

Oh & I love your blog BTW!
-Kristen

Rachel said...

Hahaha, in West Africa, it's totally normal to share breast milk. I guess b/c there's not as much access to pumps and formula is expensive. But yeah, the first time I came across it was on my first airplane to Dakar, and my seatmates were the mum and the aunt of a baby, and the aunt was nursing the baby -- I was so confused. But since then I've seen it often. Luckily, HIV/AIDS is still under control here (way less of the population is infected than in, say Wash, DC...) -- and it's not total strangers, it's usually family. (Then again, EVERYONE in Africa seems to be related, families are HUGE here.) There's also a really cool NGO where mums in America who have had stillborn babies or SIDS babies or other trageties can pump, freeze, and ship their breastmilk to orphanages in, I think, South Africa...

That all said, whatever! You know what's best for your family! That article or notice or whatever was clearly worded ridiculously -- clearly each family is unique and it's a case-to-case basis what is best for each. Perhaps more often breast-feeding is the prefered option but that takes nothing away from the other options.... There are so many factors that go into creating a viable human being --

I have no idea if I'll breast feed when the time comes! Maybe I will, maybe I won't! I take anti-anxiety pills, so who knows if I'll even be able to! (I have to say, I don't think I'd take the African root and let someone else nurse my child...

Elly Gilbert said...

Rebecca, you are so right. BFing was a terrible experience for me so I decided to formula feed and got a lot of crap about it. Whose business is it????

I always said that if I BFd Audrey she would be so smart we would have to hide her from the government!!!!!!!