I’m certain you’ve already read this, and are probably still wiping your grey matter off of your walls. (I would first like to say that I know I’m just a minor minor terribly inconsequential cog in the machine, my fan base is small, my comics easily ignored. But yet, I can’t help noticing that every time I go off-line for any number of days all hell breaks loose. Just one example: I went on a 2 week vacation and guess what? A breastfeeding mother is asked to leave Freedom Airlines. Now, I go offline and a breastfeeding mother spends some time bashing breastfeeding…) So anyway, enough about me, I’ll let you read it for yourself (thanks Rachele and others!): The case against breast-feeding by Hannah Rosin
In certain overachieving circles, breast-feeding is no longer a choice—it’s a no-exceptions requirement, the ultimate badge of responsible parenting. Yet the actual health benefits of breast-feeding are surprisingly thin, far thinner than most popular literature indicates. Is breast-feeding right for every family? Or is it this generation’s vacuum cleaner—an instrument of misery that mostly just keeps women down?
Ahem. really. I have a lot to say on this subject, so comics are on their way.
xox,
Heather
this post is related to this comic:Unbelievable Hypocrisy
[...] comic is related to this post: this post is related to this comic:The Case Against Breastfeeding by Hannah Rosin Category: 2009, breastfeeding, [...]
I’ve yet to read the entire article.. but I have to ask: What’s the deal with vacuum cleaners? What am I missing something here? I’d ask my mom, but she owns a cleaning service and has a lot of them, none of which seem to cause her misery or keep her down. There’s no history of formula keeping women and their families down, right?? (sarcasm there) OK, I’ll go read it now, and probably comment again…
ARGH! I can’t even finish the damn thing. i want to know what world she lives in and i will go there. when i see parenting mags i see formula ads, and how to suppliment. it is not the norm. and i have yet to see a bottle feeding mom get the evil eye as often as i see breastfeeding moms get it. the fact that she feels compelled to write such drivel sickens me. she is making an issue out of a non-issue. just some stupid arse mommy war crap that divides mom for the enjoyment of corporations and big business. thin evidence of the benifits of breastfeeding? is she on crack? how could humans have lasted all this time had we had the wrong food to feed our young. it is bull.
The thing I find sad about this article is that she blames breastfeeding as the cause of society’s unequal treatment of men and women.
She is right about breastfeeding being hard to study because of all the other factors that may be involved in determining a child’s health or intelligence; but she fails to point out that few studies, probably none in the US, have a large group of 100% breastfed babies in their “breastfed” group. She cited one study that said only 17% of US babies are still breastfed at all by six months. And what percent of them are exclusively breastfed? Probably not very many.
Thank you for pointing out the hypocrisy of the article! Everyone is slamming her for skimming science journals and not really understanding the research and for being a bad feminist, but dude, she is such a hypocrite! I couldn’t get over that part of the article. She reluctantly states that breast is best, although “marginally” so, but she still nurses her own kids. Why not just give them formula? I guess even she’s not buying her crap.
we’ve had a discussion going about this on tribe for a week. it was a little heated for a minute. (i’m ixchel in the thread)
http://tribes.tribe.net/postpartummammas/thread/db5bd9b8-9662-46cf-9c38-7e1f3fafa08e
I can’t wait for her next article:
“Equality in Marriage – How Science Has Made It Possible For Husbands To Share The Pregnancy Burden.”
Maybe she missed the anatomy part of biology class in high school, but last I checked, women were pretty much physically obligated to be the ones who bear and nourish offspiring. Then again, maybe someone should tell her that it would indeed be possible for her husband to induce lactation and share in the breastfeeding duties…how’s that for equality!?! If she didn’t want to be “kept down” by being a mother, maybe she shouldn’t have had kids…
Also notice how she never bothered to check how much of the “scientific literature” was funded by formula companies? I’m sorry, but the truth is that the medical journals in this country are completely bought off by big pharma.
here’s my last post in the thread i shared:
>Wed, March 18, 2009 – 11:53 AM
i finally finished this article last night & i was snorting & rolling my eyes through the entire ordeal. she doesn’t mention a single study or make any references, all she does is sum up *her perceptions* of what she has found. honestly, she is only one woman spitting into the face of an entire healthcare community with lots of data & age-old knowledge. is this supposed to change my mind or make me feel bad? i’m not exactly going to say “well, gee, this woman i’ve never heard of, with a stolen medical library password & an evening’s worth of data must be right! i’m such an idiot! i’ve been wasting my life selfishly sharing an oxytocic bond with my child! i’m going to run out & pay money for formula i can’t afford when my breasts are right here, overflowing with food designed especially for my child & not possibly tainted with melanine or mixed by machines.”
she seemed to be unusually focused on the gastrointestinal benefits of breastmilk, almost as if she were afraid to actually admit what else she had found. i also noticed that she worded very delicately. i read between her lines & i’ve come away thoroughly unimpressed.
breastfeed, don’t breastfeed… whatever. but don’t project your issues of insecurity & judgement onto those of us with our own struggles. formula feeding moms feel judged for their choices, but so do breastfeeding moms. you don’t see a formula feeding mom getting kicked out of restaurants, off of airplanes or forced to feed their babies in a nasty bathroom stall or hot/cold car. we all have our issues & these articles that only make the imaginary dividing lines darker & more real are only serving to alienate us from the sisterhood of mothers.
“divide & conquer”
what is her real motive? this sounds like a bitter backlash at her perceived scorning by the popular girls.<
to which i would like to add: why the bitterness against wooden toys? i like wooden toys, they’re not petroleum-based, they hold up well to rough play & they’re just all-around cooler than plastic toys!
wow.
i couldnt finish it either.. when she compared a precious little baby to a vacuum by calling it “something else that makes a sucking noise,” I just couldnt stomach it anymore.
she’s not mad about breastfeeding she’s mad about “having to mother” something. thats why she resents the picture of the mom on the sofa in her robe during the day with the baby in her arms because that mom is mothering and nurturing whether that baby is nursing at the moment or not. and all that mothering time is interfering with her “real life” of work.
my mom did the same thing and a couple years after her 3rd child (me) she went back to work full-time and i always thought of her as a great hard working mom. when she suddenly died at 50 and a few people that she worked with for 30+ years came to the wake of the funeral for 10 min. during their lunch break and then went back to work and never thought about her again while we her family and children were left devastated, well that’s when the “scales fell off MY eyes” and i saw who was worthy of devotion in a womans life. and its not any job or corporation who by-the-way had already laid her off 6 months prior to her death. she had traded us for them and then they threw her away when they were done with her. but we were never done with her. we still love her and miss her. we were what was important not the job.
so i dont think this mom is trying to do anything except excuse herself from being her babies mother and she’s trying to blame breastfeeding for it.
its her. not the boob. and not the baby.
julia hofer
http://juliefabmom.blogspot.com/
I was perusing her previous articles & this seems to be her M.O., badmouthing something & then admitting that she does it, too, which somehow gives her license (kinda like “this is so lame, but i can say that because i do it”). She poo-pooed on yoga a couple years ago, poking fun at the “new-agey” interior of a new yoga studio & sounding pretty snobby about the attendees, but her 3rd paragraph describes (and again, makes fun of) her own yoga beginnings & then she goes on to say where she practices now! So, this seems to be a common theme of hers. The only thing we have to worry about now is the young, impressionable mothers who may actually take her cynicism as the gospel truth.
I have a house guest right now and I keep trying to read her article but he keeps looking at the computer. He has yet to have kids and I don’t want him influenced by her garbage so I keep having to close down the window.
Anyway, instead of a “case against breastfeeding,” I could see her writing a “case against Dr. Sears,” saying he blows things out of proportion. I agree that the smell of a baby’s poop should not really influence a parenting choice.. much.. And sure if I get second-hand plastic toys I’ll take them over expensive wooden toys, and I do try not to be so judgmental about the crap some folks feed their kids. (I said TRY
) But if a woman nursed her third kid successfully for a month, after nursing her other kids for a year each, and told me she was thinking about switching to formula because she needs her non-cellphone-using hand free as well (so I guess she’ll prop the bottle or leave baby with dad when she takes the kids to the park??) then while I will bite my tongue and try to maintain an air of support, I will not exactly be cheering on her choice. (How’s that for a run-on sentence.) It’s not like she just suggested she’d try beating her kids. But it is an idea I think she’d regret should she try it. Apparently she thinks so too. So. Do I need to keep reading to see what her point IS exactly, or will I never really know?
I couldn’t finish the whole article. I’m not sure what she was really trying to get at. I don’t want to say she lied, but I find it hard to believe that every BFing mom snubbed her.
And this bit about being forced to be at home. Bull puckey!!!! You don’t nurse with your feet! I was in a Walmart many years ago and my baby wanted to nurse. Much to the horror of the friend who was with me (and who tried to shield me from Walmart’s cameras – hee hee), I nursed my baby while I was standing in the store. Nursing babies are a heck of a lot easier to take places than bottle fed babies.
Like I said, I couldn’t finish the article – so thanks to those who could and gave a bit more info.
(BTW, I figured that trying to shield me from the cameras would make security more interested in what was going on there. I half expected someone to come up to us and frisk me to see what I was hiding in my shirt.
)
I wanted to add that the reason I couldn’t finish it was b/c I couldn’t stomach it.
Wow! Just…wow!
I don’t agree with everything she wrote, but… hypocritical? Huh?? Where the hell did *that* come from? She doesn’t think breastfeeding is giving her child any major benefits but does it anyway because she enjoys it, and this makes her hypocritical? Fer cry yi yi, it’s not as though she’s saying women *shouldn’t* breastfeed, just that it’s not the magic build-you-better-stronger-faster elixir it’s commonly made out to be and breastfeeding shouldn’t be treated like the be-all and end-all. She wants women to be free to choose whether to breastfeed or not, and she chose to do so. Whether or not you agree with the rest of her viewpoint, what the hell is hypocritical about that?
because she is saying it is something you don’t need to do and then she is doing it. if it really doesn’t matter then she should just pop a bottle in the baby’s mouth and move on. no need to bitch about it in an article. no need to try and sway others into not doing it.
jesus she is trying to pick a fight because of her own whack arse issue on the whole thing.
GO Heather. *grrr*
I actually read the full article and what gets me the most is that her ideas are so tainted by her own feminist point of view, she does not even realize it. (I was raised by a feminist, and fully respect the Goddess within each one of us so I’m not knocking feminism).
At the end she purports that breastfeeding itself will create more of an imbalance in the marriage… blah, blah and all of these constraints on her time… Sure. If you’re a feminist who sees herself as valuable only if she’s spending an equal amount of time doing the things that your partner does or that you used to do pre-pregnancy.
She obviously has her own issues embracing the true femininity of her role, which is the plight of many mothers so I don’t fault her. It was just a *very* interesting article that shows how a mother can be so stuck in her own stuff that she doesn’t even see it for what it *really* is.
I’ve prayed for her already… not that she’d welcome my prayers
) LOL!
What a sad article. I agree with the commentator who said she feels resentful at having to “mother”. It is obvious she does not like breastfeeding and feels tied down by it. Well, HELLO, having children ties you down. For most people that is a good thing, it’s called responsibility. I’ve always worked full-time out of the house, and extended breastfeed (1.5 – 2.5 years). It’s inconvient, but it’s a lot more convient than formula-feeding and mixing. People don’t have children for convience. Most women are formula feeding, most breastfeeding women stop by 3 months–that is a sad fact. If she is telling the truth about knowing only breastfeeding mothers & being shunned by them, well she must live in an Amish community or something.
I read the whole article and it sounds to me like she’s trying to justify her own whining. Sure, I whined too for the first few months of my baby’s life because it is time consuming, BUT I would not change my decision to breastfeed. Sure, I got *some* looks. I was once hassled at a store for trying to bf in the changing room (which sucked btw… JCPenney dressing rooms stink on ice!). Mostly though, people were very supportive. My doctor has been wonderful through it all.
For me, I do kinda dislike it when I see a mother of a young baby bottle feeding (unless it’s in a medela bottle) because I do know from my own experience with my 2 kids that one has been healthier than the other was. I also think it’s sad that a lot of moms quit because they don’t know if the baby’s getting enough milk, and that this is the only reason why they quit bf’ing; or they think that their milk came in for a week, then was all gone. How long would the human race have lasted if we stayed engorged the whole time we lactate? IMO, not very long…!
Anyways, the woman who wrote that article is just being whiny, and she probably just doesn’t like having to be more responsible for the kids than the father is. Breast or bottle is her *choice*. If somebody looks at her funny, she can just lie (if she wants) and say it’s breastmilk so she can be accepted at the country club playground again.
Her arguments are ridiculous to me. We know breast is best because it’s what nature intended for us.
I can’t get over how she thinks that breastfeeding keeps women down and fosters inequality in the marriage!
Just because we have different physical capabilities from men doesn’t mean it has to create a negative dynamic in the marriage! Should we stop bearing children altogether? Certainly growing and bonding with our child for 9 months in the womb would make our husbands pale in comparison as parents! *eyeroll* She makes NO sense there. If everything were meant to be the same in a marriage, there would only be one gender. And if she thinks breastfeeding is bad for the relationship, then surely pregnancy and childbirth would be too, yet she’s done that 3 times! Oh wait… she’s even breastfed 3 times too. What is WITH this woman?! I could go on and on and on, but I’m sure everyone is feeling much the same things as me, lol.
Can’t WAIT to see the rest of your comics on this!!!
Parenthood does stress a marriage. Not always in a bad way, but it does do something to the relationship and roles do have to be redefined. I was thinking about her article and I’ve decided that it should really be called, “The case against having a third child.” She does not seem to enjoy breastfeeding this time around, and she also doesn’t seem to have time to enjoy the baby the way she did her first child. It seems that it’s not really breastfeeding that she’s struggling with but her relationship with her third child.
sarah, it’s hypocritical because she’s badmouting a practice she herself uses. not usED but usES. she says its horrible and anti-feminist, but if it were so horrible and degrading, why does she continue to do it? i’ll tell ya why…cause she’s talking out of her ass. she just wants something to complain about.
Heather Hawkes – And again – Huh? Since when is it hypocritical to do something you don’t need to do, just out of enjoyment?
I like dressing my daughter in pretty clothes. I don’t think she gets any particular benefit from this, I don’t think doing it makes me a better mother, and I don’t think it would be right to act as though women had to dress their daughter in pretty clothes whether they like it or not. But, despite all this, I still dress my daughter in pretty clothes, because I like doing it and because, silly me, I thought that was a perfectly good reason for doing something. Does that make me a hypocrite?? I’m not getting this logic at all here…
BTW, Idra – I don’t think she was objecting to wooden toys. I think she was objecting to the attitude that wooden toys are somehow inherently superior to the point of being a sign of Correctly Done Mothering.
People need to stop judging others, especially without all the facts. Are some of the benefits from breastfeeding coming from the milk, or the fact that the mother is forced, while breastfeeding, to stop and take time to be with her baby? My first was breastfed, my second was bottle-fed my milk. (She was seven weeks early and took forever to learn to suck!) Both are smart, neat kids who are mostly healthy. It is my milk? It is the fact that, while feeding, I sat on the couch and talked to them and paid attention to them? I don’t know and never will. It didn’t matter. I wanted to nurse them, so I did.
Wars have been started over the philosophy of “my way is the best way and everyone should do it”. We women should be smart enough to know better!
As for breastfeeding causing inequality in marriage, my husband would say that, although the mother does the feeding while breastfeeding, it is the father’s job to support her. He took over many of “my” jobs while I was nursing so that I could feed the baby. Any father who expects his wife to breastfeed AND do everything else is seriously lax in his duties!
Yes Sarah, but you don’t publish tirades on how detrimental it is to society for girls to wear pretty clothes.
Jill: No, but if I saw that my social group were all putting pressure on one another to dress their daughters up in pretty clothes as some kind of badge of Right Mothering and that public health organisations were giving out a lot of skewed information about the supposed benefits of dressing girls in pretty clothes, you bet your sweet life I’d post a tirade about that. (Well, if I had time, given that I never do have time to get any blogging done these days…) And *that’s* what Rosen was doing on the breastfeeding subject.
I think the problem here is that she’s not absolutely clear in her article in differentiating between breastfeeding and a particular thou-shalt-breastfeed attitude. She’s actually objecting to the latter, but sometimes it sounds (partly due to some poor phrasing on her part) as though she’s objecting to the former.
The issue is that she wants it all right now, and she is angry that she has had a child and has responsibilities that go along with that. She just needs to make a choice. It is not a choice between bottle feeding and breastfeeding, but a multifaceted choice with many different options. I am assuming that the article was written, because she feels guilty for not wanting to breastfeed, so she is trying to justify what she is doing to herself. Since she happens to be a reporter we get to hear about it. I am sure that she also resents the time it takes away from her life, to raise a child. She has just picked a hot topic to express herself in. Let’s ignore her instead of giving her the negative attention she is seeking for to justify herself even more.
hannah rosin has a parenting defect. i pity her children. and her husband.
sarah v:
can you stop being so smug, you wind me up.
I’m not actually sure why some women have such a problem with others feeling that all women should breastfeed.
If breastmilk and breastfeeding was not the optimum way, if it was not ‘that good’ then God or evolution would have made us with boobs, and detachable bottles of milk from another species aswell… to choose from
Nature gave women breasts, which naturally produce milk specifically designed for a human baby.
So why shouldn’t women believe that we should ALL *at least try to* feed our babies the milk that around 99% of us naturally produce??? (It IS only around 1% who do not actually produce milk, though due to poor advice, or a lack of support, in many western countries we are led to believe it is much higher)
When artificial baby milks were invented, they were not meant to be ‘a choice’, people then KNEW that breastmilk was the only substance a baby should have, but realised that something else was needed for orphans etc.
Only over time, manufacturers saw the money to be made and began making it accessible to all mothers (who previously would have turned to a friend or relative or ‘professional’ wet-nurse if they couldn’t feed them baby themselves.)
Then around the time of the first and then second world wars, ABM was seen as the ideal solution to help get mothers into work, and around the 40s, government and advertisers had people thinking that formula was superior to breastmilk, which of course was utter rubbish.
I personally don’t think that formula milk should be a choice, I think it should be the absolute last resort for those who cannot breastfeed (due to physical or emotional issues, but the point is, those who can, ought to at least try)
And another thing, if anything, breastfeeding promotes equality within a relationship.
If a mother is breastfeeding, it ‘forces’ the father to take on more of the household chores which he may not previously have done, such as the cooking and washing up.
In most cases where a women chooses to bottlefeed (often ‘to share the responsibility’ or supposedly make it easier on themself), it is mostly the mother who continues to do the majority of feeds, and even when/where dad or other family members do their share of feeds, it is mum who has the washing up and prep work involved with bottlefeeding.
A bottlefeeding mother sacrifices her right to a sit down and a cuddle with her baby, and in the long run causes more work for herself with all the extra hassle of bottlefeeding.
Sarah, I understand your argument against the label of hypocrite. You make sense. Except the title of the article is “The Case Against Breastfeeding.” If she had written “In defense of formula,” or “The case for bottle feeding,” I may have read the article with a different paradigm. But when one writes a case against something, it implies that the things you write are meant to back up your stand against that act. So assuming she is writing AGAINST breastfeeding, as her title more than implies but outright states, then to breastfeed her child DOES seem a bit hypocritical, doesn’t it??
I KNOW that some of us overzealous breastfeeding mothers can end up alienating bottle feeding mothers and I know that’s not what any mother needs. But that’s a different topic than *making a case against breastfeeding.*
Yep.
It would be like me writing “the case against pacifiers.” And listing all the negatives, and saying why people shouldn’t use them, then admiting I give my kids pacifiers, cos it’s easier and I enjoy the peace.
(I don’t use them BTW, just trying to make a point.)
The other posters are right, you can’t go on about how bad something is, or how it ‘isnt that great’ and people shouldn’t feel they ought to, when you do it yourself. If you do it is hypocritical, no matter how you justify yourself or what excuses you make.
If she does actually enjoy BFing, then she ought to accept that others do too and not try to imply otherwise, if she doesn’t but feels guilty over the thought of stopping, then she obviously, deep down does believe how good breastmilk is (or how poor frmula is as a substitute), no matter what she says or how much she tries to convince herself otherwise.
I agree with those who say she sounds more like it is actually the mothering she objects to, not the feeding method. Perhaps she has Post-Partum Depression?
What an absolute idiot… I read the whole article and most of it is utter rubbish!
I laughed at the bit about her being annoyed at her hubby only grunting when she fed the baby during the night… doesn’t she realise that had they been bottlefeeding, at least half of the time she’d have to get up to go to the kitchen and sort a bottle out hen the baby woke???
TBH there is far too much nonsense in the article to even attempt to point out them all.
Julie – As I understand it, article titles are normally picked by the editor and may not be at all what the journalist wants. I simply discount them when taking into account what a journalist has to say on a topic, because I don’t know whether or not they had a say in the title. From reading the article, it does not look to me as though she’s making a case against breastfeeding as such. It looks as though she’s pointing out potential disadvantages and advocating that women should make their own informed choices without pressure.
It reminds me of the old accusations against women who supported family planning, back in the days when that was a novelty – if they had children, they were accused of being hypocrites because they supported the right of other women *not* to make the same choice as they’d made.
Mum-raa – Not sure what you mean, so could you clarify?
I worked in a rather large daycare for several years and every single child was breastfed (including expressed, or course, because it was a daycare) except for one who was foster-adopted. Ignoring all else she said, anyone who lives in an area where most people are wealthy, educated, and have jobs that allow them plenty of time off will NOT be exposed to much formula feeding and indeed will be far more likely to encounter someone who is adamantly pro-breastfeeding than anti. It seems very possible that she simply lives in a rich suburb where everyone breastfeeds by default, it IS the norm, and the stakes are low enough that parents are vicious towards each other.
I disagree with much of what else she said, but I think that many people don’t realize that in this day and age, if you are rich, white, educated and live in suburbia with others like you, breastfeeding is the dominant practice and mothers are bullies (suburbia seems to me to be reminiscent of high school).
Also, the chances of her getting paid off by some formula company? Next to none. She doesn’t even use formula. They aren’t even going to care, at all.
I also think that since she doesn’t seem to be saying that you can’t breastfeed, just that it is a decision with some weight where all implications need to be considered– similar to being skeptical of the impact on society of wearing heels, but considering your reasons and deciding that you are NOT driven by societal pressures, so it’s okay for you to do it. You can believe it is wrong to breastfeed because you feel you have no choice in the matter but still good to breastfeed because you enjoy the experience.
sarah v: i find your tone condescending, patronising even. i just don’t understand why you comment on hathor/mama’s blog. they are COMICS, the vast majority of people reading them (well, I’m speaking for myself here) do so for some light relief against the mainstream, bullshit, ‘i’ve read/ done a scientific study therefore i’m right’ brigade. your comments seem obtuse at best. and i find it depressing when you post one of your mean-headmistress style comments. leave us in peace to enjoy hathor/mama’s point of view. it’s like you’ve been employed by the government to ruin the day of us ‘crunchy granola types’.
but she isn’t doing a scientific study – she hasn’t even referenced a single one she allegedly read! aren’t “reporters” supposed to reference? all she has provided us with is her *perception* of studies that, for all we know, were funded by formula companies! this article belongs in the circular file cabinet. it’s one woman with a single evening’s worth of “research” justifying her resentment against mothering. that’s all.
I-dra, isn’t this an opinion piece? I usually assume if they talk about their personal experiences at all it’s opinion. Well, or an interveiw’s introduction. But this reads EXACTLY like an opinion piece and I suspect most will not regard it as a researched document.
Heather, I’ve posted your comic on my blog, linking back to your mama-is site. You are my mothering hero. I wanted to contact you by email but could not locate your contact info on your site. I now follow both of your comic blogs faithfully and feel you are my true voice- so rational in a sea of madness when it comes to authentic, thoughtful parenting. I breasted my 26 month old toddler continually today after spending more time away from him than I normally do, due to illness. I am amazed at how relevant and necessary nursing is for him right now and how calm and joyful he is because of our nursing relationship. Please keep it up, Heather!!
I-dra: my comments about scientific studies were intended for sarah v, and not in relation to the hannah rosin article. rosin is just some mixed-up lady, unsure of what she’s supposed to be doing because she can’t go with her instincts, having a private battle with herself which she then turns public by writing this article, only to make herself feel better.
bri, if this is an opinion piece, it doesn’t read like one to me. i get the distinct impression that she is not simply saying “this is how i feel & what i think”, she is saying “this is what i’ve read & concluded, now i’m going to convince you that i’m right”.
mum-raa,
i know. 
This is to clear up the question of hypocrisy: a definition, that can be interpreted in any which way.
Bottom line, the post and comic touched many people – well done, Heather
from: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hypocrite
hyp⋅o⋅crite
/ˈhɪpəkrɪt/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [hip-uh-krit] Show IPA
–noun
1. a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, esp. a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.
2. a person who feigns some desirable or publicly approved attitude, esp. one whose private life, opinions, or statements belie his or her public statements.
someone commented early about not giving this woman the satisfaction of her opinion piece causing a stir, i am finding i agree.
i think if mrs rosin doesn’t wish to breast feed then she can stop and put her mind at ease that no one really gave a hoot if she did it or not until she started yapping about it. do it, don’t do it… but make up your mind and then be ok with it and move on.
and if her issue really is with parenting in general and not just breastfeeding, then maybe she should stop having babies. there are ways to prevent that that work pretty good. no one is forcing her to keep having children. and if her issues really run deep therapy is always good.
i guess because she works for a paper and can get any drivel published then we are stuck with it. lol but we don’t have to read her or even acknowledged she is writing. lol
but heather… now there is some good reading! heehee
keep up the good work mama!
heather in maine
How ironic that she thinks there is so much pressure to breastfeed. She must live in a different world than I do – in my little world there is no pressure to breastfeed, no support to breastfeed, and no reason to breastfeed unless you the mother have educated yourself a little and learned how great a thing it is!