Emotional Harrassment

If I read one more article that says that babies who are breastfed are more likely to have higher IQs than those who are formula fed, I'm going to scream.   There is absolutely no proof to back up the claim and all it does is  prey on the vulnerability of new moms who can't, or, for some reason choose not to breastfeed.  There are so many reasons, all of them legitimate, why women decide not to breastfeed.  And it's not the end of the world for their babies, trust me.  The "your baby will be smarter if you breastfeed" argument sends me right up the proverbial wall.

And here's another one I can't stand: breastfeeding fosters an emotional bond between you and your baby.  By implication that suggests that if you don't breastfeed you will not bond with your newborn.  Puhleese!

These scare tactics are nothing short of emotional harrassment by over-zealous people (I'm trying to be big here and not single out lactivists because I don't believe they are the only ones who do it).  New mothers have so much on their plates.  They don't need the added guilt of being made to feel a failure or that they're are cheating their child out of intelligence because they decide not to breastfeed---especially since neither are true.  For the record, my neighbor breastfed her son briefly but also gave him formula right from the start and he got into Harvard, MIT, and Yale just to name a few schools!  And there are countless other like stories.

The decision on how to breastfeed yoru child is a very personal one.  Whatever you decide is the right choice for you.  No one has the right to judge you or to make you feel inferior.