Discussing breast feeding can be as risky an activity as wearing a Red Sox cap in Manhattan or using a Powerbook in Redmond. Pediatrician Sydney Spiesel puts on his flak jacket and gives it a try in this week’s Slate. He has, in fact, one of the more sensible opinions I’ve read. While I don’t have the expertise to confirm or deny his medical arguments, I can’t argue with his conclusion:
Biologically speaking, it seems as if breast-feeding ought to be better for babies. At the same time, I am strongly convinced that there are two kinds of nutrition, physical and psychological, and that both are equally important. This conviction persuades me that it’s better for a mother to formula-feed her baby pleasurably than to breast-feed and hate it. Fortunately, the majority of mothers enjoy nursing. But not all. Some women don’t like to nurse, and others, even with the best help, find it physically difficult or daunting or intolerably uncomfortable. Sometimes, also, babies just aren’t good nursers. In the end, I always encourage a mother to choose the feeding method that is most satisfying to her.
In a related article, Slate senior editor Emily Bazelon discusses breast pumps, and also emerges with a moderate view:
In the end, breast pumps aren’t proof of our maternal dedication or abdication, or evidence of our feminist cowardice. They’re a convenience that allows us to have it both ways, for a little while at least. That’s not the same thing as having it all, but it’s a compromise worth savoring.
Both articles are good reads if you’re interested in the biological and/or social ramifications of breast feeding. It would be nice, however, to see someone address the issue of lesbian parents and the role of breastfeeding, pumps, and formula when one mom is lactating and the other isn’t. Can pumped milk and/or formula help a non-lactating mom feel more a part of the early childcare process? Or doesn’t it matter, since non-lactating moms will find other ways to participate? What about gay dads, for that matter? Any worries that you’re not doing the “right” thing if you adopt from birth and don’t have breast milk for your child? Or is this the least of the many issues you’re concerned about when bringing home your new infant? I suspect, as with many such issues, these are all personal matters and depend on the specific people inolved. Milk may be white, but its use comes in shades of gray.