The problem with breastfeeding activists is that they don’t know when to stop and, as a result, end up sounding quite ridiculous.
The woman who gave us the birth preparation classes is a very intelligent and helpful person, even if she says “we, in the lactation circles. . .” way too often. However, her eagerness to convince people to breastfeed takes her a little too far and her entire message becomes devalued.
“Studies have shown that the poop of breastfed babies smells sweet and beautiful!” she exclaimed. “And the poop of bottle-fed babies stinks!”
Of course, the ideologically correct poop always smells of roses but just try to imagine what those “studies” looked like. Scientists walked around smelling the diapers of 200 breast-fed and 200 bottle-fed babies and evaluating the pleasantness of the smell?
I’m yet to take the breastfeeding class, and I just hope that the class doesn’t turn me away from the idea. I definitely want to try breast-feeding, but I have a well-developed critical capacity, and stories about poop you can eat for dessert annoy me too much.
And I really hope nobody attempts to resuscitate that tired old canard about breast-fed babies developing better intellectual capacities than bottle-fed babies. I was never breast-fed, and I’m more than willing to have an intellectual pissing contest with anybody in that audience to see how many degrees, languages and publications their breast-feeding past has gained for them in adulthood.
I kind of resent suggestions that I’m intellectually deficient in any way when they come from people who have not yet demonstrated to me that they are any more intellectual than I am.
P.S. Sadly, N. totally bought into the good-smelling poop story and started giving my chest appreciative looks of the utilitarian variety I’m not used to be getting from him.
Clarissa's Blog 
Never trust the phrase “Studies have shown” if it doesn’t give the title, authors and place of publication for the study as well. On the intellectual capacities bit, I’d bet 20$ that the increase in intellectual capacities dissapears once you correlate for parental involvement.
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That “increase ” is something like 0,02%. Which is obviously within the statistical margin of error. And as you say, all of the other factors are too important and can’t be isolated.
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Yeah, you’re onto them. People just like certainties. It makes them feel all cool and cozy inside. Home truths. Made up fictions — you know the kind of certainties I mean.
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This has become a very popular and easy way of affirming one’s female identity. I recently alighted on a Facebook group where women share their “breast feeding pride” and list how many ounces of milk they have been able to produce each day. Of course, according to this point of view, the ideal woman is a cow.
These poor sods have no way of feeling female unless they turn themselves into cows. And that is tragic.
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Made up fictions — you know the kind of certainties I mean.(Muster)
Ah, you mean, like the patriarchy. 🙂
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If you can’t see it, it doesn’t exist — like oxygen. Don’t worry your pretty little head, you don’t need that stuff. I can’t see it either. Go fly to the moon and back. Seeya!
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I read a book on breast feeding while pregnant the first time, studied the pictures of the ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ way to hold your baby while feeding and concluded I couldn’t tell the difference. After the birth, when you’re actually trying for real, advice from someone who has breast fed is more useful than from someone who has only studied it. Or as we say in the UK, suck it and see!
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I know from experience as a father that feces of breast fed babies does not smell nearly as strongly as that of bottle fed babies. What the significance of th9s fact is, I do not know.
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Could be there are more intestinal agents that facilitate digestion in breast milk, compared to bottled milk.
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Anything could be true. It could be this way or the other way around. Who knows?
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I think you’d have to smell a few hundred of them for this to be considered a scientific experiment 🙂 🙂
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The main plus of breast milk probably is :
The biological role of the bacteria found in the milk is still not quite understood, yet it is crucial. A previous study published in the journal Current Nutrition & Food Science found that breast milk contains substantial amounts of friendly bacteria which helps babies absorb nutrients and develop the immune system.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/254758.php
Heard about “develop the immune system” before. It doesn’t mean that not breastfed infant will be less healthy as an adult, but as an infant could become ill oftener, which is a pain both to a child and to parents, who worry and miss work.
Not everything told for breast milk is told by crooks and fools. What if it’s scientifically better for children? Is it a problem? I sometimes get the feeling that this idea produces a counter-reaction in you, why? It still wouldn’t mean trying to force women to breastfeed is OK.
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I simply don’t like to be held for a fool. There hasn’t been a shred of scientific proof for any of this. I think it would be great if there were proof. But until there is, I don’t want to be lied to by stupid people.
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And the reason why this annoys me so much is that as a feminist I detest it when women are reduced to our physiological essence. It is especially sad to see that women are doing it to themselves and other women. Talking about objectification, when you are nothing but your breast, is there a greater objectification than that?
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You got me curious and I went and google scholared this and guess what, there are actually are papers on this topic! For example:
http://jmm.sgmjournals.org/content/10/4/403.short
http://journals.lww.com/jpgn/Abstract/2009/09000/Probiotic_Lactobacilli_in_Breast_Milk_and_Infant.14.aspx
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/69/5/1035s.short
http://adc.bmj.com/content/65/2/185.short
Etc.
Interesting!
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Oh, I’m sure there are. This is in vogue now, so people will go out of their way to surf the wave. Twenty years ago, the opposite idea was in vogue, and there were mountains of “studies” about how much breast-feeding sucked. There were classes on the benefits of bottle-feeding, etc. The whole thing goes in waves and is absolutely hilarious. Those who were bottle-fed today passionately advocate for breast-feeding. Tomorrow the breast-fed will advocate for bottle-feeding. 🙂 🙂
There is nothing more typically American than this belief that your whole life can be defined by this one thing you ingest.
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Personally, I think the reason why formula was in vogue for a time was NOT because it was better for babies, but because it is so lucrative for businesses. It is very expensive, so if you want families to commit a huge amount of money to feeding their baby when they could do it for free, then you need to have “studies” to show its benefits. Talk about being fooled! I know — let’s make paranoid first parents pay us about 120 dollars a month to feed their baby who doesn’t know any better when they COULD be feeding it for free. The almighty dollar wins again.
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“Personally, I think the reason why formula was in vogue for a time was NOT because it was better for babies, but because it is so lucrative for businesses. ”
– Oh, absolutely! I personally happen to think that the comfort and the happiness of the mother who is not stressed out and doesn’t feel guilty or miserable will have such a crucial effect on the well-being of an infant that where the milk comes from becomes quite a minor factor. But it’s easy to manipulate new parents because they are so desperate to do what’s best for the baby.
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In my experience, the breastfeeding classes one takes before giving birth are nearly useless! Practicing with a doll is pointless. And both of my kids nursed in very different ways (that is, wanted to be held differently, latched on differently, etc.). Get help from a consultant after the baby has arrived and is actually trying to nurse if you need help. And don’t let anyone make you feel like a failure if nursing doesn’t work out for you and your baby.
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Thank you! I think yours is the most reasonable approach.
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Well, my mom breastfed me and my brother and she said that in her experience a baby’s poop doesn’t smell until it is weaned, so there might be some truth to that.
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I would have had no problem if the woman at the course shared her personal experience, like you do. But she referenced non-existent “studies”, and that’s just something I don’t like. Especially since she teaches at my university.
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Well, I breastfed both of my kids. The very best thing about it, for me, was the convenience. I never had to stop and make sure I remembered a bottle or formula or whatever. If I were there, then the kid could eat.
Perhaps more out of tune with your sensibilities, though, is the fact that formula is awfully expensive. It’s an average of about 30 dollars for a can that lasts no more than a week. Overall, it’s way more than you’d spend on diapers. Breastfeeding is free, so you could spend that 120+ dollars per month you saved on clothes (for the baby or you!) or save it for the kid’s educational expenses or household needs — whatever.
It’s true that breastfed babies have less smelly poops. I’ve been around a lot of babies in my day, and it’s true. Poop is gross, though — no matter what makes it.
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Yeah, I don’t understand this “but it makes the poop less smelly” thing. It’s still poop, and most people won’t want to have any more interaction with it than absolutely necessary, whatever it smells like.
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// Yeah, I don’t understand this “but it makes the poop less smelly” thing.
If it smells less, it’s supposedly a sign of health, of better digestive tract functioning. That’s “common sense” that may not be true, but makes sense in a way.
// It’s very much in tune with N.’s sensibilities, so it’s a great argument.
It only applies if a mother isn’t working full time. If it’s a choice between full time salary and 120$, the salary wins hands down.
Also, both parents can be on “night duty” to bottle-feed, but only mother can breastfeed. Unless she saves her milk in a fridge.
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Normally, people pump the milk which can be done in the workplace. This way women who work can keep breast feeding while working full time.
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“Perhaps more out of tune with your sensibilities, though, is the fact that formula is awfully expensive. It’s an average of about 30 dollars for a can that lasts no more than a week. Overall, it’s way more than you’d spend on diapers. Breastfeeding is free, so you could spend that 120+ dollars per month you saved on clothes (for the baby or you!) or save it for the kid’s educational expenses or household needs — whatever.”
– It’s very much in tune with N.’s sensibilities, so it’s a great argument. 🙂 🙂
I like such reasonable, practical arguments.
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I still don’t understand what fools could believe formula is better. Have they believed “Smoking is Good for You!” ads too?
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The same ones that today believe breast milk will have some dramatic influence on their babies’ intellect or health. The Magic Pill kind of people.
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Don’t have personal experience yet, but it seems that the best approach to take is “I will cross this bridge, when I come to it.” Not all women have sufficient milk in the first place. In general, one can’t know how it will work out.
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I agree completely that a non-fanatical, calm approach is best.
Hospitals are not being helpful in creating calm, relaxed environments. Mothers have to sneak in formula and hide it from policing hospital staff. A lot of stress is created around whether the baby is getting any nourishment in.
If everybody could just relax about this, I’m sure it would make for happier babies.
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Some people think their shit don’t stink. Vegans also make such claims.
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It is definitely true that some lactation consultants are a little over the moon about the magic of breastmilk. However, if you want to try breastfeeding, in my experience this is worth putting up with for the assistance they can provide. I hope you will have an easier time, but breastfeeding was hell on earth for me for about the first three weeks, and I wouldn’t have made it through without their help (and the support of my husband and mother). Now, I am glad I did for the reasons Fie mentions (cost and convenience, especially traveling) and for the immune system boost (which made me a lot more comfortable traveling at 4 and 5 weeks). I also have a newfound sympathy for cows 🙂
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As a man, my thoughts on this are roughly (all based on anecdotal evidence)
All else being equal, there is probably a small advantage to breast feeding in terms of infant health (with no real lasting effects past early infancy). It can also help in the whole bonding process (though the drive to nurse is stronger among some women than others and trying to force the process could do more harm than good).
All else is seldom equal though and there are lots of good reasons a woman might not want to or be able to breast feed. As long as some consideration and judgement has been expended on the issue women shouldn’t beat themselves up about it (or let others try to override their decision).
As for the poop issue. The anecodtal evidence is fairly clear: The great majority of new parents have little or no revulsion to their own baby’s poo. This is possibly an evolution thing but I realize a lot of people here don’t necessarily believe in evolutionarily shaped behavior.
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Currently, I feel a lot of revulsion to the idea of poop. But I will be happy to report how things develop in the future. I have a suspicion that many people fake a greater poop tolerance than they actually have because they think that being truthful would make a bad impression.
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