I do believe that breast feeding is best; however, I was unable to breastfeed Madame. This is not the issue I wanted to cover, as it has been done to exhaustion. The only thing I will say on the matter is that whatever someone decides to do, woman should support each other no matter what.
However, I read a tweet a while back and to be honest it made me very uncomfortable and I want you guys to help me through it. This is not an opportunity to call me names or say that I’m closed minded. If I was close minded I wouldn’t be asking the question. I can’t remember the tweet word for word but it was someone saying how happy they were that their friend, and adoptive mother, was able to breastfeed successfully. Initially, my mind boggled, so I quickly Googled it and learned that yes, in fact, there are drugs women can take to bring on lactation, fascinating stuff.
I would never want to deny an adoptive mother the opportunity to experience the bond with her child that a birth mother would through breastfeeding. However, there is something about taking drugs to bring on the process that makes me feel uncomfortable. I’m sure they’re safe but really can’t get my head around it. If I think about it a bit more, I drink milk, cows are fed hormones to produce milk which has measurable quantities of herbicides, pesticides, dioxins antibiotics blood, pus, faeces, bacteria and viruses and there is nothing natural about it so what’s my problem?
Then a few days later I read yet another tweet. It was from a childminder who was looking for a bit of advice. The woman that she worked for was unable to breastfeed and she was wondering if it would be appropriate if she offered to breast feed her child! I know she meant well, but I did tell her I would be extremely uncomfortable if someone asked me this. I know back in the day, people had wet nurses and the survival of children relied on other mothers to help out. But nowadays formulas are very extensive. As a mother I couldn’t sit and watch someone else feed my child it would break my heart.
Thoughts???