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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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 OPINION 
2

It's Time to Put the Breast Pump Away

The mommy wars should be fought over leave time, not formula

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(Newser) – We may have taken the "breast is best" argument too far, writes Judith Warner on her New York Times blog. The evidence for the superhuman benefits of breast milk over formula isn't so clear-cut, after all, and it's not worth it to guilt women into pumping when the real battlefield—the need for longer maternity leave—remains largely ignored.

Women should stop fighting the formula vs. milk battle, argues Warner, and start campaigning for better benefits for working moms: "Why, as a society, have we privileged the magic elixir of maternal milk over actual maternal contact, denying the vast, vast majority of mothers the kind of extended maternity leave that would make them physically present for their babies?"

Breast pumps, by their connection to the breast feeding vs. formula debate, have become a focal point of the cultural parenting wars.
Breast pumps, by their connection to the breast feeding vs. formula debate, have become a focal point of the cultural parenting wars.   (Flickr)
Scientists don't seem to agree whether the health and IQ benefits of breast feeding come from the mother's milk itself, or from the extra attention and contact that nursing babies get.
Scientists don't seem to agree whether the health and IQ benefits of breast feeding come from the mother's milk itself, or from the extra attention and contact that nursing babies get.   (Flickr)
One way to make the breast-pump vs. formula debate moot, writes Judith Warner, is to lobby for better, and longer, maternity leave.
One way to make the breast-pump vs. formula debate moot, writes Judith Warner, is to lobby for better, and longer, maternity leave.   (Flickr)
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Is it at long last possible to suggest that a mother’s need for some semblance of physical dignity is perhaps a right worth respecting?

- Judith Warner

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2 comments
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TerrifiedCitizen
Apr 3, 09 1:08 PM CDT
This is silly... there's no reason why we shouldn't have both. This is like throwing the baby out with the dishwater... it's designed to make laziness sound O.K. Reply
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riffran
Apr 4, 09 3:04 AM CDT
isn't this just a re-hash? There are pro's and cons to every aspect of breast-vs-bottle. We were trained in school to inform new moms and moms to be of BOTH sides of the equasion, and not to judge the decision...maybe this lady was pressured too much and is now so sensitive to the subject, she feels "subjugated"?...Who knows Reply
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The article Warner was responding to
The Atlantic

Shaming new mothers into breastfeeding is cruel
Austin American-Statesman

Is this the new vaccuum of subjugation?
New York Times


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