Some people here (in the US) think they don’t have to breastfeed, and I think ‘Are you going to give chemical food to your child when they are so little?’ I think there should be a worldwide law, in my opinion, that mothers should breastfeed their babies for 6 months.
~Supermodel Gisele Bundchen, as quoted by US Magazine, August 2
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Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
A worldwide law would be great but the MY BODY, MY CHOICE crowd would flip. No. Wait. They don’t allow their babies to live long enough to worry about breastfeeding.
I didn’t breastfeed my daughter. I was unable to. And it was twits like Gisele who made me feel like that was tantamount to child abuse. Get bent, Gisele.
I’m sure she didn’t mean mothers who couldn’t breastfeed. I think she meant mothers who use formula for convenience. I think it was greed that drove the move against breastfeeding in my mother’s generation: convince women that formula is better then sell a lot of formula. It goes to show how far reaching a bad thing can be, that bad thing being sin. Sin is probably one of the most unwelcome words in our post-modern world, but it is the elephant in the room. On the surface, selling baby formula doesn’t seem so bad. But women in my generation and the next have had to deal with this strange culture schism between women who breastfeed and those who don’t. One of my friends described the nurses after she gave birth as ‘the breastfeeding Nazis’ because they really laid a guilt trip on her for not nursing. It’s a shame that some women just don’t want to, but you can’t be pushy because you don’t know a woman’s situation.
I think women should breastfeed their babies if they’re able to, but the idea of it being mandated by worldwide law is just ridiculous. Like you could even get a worldwide law passed in the first place…
What the little diva needs to teel us is what would be the penalty for breaking her breastfeeding law.
This woman is an idiot, and she is very PRO-ABORTION — wouldn’t force women to breastfeed be tantamount to trying to “control their bodies?” She should stick to modeling, even though she looks like a tranny.
Can’t stand the Pats, either.
E-A-G-L-E-S!
Hey, I had a HORRIBLE time with other women when my baby was first born. Women who saw me bottle-feeding my child looked at me as if I was shaking the life out of her. They’d offer their opinions about how breastfeeding this and that and stick their nose in my business. It was awful. They were judgmental and cruel. When I explained that I was medically unable to breastfeed my child, they backed off, but the fact remains that even if a woman CHOOSES to bottle-feed, how does that make her a bad mother?
I don’t see why the Breast Police aren’t minding their own business. It’s okay to abort your kid, but it’s abusive to bottle-feed? Growing your own vegetables and baking your own bread is better for you, too. I don’t see people getting up in arms about buying store-bought bread and produce. It’s just ridiculous. Butt out, boob nazis.
MaryLee I totally agree! I was unable to breastfeed because of a surgery I had and I had the same problem with the twits. My daughter is now 15 and a straight A student so I guess the chemicals did her good! LOL!
I do have to say I wish I could have breastfed since I have had seven kids on formula. Think of all the money I could have saved!
“Growing your own vegetables and baking your own bread is better for you, too.”
Not that I think Gisele is right here… I don’t. Moms should have the choice on whether or not to breastfeed, and many cannot. Many also have to return to work and are unable to pump, though they’d like to continue breastfeeding.
However, breastfeeding has such *incredible* health benefits for mom and baby, that one cannot compare it to growing vegetables or baking bread. And as for comparing it to formula… well, there really IS no comparison. Breast milk is absolutely amazing.
http://www.womenshealth.gov/breastfeeding/why-breastfeeding-is-important/
Actually, within the last ten years, they’ve developed formula that is nearly identical to breast milk. My daughter is as healthy as you can be. My friends who breast-fed their babies had sick babies….My daughter hardly ever gets sick. I’m just not sold that it’s SOOO MAGICAL. I wish I could have breastfed her because I wanted to bond with her, but really, it’s not like the 1950’s anymore, where they fed their babies whole milk with sugar in it.
I’m very much sold that it’s “magical.” ;)
My babies were not sick, and my friends and I who have breastfed have had the opposite experience. I’ve had many friends, however, who did not breastfeed (by choice) and whose children were hospitalized often with infections, RSV, etc.
According to this site: http://www.americanpregnancy.org/firstyearoflife/whatsinbreastmilk.html – ”
Breast milk has the perfect combination of proteins, fats, vitamins, and carbohydrates. There is nothing better for the health of your baby. Leukocytes are living cells that are only found in breast milk. They help fight infection. It is the antibodies, living cells, enzymes, and hormones that make breast milk ideal. These cannot be added to formula.
Though some women ultimately are not able to breastfeed, many who think they cannot actually are able to breastfeed. Lactation consultants are able to provide support to women learning to breastfeed. For those who are not able to breastfeed, milk banks can be an alternative. ”
I also just read that UNICEF was taking donations of breast milk to give to infants in Haiti. There are some things only breastmilk can prevent. Formula will never measure up, and I think it’s largely because we can’t tailor-make formula to fit the infant’s ever-changing growth needs. Breastmilk is really awesome stuff. I wish more of my friends who thought breastfeeding was “creepy” would have researched it more.
MaryLee…I feel ya! I wanted to breastfeed my son. I couldn’t. I tried and tried and tried…and the nurses gave him a bottle on his second day in the world and after that he wouldn’t nurse. He would suck for a minute then cry because he was used to the instant gratification of his bottle. I was crushed. I tried pumping and I would pump and pump and pump and only have an once or two of milk. I felt like a failure as a woman. To this day it bothers me. But my son is extremely bright and healthy. I had a friend who breastfed beautifully but had to have her child c-section. The fact that she couldn’t deliver vaginally made her feel like a failure as a woman. As women we are a little too hard on ourselves. I think breastfeeding is the optimal way to feed your baby but it isn’t possible for every women so nags like Gisele can as you say “get bent.” My sentiments exactly.
“I tried and tried and tried…and the nurses gave him a bottle on his second day in the world and after that he wouldn’t nurse.”
Oh, Sydney, that is heartbreaking. :( I’m so sorry that happened to you. I would’ve let those nurses have it, if that were me. I had a lot of trouble nursing my first baby, and I remember the tears and struggles and pressure the hospital staff put on me to nurse every 2 hours, and even told me to WAKE her if she were sleeping longer than that. My doctor told me to ignore that, btw. :D Thank goodness for the lactation consultants, or I don’t think I’d have made it!
The fact is, breast feeding is best, but not everyone has the opportunity. It bothers me though, that more women don’t seek to educate themselves and instead take the free formula from the hospitals and manufacturers. I used to run a PRC. I know how few women breastfeed. And for people on a limited budget, especially, you’d think they’d at least try, but a lot of it comes down to culture and education.
I was not breastfed. I am the first woman in my family to breastfeed. The only woman I can think of, offhand, who nursed in our family was my husband’s grandmother. It was hard for our families to understand and accept that only I could feed the baby, and they made me feel guilty about nursing. THEY wanted to be able to feed the babies with a bottle, and they felt that by nursing, I was in a sense robbing them of that experience.
Needless to say, that ticks me off to this day! lol
Same here. My daughter was a preemie. I had planned on breastfeeding my baby my whole life, but in the end, it didn’t work out that way. I pumped for two weeks, but could only produce about an ounce. I had Post-Partum depression, and was still grieving for my mother who had died when I was three months pregnant. If I had been in a better state of mind, I wouldn’t have given up and kept at it. I am all for BF, but I don’t think anybody needs a LAW. I don’t think models can actually think and speak at the same time..LOL.
Hey, Gisele…I think there should be a “worldwide law” requiring mis-informed people like yourself to mind their own business…just my opinion, tho.