Black Breastfeeding | Breastfeeding...It's a Beautiful Thing

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So much for freedom of speech
Friday, June 15, 2007

In yesterday's My Turn column on Newsweek.com, Laura Cook-Crotty wrote about her inability to breastfeed as well as her staunch perspective about feeling no mother guilt because she opted to bottle-feed her daughter.

The title of Crotty's essay is "Formula is Fine: Don't give me grief about bottle-feeding my daughter. Breast-feeding isn't for everyone." I left a comment only to find out this morning it wasn't posted online. I guess I was censored.

I simply stated that while bottle-feeding was her right as a mother, I thought the title of her essay was incredibly misleading as well as irresponsible. Surely, she could have thought of something more catchy than 'Formula is Fine" because Lord knows, it's not. Plus, just to throw a wrench in the conversation I asked what would she have done if formula didn't exist? Would her baby have starved to death? (I know, I'm horrible!)

I understand wholeheartedly that formula will give an infant all the nutrition it needs, in fact, infants do thrive on formula according to the FDA. However, the increased potential for childhood illness is well documented, yes?

As of this morning, all of the comments are dripping with understanding and agreement. How much fun is that? My blog wouldn't be worth a hill of beans if everyone parroted everything I said and wrote. Newsweek should know this more than anyone.

Labels: commentary, news