Breast is Best?

If you want my opinion on this topic, let me tell you that I'm a working mom who has nursed three kids past a year, two who never used up the free formula from the hospital--one of whom is still nursing at 25 months. Of course I think breast is best, and I can't for the life of me figure out why some moms go into the hospital having decided to bottle feed their babies from day one. I have so enjoyed nursing mine that I feel as sorry for the moms as for the babies. By the time number three arrived I had pretty much decided that the baby was going to eat where she wanted when she wanted and if other people had a problem with it--it was their problem not mine.

All that being said, I'm leery of the move to guilt moms into breastfeeding. Educate them yes, but while breast is best when all things are equal, things are rarely equal. Sometimes milk production is low (perhaps because of a problem with mom, or perhaps because of problems with the baby's suck--which is what I think happened with my son)and mom doesn't need someone trying to tell her she's a failre when she feeds her baby. Much as some online would like to portray working moms as self-centered materialistic hedonists who care more for their BMW's and fancy vacations than for their children, most working moms I know are working to pay house notes on moderate houses, grocery bills and to provide health insurance for their families. I'm fortunate to have a job and work enviornment conduceive to breastfeeding, but for many workers an office with a door that locks, or the ability to get away for 15 minutes in the morning and afternoon are nothing but a dream. I say let your baby enjoy the mom he or she has; don't make both of you miserable because you can't be the mom someone else thinks you should be.