JANE writes:

I haven’t visited the topic of nursing for a long time and I’ve enjoyed your perspective on the issue. The experience of nursing lays close to my heart.

I’m aware of the long and sordid history of the artificial feeding of infants. Yes, there are, and were, malevolent forces behind this trend (step one towards getting women into the workforce) but ultimately it is each individual woman who chose to abandon the practice. At one time, many naively believed the experts who said formula is superior to human milk. We now know that to be false, and yet women still choose formula and bottles. Good and loving stay-at-home mothers choose formula. Why?

Rare is a woman who cannot nourish her infant with her milk, but what is all too common, is how difficult it is for so many women. Yes, the physical discomfort is very real. The body is doing something for the first time. That can be a little scary, particularly on the heels of a delivery and with a new baby. It’s not easy to get the knack of nursing a baby! If she chooses to nurse the baby it becomes a job that lands squarely on her shoulders and her shoulders only.

I believe the bottle is too tempting. The ease, the freedom, the shared responsibility and why not? Everyone else is doing formula.

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