The Case for Breastfeeding

Check out this article in Mothering Magazine. It clears up the muddy claims of the author of the anti-breastfeeding article in a methodical and eloquent manner and is well worth a read.

Willful Ignorance Strikes Again

The Atlantic is running a wonderful article called The Case Against Breastfeeding right now. It's all about how there is no real medical benefit to breastfeeding (for mother or child) and modern moms are being peer-pressured into doing it. They are then enslaved by their babies and lose out on their chances for a good life. Good for Ms. Rosin, the author. I'm glad she is strong enough to fight the pressure and refuse to nurse her third baby past a couple of months. Frankly, I don't know why she nursed any of her babies at all. It was obviously a complete waste of her time. Apparently so was researching her article...Here is a great rebuttal from Motherwear.

The fact that the TODAY show ran a story about this article is irresponsible, but since when does the popular media pay attention to little things like facts? If a story can make formula moms feel great about themselves, then why not go for it?

There have been several studies recently showing that many of our health epidemics might be caused by living in too clean an environment. C-section babies are 80% more likely to develop asthma because they don't get exposed to the vaginal bacteria that would jump start their immune systems. MS and other diseases like it might be cured by intestinal worms (gross, but look it up). Is it really a stretch to think that not starting out being fed breastmilk might not also lead to illness? No it's not, and in fact there is tons of research to prove it. Who cares about stuff like that when a woman wants to be able to leave her baby behind and have a life, right?

If you play the odds, you should still come out with a healthy kid. I mean, ONLY 1 in every 150 American children has autism. That means that 149 out of 150 don't. Be like that Octomom and have tons of kids and chances are that some will be healthy. The fact that half of her original children are on disability means that half are perfectly fine! Getting taxpayers to pay for her baby fetish is pure genius, by the way. Plus, many of the negative effects of not breastfeeding are things that won't happen until your child is an adult. When your kids develops diabetes or heart disease as grown-ups, no one will remember if you nursed them or not. You'll be off the hook.

An article like this just goes to show how little most people understand biology and evolution. These interconnected systems of life didn't show up overnight, and they serve a purpose. Changing those things willy-nilly is "playing God" way more than believing in evolution is "ignoring God". People are playing with the biology of human development like kids with a new set of Legos, and there are consequences. When our children's grandchildren look back, they might very well wonder why the hell we screwed around so much with nature that they are all sickly and have a shorter life expectancy that we do (this generation of kids is the first who are predicted to die off earlier than their parents). Or maybe Natural Selection will come into play, and genes from people like Rosin's will have become extinct.

The Wait and See Approach

I not a patient person, so "wait and see" sounds more like "torture" to me. I've decided to try it with the breastfeeding an adopted baby who doesn't exist yet. I stopped pumping, which wasn't wielding much milk anyway. I will take the next step when I know what we are dealing with. I may use a supplemental nursing system to deliver formula to the new baby and attempt to stimulate my own milk production, but I'm not going to decide now. The pressure of making huge decisions about a situation that hasn't happened and has no guarantees of happening was driving me nuts. I'll wait until we get The Call before going insane with the choices...

Isn't This a Sign of the Apocalypse?

All of her babies were created using IVF??? What does this say about our society? There are children literally starving in the streets across the world, and a doctor thought it was okay to help an obviously unstable woman get pregnant with fourteen children? Talk about a moral decline in America.

Insane and Unethical

When the news came out this week about a woman giving birth to eight babies, I found it disturbing. As an occasional watcher of TLC's various giant family shows, I have lost my patience for fertility patients who go on and on about their "blessings" and "God's Will". I have my own spiritual beliefs, but I cannot reconcile a world where some mothers watch their children die, other women can never have children, and yet some are chosen to bear literal litters of babies (using the very science that so many super-religious people disdain). These people rail against abortion, but have no issue with distorting Mother Nature by bearing half a dozen (or more) fetuses, many of whom will be born with life-long medical problems. Why is it okay to almost intentionally create someone who will never be healthy or live a normal life? I understand the aversion to "selective reduction". I could not ever choose to randomly abort some of my children. Knowing that, I would never put myself in the position of having to choose. Don't take the fertility drugs that leave it up to chance. Don't let the doctor implant more than three embryos at once. Adopt a child who is being born and has no family to raise him.

One of my favorite author's, Meridith Small wrote an article about the biology of having litters for humans today. She says everything much more intelligently than I do, so I highly recommend that everyone reads it.

All of my annoyance with America's shameful fascination with this Weird Science experiment called fertility treatments turned to outrage when the rest of the story broke today. The mother who just gave birth to octuplets already has SIX children? What kind of doctor implanted eight embryos into this woman's uterus? Shouldn't he or she lose their license to practice medicine ASAP? She and her six children live with her parents in a 1600 square foot house for goodness sake!!! No one has the right to tell you how many children you can have (although I would hope your sense of right and wrong would prevent you from having more than you can afford), but no one should be guaranteed the right to fertility treatments when they already have so many kids!!! Who is going to pay for the costly care of these eight premature babies? Either they will be on state assistance or private insurance. I do not believe that my premiums should be so high to cover ridiculous people's needs.

The mother has stated that she and the rest of her family will come out publicly, "in our own time." I believe that means they will come out once they have reached the highest paying agreement with a magazine or news show. I would bet money that they are hoping for a TLC show. Who needs Jon and Kate Plus Eight? They only have eight kids! They just bought a mansion! Instead, America can fall in love with the ______'s and their fourteen kids who live in a shoe.

All In or Insane

I believe I have a choice to make. I know, I keep going on and on about pumping indefinitely. My pump has been determined to be incapable of doing the job I need it for, and this was by a mom who has lots of pumping experience. Here is my choice-buy a hospital grade (or close to it) double pump to pump more effectively and in a shorter amount of time or don't, and watch my supply dry up. It's all a gamble, as I've mentioned, because we have no real timetable for the adoption. Our social worker predicted between six and nine months, but said that it could take a year. Six months from when she made her prediction would be April. Of course, the right pregnant woman could walk into her office on Monday and choose us to parent her child! Do I make the investment in a good pump? Do I have the willpower to pump from now until next November if it takes that long? If I stick with my dinky pump, dry up, and get a call a week later, will I get over it?

I know that I'm analyzing this to death, but that's just me.

The Sound of Machines in the Morning

1. Wake up to the sound of two year old wheezing beside me in bed.
2. Mix together steroid and two tubes of other asthma med because doctor doubled the dose after I refilled the original prescription.
3. Convince two year old to sit on my lap for thirty minutes, breathing in the nebulized meds and watching cartoons (Miss Spider is a stupid show, even two year old got tired of it quickly).
4. Make sure two year old gets enough water after treatment.
5. Feed two year old breakfast.
6. Instruct six and eight year olds to eat something for breakfast (Mom's not making anything this morning).
7. Pour cup of coffee (I know, caffeine dehydrates and isn't great for someone trying to use a pump to maintain a milk supply, but I have allowed myself a vice).
8. Settle down with coffee and breast pump for forty minutes.

I swear that between the drone of the nebulizer and the rhythmic beat of the breast pump, I am either going to go deaf or insane.