In honor of World Breastfeeding Week Gisele Bündchen is in the news for saying “I think there should be a worldwide law . . . that mothers should breastfeed their babies for six months,” says Bündchen. “Some people here think they don’t have to breastfeed and I think, ‘Are you going to give chemical food to your child when they are so little?’”
First of all ... WTH??
Second, is she really proposing to tell billions of women what they can or can't do with their bodies?
Third, what about those millions of women who cannot breastfeed? Those who have had breast reductions, or mastectomies or have to go to work full-time to feed their family and are away from their babies for over 8 hours a day? Or women like me with my daughter? When The Girl was born I was set on exclusively breastfeeding. But something went wrong. I would sit and let her nurse for hours, but at 1 month old she was still BELOW her birth weight. The doctor gently suggested supplementing with formula and The Girl adored it! She gulped down her first bottle and screamed every time I would offer her my breast. None of that for her! To this day I don't know if my milk didn't come in correctly or if it was my impatient daughter's problem. But either way I wasn't going to continue when my daughter obviously hated it and she grew tall and skinny and brilliant with formula.
When my son came along I was going to give breastfeeding another chance, but I decided I wouldn't be crushed if it didn't work out. When he ended up in the NICU I was sure that it would be a losing battle but I would try. I ended up exclusively breastfeeding my son for 6 months and he weaned himself from his last 2 nursing times a day at 13 months.
