I am really appalled at all of these so called feminists recalling all of the awful happenings that occurred after they were forced to breast feed? I was a breastfeeding coordinator for many years. It was my job to correctly assist moms who decided to breastfeed their babies. Not once was it in my educational programs for the nurses and the patients to tell the mothers to breastfeed. I came in when the babies were delivered and was there to assist with the new moms experiences of breastfeeding or if there were any problems that occurred during their experiences during the process. I would be one of the first to see if the difficulties with be a cause of a problem between mother, baby, and regressive family members. My own sister’s husband was jealous of her breastfeeding and after talking to her, I told her it was not mandatory that she do this under all of the stress placed upon her for trying in the first place. Breast feeding is a normal thing to do throughout history, or there would have been a lot of dead babies, before the times of formulas. I was the first to tell the nurses and the moms that the first week to two weeks is not a picnic. Actually having a baby in the house all by yourself is NO picnic. Before I delivered my child, I received a lot of information to prepare and have handy during breastfeeding. I did not have a breast pump, I only used a specific cream for my nipples after the feedings to apply after gently cleansing them. NOTHING MORE?? I was lucky to have pads available, so I could change them frequently(so I would not walk around smelling like sour milk). That was it. My one issue was engorgement when the milk came in and I felt like I had a gallon of milk in each boob. Yes it hurt, but a good breastfeeding coordinator was there and had the feedings in the nursery stopped, came in and applied warm compresses to my swollen breasts just before my baby became hungry. This was an issue for exactly four days for me. It never occurred to me that I could not give my baby enough milk. I had friends who breastfed with me. All seemed to go well. Both weaned their babies within three months. One had not one problem with it, the other friends child started to lose weight and got diarrhea. Eventually ending up in the children’s hospital pediatric wing for a couple of months to find that the baby had a problem digesting the formula. This mom was a nurse and went to the same classes I went to. That this happened was rare, most babies do fine on formula. My daughter I fed by breast for almost a year, she was in the lower percentile of weight gain, but was perfectly healthy. Not the chubby bunny of many of my friends babies. My daughter had zero nutritional problems during this time. My daughter grew into a lovely young woman that had no nutritional or obesity issues. Unlike many of her chubby young friends. She had zero viral infections or runny noses while breastfeeding. I was lucky enough to have been raised in a family of breastfed babies. No muss no fuss. We were there to help each other. As a coordinator (NOT A MEMBER OF THE LE LEACHE LEAGUE) I observed if moms were having problems or did not like the experience. I then told them that formula was usually safe and many different types were available and their babies would be fine and not to beat themselves up about it. NOW some MAN tells me we were the breastfeeding mafia?? I started learning and teaching this at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore Maryland. NO PRESSURE was put on moms to breastfeed, they made the choice before delivery and had the supported opportunity to stop if it was not working out for them. I do not know where some of these other people had breastfeeding forced on them, but that is not the norm. I was blessed in my experience, it came naturally and I prepared no formula. I just whipped out my breast and fed my baby. YES TO BREASTFEED YOUR BABY IS A CHOICE. It is a well known fact that it is nutritionally better. But to allow breastfeeding to become a negative experience because of other pressures should always be addressed. I have ran into many nursery nurses, who did not like breastfed babies. The breast babies usually wanted to eat more frequently and this was inconvenient for the lazy nurses. Bottle feeding was fast, easy and then the baby was quickly diaper changed wrapped up tightly and usually went right back to sleep. When I was on duty, I took all of the breast babies to the moms and assisted them gently and to observe if there were going to be any issues. To label all professionals for various mothers personal guilt trips is unfair and untrue in the majority of cases. Both my sisters choose not to breastfeed and I said nothing to them about it but help them care for their babies. MOST OB CERTIFIED nurses are not members of the BREASTFEEDING MAFIA!

Do not demonize people who are only there to help.