Well some may have starved. But, For the most part Rosie has a point. Of course there are exceptions such as adopted babies or with CPS, medical conditions, babies who can’t latch (cleft pallets) , etc
However those babies can’t equal the amount of formula being demanded.
Perhaps Many women’s milk May have already dried up at this point. But, if there’s any question moving forward - I hope new mothers will nurse.
I was under the impression there was a ‘push’ by the medical community to nurse.
“I was under the impression there was a ‘push’ by the medical community to nurse.”
That “push” is a bit hit or miss.
Thirty five years ago the doctors were extolling the superiority of formula. My wife and I were expecting twins and the doctors and nurses used that as an added reason we should use formula.
Fortunately my wife said screw it and breast fed. No formula to buy, bottles to clean and on and on. My wife loved the experience of feeding her children the way God intended, the boys grew like weeds and I....well...nuff said.
I think the reticence to breastfeeding now is societal in nature. For probably three generations women were told that breastfeeding was the “old” way of doing things. Society had evolved beyond that. Any woman still breastfeeding was an uneducated hillbilly or trailer park trash.
There are at least two generations of women who bought into that hook, line and sinker. It’s going to take time to reeducate the masses.
There definitely used to be -- the thinking was that we are so smart we can artificially make a better milk than mother's. Then they found out that formula-fed babies were consistently a few IQ points lower than breast-fed babies. Part of it was actual missing nutrients in formula, but there is also an aspect of physical skin to skin touch that is beneficial to infant development.
There is a real need for a few women to supplement, but it is actually kind of rare. Most use of formula is for vanity reasons. Either mom is dumping baby off as soon as possible to get back to work or thinks breast feeding is going to harm her bikini body.