Feeling good about how we feed our babies
Problems caused by the Duty Mistake
Because we think about motherhood in terms of ‘musts’, people can mistakenly assume:
‘If breastfeeding is good for the child, mothers must breastfeed and need to give an excuse if they don’t’.
We’ll explain in a moment why this is a mistake.
As a society we don’t seem to be able to say there are health benefits of breastfeeding and it is up to women how they feed their babies.
This mistaken way of thinking has bad effects like:
- Women being asked to justify why they didn’t breastfeed:
Holly felt she needed to justify using infant formula: “The judgmental looks I received when I pulled out a bottle instead of my breast made me blurt out an explanation at any opportunity and that’s wrong on so many levels. Why should I have to justify the way I feed my baby?”
(These words are (slightly edited) from Holly’s blog about her experience)
- Talking about the benefits of breastfeeding can feel like an attempt to make those who use formula milk feel guilty.
This is bad for all parents, no matter how they feed their babies.