Yet another reason to breastfeed: The latest poison news from China is about babies sickened or even killed by tainted formula. Seems to me we've been here before. Remember the Nestle scandal back in the 1970s and '80s and the boycott that got Nestle to back off from marketing formula in the Third World?
The story of formula has always seemed to me like a parable of capitalism. Start with something free, a gift of nature, and figure out a way to get people to pay to buy a substitute. Brilliant!
Breast is certainly best. That said, there are many reasons women in industrialized countries may find themselves with few options but to feed their babies formula. If you work full time, it is challenging to keep breastfeeding. Believe me, I know this well. The last few weeks, since I've gone to fulltime paid work, have been stressful. Despite a supportive work environment where I have a comfortable place to pump, and a daycare that supports breastfeeding, I've just barely been keeping up with my baby's eating. Where breastfeeding is a beautiful balance, a perfect positive feedback loop, where the amount the baby eats determines how much milk a mother produces, pumping is a creaking substitute that easily becomes a vicious spiral. The machine rarely pulls out as much as a baby eats. And the stress over this can cause one's milk supply to slow. And then if you start supplementing, it's likely your supply will further decline, and so on.
All of which is not to say mothers of babies shouldn't work, but rather that a society that cares for children must provide a panoply of social supports, from paid leave to places and time to pump to well-paid part-time work.
For me, a combination of running down to the daycare at lunch each day to nurse, pumping all the time, and taking the herbs fenugreek and blessed thistle has worked--for now. The liquid gold reserves in the freezer are finally building up again. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
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Thanks for this C -- What a great reminder to continue all we do to keep the milk flowing. I, too, am in the "back to paid work full time" boat. I struggled with a low milk supply my first two months and finally, finally, I am getting my levels up through sheer determination and stubbornness -- also taking a healthy dose of Fenugreek, domperidone and pumping for what feels like 12 hours a day. It's all so very worth it, though!
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