Enough Already: Breastfeeding Is Overrated

Ambivalent research hasn't stopped the bullying of formula moms

By Wesley Oliver, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 20, 2009 1:43 AM CDT

(Newser) – Breast milk isn’t a magical elixir that boosts IQ and thwarts illness, but it may be the residue of women’s subjugation, Hanna Rosin writes in the Atlantic. Science has never handily declared breastfeeding better than bottled formula, says Rosin. At best, it prevents gastrointestinal illness in some children, and at worst, wreaks havoc on a woman’s life, she adds.

In the 1960s the vacuum cleaner symbolized housewives’ oppression, but now it’s “another sucking sound” that’s “keeping me and my 21st-Century sisters down,” writes Rosin, who breastfed her three children, but cautions mothers against feeling pressured. “Overall, yes, breast is probably best,” she writes. “But not so much better that formula deserves the label of ‘public health menace’ alongside smoking.”

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More than 500 mothers breastfeed their children of different ages during the Second Synchronized Breastfeeding Worldwide event last year in Marikina City, east of Manila, the Philippines. (AP Photo/Pat Roque)

Hanna Rosin challenges the notion that 'breast is always best' in the 'Atlantic.' (Shutter Stock)

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Hanna Rosin tells NBC's "Today" show why breastfeeding isn't always best for infants. (MSNBC)

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Breast-feeding does not belong in the realm of facts and hard numbers; it is much too intimate and elemental. It contains all of my awe about motherhood, and also my ambivalence.
- Hanna Rosin, the Atlantic

When people say that breast-feeding is 'free,' I want to hit them with a two-by-four. It’s only free if a woman’s time is worth nothing. - Hanna Rosin, the Atlantic

The debate about breast-feeding takes place without any reference to its actual context in women’s lives. It is a serious time commitment that pretty much guarantees that you will not work in any meaningful way. - Hanna Rosin, the Atlantic

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 13 comments

riffran

Mar 21, 2009 12:19 PM CDT

wow...thinker......I feel bad for you, that you had such a poor experience in becoming a mother. Complications of pregnancy can be rather rough. I don't know what kind of support you had or didn't have during the process, but my experience with that issue when my wife was pregnant was the total opposite. I have never seen a more maternal and dedicated strong women in my life...some women bemoan that process in life, my better half attacked it with gusto. In fact if anything it empowered her already independant personality. The ability to become a mother, is a gift we men cannot share.....(unless youve watched "junior"...lol).....But I supported my wife the whole pregnancy, and did what I could to help. Together WE had a wonderfull experience. Sorry your was not so good

Thinker

Mar 20, 2009 11:40 AM CDT

I had three kids, and breastfed two of them. I think being pregnant, giving birth and breastfeeding babies is the most disgusting thing a woman can do to herself. Gross and disfiguring, all of the above "natural" states and/or actions reduce a woman to a baby-making machine. Giving birth caused serious medical problems for me which required surgical repairs and damaged my capacity for sexual pleasure. At the very least, women should have C-sections. Best scenario? Babies should be gestated in a lab.

riffran

Mar 20, 2009 11:20 AM CDT

well to be a hypocrite..and male pig...depends on the women....yeah that was very wrong of me...but ill admit it...go ahead blast away...lol

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Enough Already: Breastfeeding Is Overrated