Some of my 25 yr old son's online chat regarding the TIME cover, which I
just happened to notice browsing around Fb, ...Steven was a UTenn student
athlete grad, currently almost done with an NC graduate program, full-time
aerospace engineer, working on space vehicle science, research, and
development, ....enlightening as to what a small sample of his age group is thinking
now, ...permission to post:.......
Steven: "Talk about the BEST HEALTH INSURANCE plan available...This is
perfectly natural and should be the NORM."
<<<<female friend: disagrees and cites an article in last month's Marie
Claire magazine contending that pressuring women to breastfeed their children
into adolescence isn't medically necessary these days, ...It's the 21st
century and women are busy enough holding down full-time jobs, being wives
and caring for their families, ....No need to lay on the guilt trip if their
bodies don't also function as a 24/7 diner.>>>>
Steven: "adolescence is a bit of a stretch...It shouldn't be just about
pressuring women anyway...the Mother AND the Father are equally responsible
for ensuring that a baby has proper nutrition. This means the father should
encourage and facilitate ...breastfeeding, pumping, and bottle feeding with
breastmilk. Humans should drink human milk when they're young, its
important for their health and well being throughout their entire lives. With
cooperation of both parents it is possible to feed babies breastmilk regularly
for several years even while both parents are holding down a full time
job...The formula companies like Nestle just don't want anyone to know this and
how important it is to breastfeed, they like to keep this subject under
wraps. Where there's a will there's a way and a baby's health should be the
number one priority of parents...otherwise they have no business creating a
new life if they can't or are unwilling to make the necessary sacrifices
and efforts to properly care for them."
<<<<Male friend: says that we should spend our time concerned with things
that really matter like the gradual erosion of our civil liberties and
leave individual parenting decisions to the parents.>>>>
Steven: "I'd say proper nutrition for babies really matters. again the
formula companies don't want you to know just how much! I bet lack of
breastfeeding contributes just as much to our country's health care crisis as the
obesity rate"
<<<<female friend: it's a bit of a stretch to imply that the only couples
suitable for procreating are those where a husband and wife are working in
tandem to breastfeed a child until kindergarten. I suspect the human race
would come to a screeching halt if those were the requirements.>>>>
Steven: "One or two years is much much better than NO breastfeeding. Who
said anything about a requirement?...parents should just honestly do the best
they can and not make excuses at the expense of their baby like the
formula companies want and enable them to do..."
<<<<female friend: says breastfeeding during infancy is a good thing, if
it works. But the cover of TIME depicts a breastfeeding four-year-old, so
your comment that couples "have no business creating a new life if they can't
or are unwilling to make the necessary sacrifices" seemed to imply that
you didn't think couples should have babies unless they plan to devote
numerous years to breastfeeding. Unfair and unrealistic. But perhaps Michael
Moore will look into this Nestle conspiracy in his next film>>>>
Steven:"I'm sorry that sounded harsh. But not breastfeeding if one is able
(even if its just for one year) is unfair for the infant....I was just
trying to emphasize my point that there are so many poor excuses for why
people don't breastfeed and that people use formula because it makes their life
easier but it is not anywhere close to a good substitute...I think TIME put
that picture on the cover in reaction to the growing amount of disgust
that society has towards a mother breastfeeding their baby which has deterred
parents from feeding their babies breastmilk. It just seems to me that
everything in our society is pulling people away from breastfeeding and nothing
pulling them toward it...to me that is what is really wrong..."
I remember many years ago, when Steven was in middle school (7 & 8th
grades) I was so happily surprised when, after it was graded, he showed me a fab
BF poster he had done for a class project. Maybe one day he'll be working
on a program for lactation support in space. My other son who is in a
nuclear engineering program should work on solving the 'exposure to radiation in
space' problem first. My daughter can manage food services and make sure
lactating astronaut moms have a nice place to pump and store milk to be
jettisoned back to earth if their babies cannot travel with them. Ok, I'm
getting way ahead of myself now! Anyway back to the TIME cover: one problem is
that we here in the US are just not accustomed to seeing older children
breastfeeding, so yay TIME!
Debbie Tobin
RN, BSN, ...20 yr lapsed IBCLC
In the suburbs outside the Washington DC beltway
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