And now for something completely different...

Breastfeeding.

I'm not particularly vested in this Momosphere argument.  I breastfed both my daughters for 6 months each, far short of what the die-hard advocates advocate, but it was important enough for me to breastfeed that I did it though I was a full time law student living 2 hours away from school (for my oldest) and studying for the bar exam (for my youngest).

However, my mom, who had me in one of those "developing countries" that we hear about, raised me and my sister on formula.  I have no doubt that this was in part because of aggressive marketing on the part of formula makers.  During the late 60s/early 70s (and I believe even today), breastfeeding was perceived in Asia to be lower-class, and the ability to purchase formula a reflection of the upwardly mobile.  As the saying goes, I turned out Ok.

Then something struck me this morning.  Ultimately, my personal pro-breastfeeding beliefs are, on some level, marketing induced.  I have unscientific "feelings" about the benefits of breastfeeding, and the scientific facts I have are, well, let's just say I know what the track record is with things that are "scientific fact".  What I have been exposed to, since I'm most often surrounded by crunchy, tree-hugging hippies, is a lot of pro-breastfeeding research, enthusiasm from the la leche groups, and other forms of group-think.

But what I know is that breast-feeding, as a striving, sporatically ambitious woman, was a career liability for me.  It made my children constantly at the forefront of my thoughts, and made them manifestly at the forefront of my behavior.  I made it work, with difficulty, as I am sure thousands of mothers are making it work all around the country every day.  But there is no denying that breastfeeding changed my relationship with my "job," as I am sure it had similar impact on other breastfeeding moms.

So what if, just what IF, the reversion to breastfeeding-is-best is partly motivated by putting up just one more barrier between a woman and her chance at professional success?  What if, by making the striving, ambitious woman bear one more burden on her back, it becomes the one burdent that breaks her?

Comments

[hoppytoddle]

I don't know if it broke me, but it certainly made me realize there was a huge gap between what I though my priorities should be & what my boss thought. I've written about it before, but what it all came down to were mixed messages that led me to draw the conclusion that she (yes, boss=she) thought that women who really wanted to be good mothers didn't work & that mothers that wanted to work had to let go of their expectations of what good mothers did. I can say that DD was not as sick as the rest of the children in her nursery were & that when she did get sick she got better quicker than her peers. I think that was to the benefit of my employer, but of course they had no way of knowing that. It's weird because it is a pretty big deal; how we feed the youngest of our society. But in the workplace it's more acceptable to discuss American Idol. Ugh.

[teahouseblossom]

Interesting theory. But couldn't that be said about childbirth in general?

My mother breastfed both me and my sister, but supplemented with formula. From what I've heard, it's hard to keep the supply up with the demand!

[Angela at mommy bytes]

Hi Kady,

So glad you found me! I breastfed both my kids, 16 months and 23 months, while working outside the home full time. I purposely set up my daycare within walking distance from work and nursed during lunch as well as pumping for the first 10 months or so.

That being said, it all worked fine until I had to travel. Then it was pumping up 3 or 4 extra days of milk, and then pumping at the travel site, which was never as convenient as at work, storing the milk in the hotel freezer and bringing it all back. TOTAL HASSLE!! I only had to do that once, but I would simply refuse to travel if I ever had another baby (which would probably mean taking another job at this point). Giving up breastfeeding for work for this diehard would be impossible!