Pam Wiggins put forth an opinion that ignorance and selfishness are the only
two reasons a woman doesn't breastfeed.  Several others have pointed out
other reasons.

If you asked a Scandinavian woman why women in the US don't breastfeed they
would likely mention the lack of paid leave after childbirth as a big
factor.  OK, maybe that is selfishness, but I don't think it is that simple.

The women I see who don't breastfeed have many reasons, and next to none of
them are cavalier, or based on ignorance or selfishness.  I have scarcely
met a woman who didn't know that human milk is superior to anything else for
human babies, or who didn't experience great pain at not breastfeeding.

I believe the most common reason for not breastfeeding where I live, is
cosmetic surgery to the breasts.  It seems to be on the rise, and we are
very concerned.  These women are not supermodels, most of them deviate
significantly from the cultural ideals of attractiveness for women, and most
have suffered in some way from the size of their breasts.  I hate it that we
are perpetuating a culture of acceptance for young women to have essential
body parts surgically altered in order to conform to some artificial notion
of what a female body should look like.
At the same time we condemn those cultures which practice female genital
mutilation as barbaric.  I can't see what the difference is.

Perhaps I would feel differently if I lived in the US, but it concerns me
that we who call ourselves protecters of breastfeeding may be seen as
judgmental or holier-than-thou if we treat any woman who doesn't breastfeed
as though we think she is ignorant, or selfish, or both.

I try, really hard, to have as my starting premise that every mother does
the best she can in the circumstances she's in, and find that it makes it
easier to connect with more people, who are more different from me.  OTOH I
am absolutely ruthless about health professionals' ignorance of the facts of
breastfeeding!

Just my 50 ml,
Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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