[chance33_98]

HMMMMMM I think I understand.

[RightOnline]

It takes effort and commitment on the part of the mother to nurse a baby. These women obviously are too lazy to do so. I know couples where the mother won't breast feed her baby because, by using formula, she can kick Dad out of bed during the middle of the night to feed the baby and she can sleep in.

I find that profoundly stupid and sad.

Our seven kids were ALL nursed, and beyond six months. Perfectly healthy. This article also fails to address the level of bonding that occurs between a mom and her baby when nursing.................

[freeper12]

MY wife is a nurse...the gimme girls that come in to the clinic for their free formula coupons ALWAYS complain that they can only get coupons for the powdered formula, and not get get the pre-mixed kind...not only are they getting it for free...they complain that it is too much work to add water themselves and want the more convienent (more expensive) pre-mix kind....at taxpayers expensive of course.

[I still care]

It is much less expensive to breast feed, but one of the issues the article does not address is that women who are poor may simply be unable to manage their time effectively to breast feed. I have lived wealthy AND poor and I know when you have no money sometimes just managing life gets beyond your control. I remember not being able to pay my bills on time so I had to drive around the day they were due to pay them in person. The upshot is, it is much easier to nurse when you are not working, than when you are working two jobs and your kid is in daycare. (A terrible situation, and yes, maybe they shouldn't have had the child in the first place but they do.)

When LaLeche league suggests pumping as an alternative you just want to scream - you don't have time to breathe sometimes, how do you find time to pump? And yes, many women are just selfish but my experience is often poor women are just totally overwhelmed with just getting through life day by day. That is why so many of them have kids, to give them some modicum of comfort and love, but they should really just get a cat.

[society-by-contract]

My daughter is five and a half months and my wife (and I) are beginning to wean and my spouse is *very* happy to decrease and soon eliminate breast feeding. Breastfeeding is difficult, especially if one has to work.

[Marauder]

Nature provides some special benefits via breast-feeding that a lot of people either overlook or don't know about. The genetic link between the mother and child ensure that the milk is a good fit, and it's a source of essential fatty and amino acids that greatly enhance the child's ability to fight off infections, especially later in life.
I am the oldest of three brothers, whose father died of a heart attack at an early age. My youngest brother had to be formula-fed because my mother didn't lactate when he was born. He's the only one with heart problems now.

[valkyrieanne]

Poor women use formula because formula is paid for under the WIC program. You get more of what you subsidize. Unfortunately, if the state *didn't* provide formula subsidies, many of these children would probably not be fed at all. This is the rationale behind WIC, anyway.

[sonserae]

Did anyone consider that the rich women breast-feed because they can stay at home and do so while the poor women have to go back to work as housekeepers and aren't home to breast-feed. This would explain a lot.

[genefromjersey]

Well,duh !!!

The poor women have to go back to work ASAP-or risk losing their jobs.This means bottle-feeding.It has nothing to do with "commitment", as most of these folks would prefer to stay home with their babies.

Those who don't have to go back to work can afford to look down their noses and make snide remarks about "commitment"- but a lot of these " superior mothers " find themselves wishing for the opportunity to be something besides homemakers once the novelty ( and public adulation ? ) of motherhood wears off.

[Khepera]

What does this mean?

Stupid people are dumber then smarter people?

[First_Salute]

Milk the rich and soak the poor.

P. J. O'Rourke, call your office!