ext_8737 ([identity profile] ratphooey.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] rivka 2006-04-12 07:26 pm (UTC)

Ack. This issue. I hate it.

I hate that I had trouble breastfeeding. I hate that each lactation consultant I spoke with gave me different advice. I hate that I was so caught in post-partum depression that I could barely breathe. I hate that I was so intimidated by the boob nazis that I stopped posting about the issue in my own damn journal (even the people who meant well sometimes veered too far into hurtful criticism, like the person who described a friend's truly Herculean efforts to avoid formula as if anything less were too little).

But even though I gave up after a month, during which time my son consumed mostly formula anyway despite his and my best efforts, I have a happy, healthy, intelligent child.

I was adopted as an infant, and formula-fed from the get-go. Yet I'm happy and healthy and intelligent, too (if I do say so, myself).

My husband, who breastfed til he was nearly four, has asthma and Crohn's high blood pressure and gets cluster headaches.

I hate that women can be so hard on each other, so judgmental. Where does that come from? Why is it okay?
Answer: It's not.

I'm proud of you for coming through all that with the best possible result: a happy and healthy child. I'm proud of myself, too. We should be.

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