The "Breast is best, but formula X is the next best thing" argument, reminds me of the "Abstinence is best, but safe sex is the next best thing" argument.  But few mothers would encourage their teenaged children to have sex with condoms, if the child was willing to be abstinent.  Obviously, the two things are not identical, and I am certainly not comparing mothers who formula feed to mothers who encourage their teenagers to have sex, but I think the concept is similar.   

As the mother of rebellious teenaged boys, I am thankful that condoms exist, but would much prefer that my boys refrained from doing anything that would require their use.  As an adoptive mother who had to work very hard for every ounce of breast milk my breasts produced, I was thankful that there were decent formulas that I could put with my milk, to provide my babies with the best feeding option that was available to us.

The car analogy is a good one too.  It is like being giving the chance for a free, brand-new Volvo, but passing it up in favor of paying full price for a used Ford!


             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html