I am not an expert. Nor do I have the proper organs to facilitate the argument of this quick blog. However, while I was looking for pictures for a website that I am assisting with - I noticed something. Breast feeding is a natural function of the human female body and was the intentional design. The rest of the world and world health organization, supports breast feeding and notes the advantages. So, why have we, as Americans, downgraded human life to an expendable, form? Our animals are now considered babies by most. Our babies are considered vermin by some. After that confusion we then move to the people that actually "want" children. You can cut your baby out if you like (c-section), you can cut your baby up (abortion), you can drop your baby off at random places if you do not want them... Before I continue, I must also state that dropping your baby off is a MUCH better option in efforts of preserving life. We can hire someone to even raise our babies for us.
So, while I was looking at photos - I just wanted to note that most people would call these beautiful... The animals are naturally performing a feeding. We will place these on public office walls, admire on our screen savers, send photos to friends, show our children, play on tv commercials.... This is a work of art divinely inspired!
I have not really seen advertisements of the animals being hand fed and that being associated with beauty. Unless, of course, it was some sort of rehabilitation. Even the little piglets are tandem nursing. Which, for those of you that do not know, is nursing more than one infant at a time. Humans turn their heads at two children nursing at the same time. The cute little pigs though are expected to nurse 7-8 in a sitting.This is a topic that I could continue blabbing about for a long time so I will just skip the body and hit the main point.
Look at the baby's faces in these photos. The nursing vs. bottle fed. I am not even going into the health (nutrients) of feeding. Only the attachment. The bottle fed baby stares into the sky, or out into the world - no real look other than dazed. Of the 65 pages for the stock photos, I only found 1 photo of a bottle fed baby smiling at his or her mom. The other photo is of a breast fed child. How can you deny the absolute connection that the feeding shares? 
Of course then we wonder why our kids need supplements, are detached, and cannot confide in us. We fed them a replacement from birth, let them feed themselves from a replacement mother and Ferberized them for the remainder of their life. Deal with it, cry it out.
6 comments:
I do get a lot what you are saying...but I do think that very real attachment is possible while bottlefeeding. You can definitely bottlefeed your baby using the skin-to-skin philosophy and look deeply into the eyes of your baby while holding him/her close. I agree that normalizing the detaching of babies and mamas isn't a good thing, but holding your baby and giving a bottle is a very different thing than say, bottle propping, which I am totally anti.
I understand what you are saying as well. I just do not think that the average person is about the skin to skin if they are bottle feeding. You are right - it can be done.
I also totally get this, but the C-Section thing is sometimes out of our hands. My husband and I did 12 weeks of Bradley classes and worked so so hard to have Ben naturally. I even went 11 days past my due date because I refused to let them touch me! But in the end I wasn't able to get the VBAC that I wanted. I believe 110% that doctor perform WAY too many c-sections (and why wouldn't they, imagine the money they can make!!!) but for those of us that get stuck with c-sections it is pretty depressing to see it right there with other awful things that we would never do to our babies, like abandonment and abortion. Maybe I am misunderstanding this sentence... anyway, love the pic of the babe nursing!!! So sweet! Makes me miss it!
You are right - but you do not schedule a c-section because it works with your schedule. There are exceptions that we must take for both baby and mother health.
Bonding is very possible and is fulfilling after a c-sectiona nd while formula feeding. I think if we look at our culture as a whole we can see the issues. I think many times at the parent level we feel powerless to control the effects of those decisions. C-sections are not always preventable and they have a crucial place to provide a safe entrance into this world for many babies! And let's be honest formula is better than starving a baby. I successfully bonded with 3 children while bottlefeeding, however that bond is different than my breastfed child.
Sadly, our culture tends to glorify what should be the exception as the rule.
Sadly what should be the exception has become the rule. C-sections and formula have a crucial place in some cases. They help babies survive. HOWEVER, sadly they are both overused and that does not benefit mamas or babies.
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