Breast Feeding

Ok, so a few scientists finally figured out what most mothers have known for thousands of years. Those things on a woman that stick out in front, are for feeding babies. Wow! And it's much healthier than formula. Another "wow"! I'm impressed. I wonder how much of our tax dollars went to "discover" that important fact. From the piece in the New York Times:

Public health leaders say the weight of the scientific evidence for breast-feeding has grown so overwhelming that it is appropriate to recast their message to make clear that it is risky not to breast-feed.

Uh huh?

Moreover, urging women to breast-feed exclusively is a tall order in a country where more than 60 percent of mothers of very young children work, federal law requires large companies to provide only 12 weeks' unpaid maternity leave and lactation leave is unheard of. Only a third of large companies provide a private, secure area where women can express breast milk during the workday, and only 7 percent offer on-site or near-site child care, according to a 2005 national study of employers by the nonprofit Families and Work Institute.

Only 12 weeks huh? Hmmmm... perhaps mommy should actually stay home and raise said baby? At least for the "required" six months. (Bet ya couldn't guess I'm NOT the libber type.) It's true, some women can't breast feed for long periods of time, and NONE of them should ever feel guilty about that. I was one of them. I just didn't produce enough I guess, but I'll tell ya one thing, my kid was pretty healthy. And my oldest granddaughter hasn't been sick in her almost 14 years. The younger one was not breastfed and she's got so many allergies, I wonder if she'll ever outgrow them. (The poor kid looks like a glazed donut during allergy season.)

"But while formula tastes the same way at every feeding, advocates of breast-feeding say, the smells and flavors of human breast milk change from day to day, from morning to evening, influenced by the mother's diet. Many nutritionists believe that exposing an infant to this bouquet of flavors early on may make for less fussy eaters who are more flexible about trying new foods and more likely to eat a healthy, varied diet."

All I can say... YUCK! Ever taste formula? Anyone who has fed formula to a baby somehow or another manages to get it their own mouths on occasion. Trying to avoid doing this is wise! So, to the geniuses who conducted this study..... DUH!