Privacy Please
by Kate Kahn - 19th February 2008
I read something in the online magazine Slate that got my blood boiling. It was from a new mom seeking advice after being made to feel like a bad mother for the choice she made as to how to feed her newborn. I quote:
"I am a first-time mother to a beautiful 11-week-old boy. Right after having him, I was visited in my hospital room by a 'lactation consultant.' This person pulled out my chart without asking me and said, 'I see you had a breast reduction done 10 years ago. That was extremely selfish of you.' She then started in on why breast-feeding is the only way. I cried, thinking myself the worst mother in the world. (The breast reduction was a medical necessity.) I have been approached in the grocery store and other places by strangers demanding to know if I am breast-feeding. I have been yelled at by strangers when they see a bottle in my son's car seat. I am being bombarded by unwanted literature on breast-feeding by certain family members. I am simply unable to breast-feed, and my son is on the best formula. There are very few things worse than being made to feel like you are a bad parent, when in reality my son is thriving."
While I appreciate the fact that a lactation consultant was available and came to that mother's room, frankly, it's no one's business as to why that mother decided not to breastfeed. The privilege of passing judgment doesn't belong to a lactation consultant, strangers or family members. It belongs solely to the mother herself.
Now, if you want to see how the advice columnist responded, click on the hyperlink at the top of this blog!
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