Breastfeeding Argumentative Essay

After 26 painful hours of labor that led to an emergency c section, I finally was able to meet my son. I will never forget that day. I remember shaking so bad that I could not be the first one to hold my son. I remember that I had no feeling from my breasts down to my feet for 3 hours. I remember being high as a kite due to the medication and the nurse placing my son on my chest minutes after being brought back into the recovery room. I remember I did not have my milk supply just yet but the nurses still encouraged me to keep trying. I remember feeling so overwhelmed that I just wanted to scream. Two nights in the hospital and I still had no milk or colostrum. By day two, my son was screaming with hunger pains and the nurses still insisted that I kept trying to feed him from my breasts, because “breast is best”. Finally, after hours of hearing my son screaming, I put my foot down and demanded that I get formula immediately. The morning nurse was totally supportive of the idea of giving my son formula, especially after weighing him and noticing that he is losing too much weight. I remember feeling inadequate because I was really determined to breastfeed. I remember thinking, “Oh no! I won’t be able to feed my son what society

claims is the most nutritional food source . I am his mother, and I am worthless”. I was ashamed. I thought I failed motherhood already and it’s only just begun.

About a week after his birth, I had finally come to accept the fact that I am not breastfeeding. I was okay with using a formula to feed my child, because “fed is best”. My appointment was that week for a checkup with my nurse practitioner, and as I was in the waiting room I noticed all the walls filled with posters about breastfeeding- talk about a slap in the face. I went to my appointment and the nurse and I were discussing how to give formula (as mentioned, I was so determined to breastfeed that I did not do any research on how much formula to give, what brand to use, etc). I took off my sweater because it was hot in the office that day, and right then and there, my shirt had been soaked with milk. I remember being so ecstatic and literally almost crying of joy. Right away, the nurse practitioner put away the pamphlets of formula and started talking about breastfeeding. As excited as I was, the nurse appeared more anxious because she would rather see a child be fed breast milk than formula. I still wanted the formula pamphlets just in case I did not have enough supply because that does happen. However, the nurse suggested that I go to the breastfeeding clinic so the lactation nurse could show me how to properly breastfeed my child to avoid any issues with my supply. The nurse even made me an appointment for the following day.

At first, I must say that the struggle of breastfeeding is real. It is a very demanding job. I was literally a walking food machine for 3 months. On top of that, my son was struggling with weight gain, but it was not due to my supply. I kept breastfeeding my son until he was 3 months old. Here we are now at 4 months, and my supply has dropped. I followed those instructions that were provided to me by the clinic to a tee and yet my supply still dropped. At this point, I don’t care anymore, I went and bought formula and now I use both formula and breast milk. My child is growing more so now than before when he was strictly on breast milk. He is happy and he is also reaching all his milestones (some earlier than others). Go figure.

There is so much hype about the benefits of breastfeeding.

According to various studies, breastfeeding lowers the risk of obesity, lowers the risk of infection, increases a child’s IQ and it’s better for mother-infant bonding. So it should come as no surprise, then, that mothers who struggle with breastfeeding would feel ashamed. In fact, I never thought I would see the day that how one feeds their child would be such a huge discussion. As I think back, I never once heard people talk about formula or breastfeeding. People just fed their kids. Nowadays, one of the first questions being asked to mothers is if whether they breastfeed or not. Why does it matter? You are pretty much asking that mother if they feed their child or not. It’s

absurd!

This is not to say that there aren’t some benefits to breastfeeding. I'm not saying breastfeeding is an issue. I just feel that the idea of breastfeeding is overrated. The formula has benefits also. Aside from the fact that it does not have the antibodies that fight infection, it does, however, have a ton of nutrients to help a baby grow. Therefore, why not promote the benefits of another food source as well to make mothers who do struggle with breastfeeding feel positive about feeding their child? Why should women feel ashamed because they can’t breastfeed? It makes no sense.