That breastfeeding article is inane and conspiracy theoryish.
1) As Michael Pollan says about food, science can only put back what it knows is missing. The same goes for breastfeeding. Breast milk may only be marginally or debatably better than formula in all the ways scientists have thought of to test it, but what about the aspects they haven't thought to test? There really is something to be said for nature, particularly in the absence of strong scientific evidence suggesting we've managed to improve on it.
2) I've fed a child breast milk, being a man with no children. So this pretense that somehow breastfeeding demands women stop working to go be naked with their baby is facile and dishonest.
3) The notion that only "elite" women can make the choice to breastfeed, because only they have the flexibility in their lifestyles is idiotic. Poor women breastfeed all the time. The just don't have jobs at the same time. But as it turns out, poor people rarely make enough money to justify paying someone to look after their kid while they work. Still, if they have some care arrangement (father or grandparents watching the kid, for example), I see no reason why even poor women can't store their milk for the baby.
4) Of course it's absurd to get evangelical about breastfeeding, but there are some good reasons why it's a sensible idea. But my experience with new mothers is that they are greedy with baby time, so the claim that they're being oppressed by people telling them they need to spend more time with their child is... typical feminazi bullshit.
1) As Michael Pollan says about food, science can only put back what it knows is missing. The same goes for breastfeeding. Breast milk may only be marginally or debatably better than formula in all the ways scientists have thought of to test it, but what about the aspects they haven't thought to test? There really is something to be said for nature, particularly in the absence of strong scientific evidence suggesting we've managed to improve on it.
2) I've fed a child breast milk, being a man with no children. So this pretense that somehow breastfeeding demands women stop working to go be naked with their baby is facile and dishonest.
3) The notion that only "elite" women can make the choice to breastfeed, because only they have the flexibility in their lifestyles is idiotic. Poor women breastfeed all the time. The just don't have jobs at the same time. But as it turns out, poor people rarely make enough money to justify paying someone to look after their kid while they work. Still, if they have some care arrangement (father or grandparents watching the kid, for example), I see no reason why even poor women can't store their milk for the baby.
4) Of course it's absurd to get evangelical about breastfeeding, but there are some good reasons why it's a sensible idea. But my experience with new mothers is that they are greedy with baby time, so the claim that they're being oppressed by people telling them they need to spend more time with their child is... typical feminazi bullshit.
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