Happiness is a butterfly, which, when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
– Nathaniel Hawthorne

Breastfeeding and Nutrition

"The truth is, breastfeeding is nothing more than normal. Artificial feeding, which is neither the same nor superior, is therefore deficient, incomplete, and inferior. These are difficult words, but they have an appropriate place in our vocabulary."
- From the Journal of Human Lactation, Vol. 12, No. 1, 1996

"People need to understand that when they're deciding between breastmilk and formula, they're not deciding between Coke and Pepsi...They're choosing between a live, pure substance and a dead substance made with the cheapest oils available."
- lactation consultant Chele Marmet

"When we trust the makers of baby formula more than we do our own ability to nourish our babies, we lose a chance to claim an aspect of our power as women. Thinking that baby formula is as good as breast milk is believing that thirty years of technology is superior to three million years of nature's evolution. Countless women have regained trust in their bodies through nursing their children, even if they weren't sure at first that they could do it. It is an act of female power, and I think of it as feminism in its purest form."
- Christine Northrup M.D.

I breastfeed my children, not because "breast is best", but because it is  normal.  Formula never entered my mind as an option to feed my baby.  First, I don't feed my children anything that I wouldn't eat myself and formula smells and tastes nasty.  Second, why would I pay for something that is inferior when I can provide something tailor made for free?  Last, but not least, I am a mammal.  My breasts were made to nurture/nourish my children.  My milk is exactly what they need to grow healthy and strong.

I understand how difficult nursing can be.  I've persevered through engorgement, multiple bouts with thrush and a chronic plugged duct.  I've stuck with it when my babies were going through growth spurts and were latched on for 20 hours straight and I was so tired of being sucked on that I just wanted to scream.
But, I also understand how wonderful nursing is.  I am proud that I was my babies' soul source of food for their first year (note: my son had tastes of food from 6 months on, but he didn't start eating anything significant until he was 12.5 months old.  We shall see when my daughter eats solids).  I love how portable a breastfed baby is.  Breastmilk is always clean, the right temperature and spoil-proof.  And nothing is more satisfying than seeing that sweet babe unlatching and giving me a big, milky smile.

Breastfeeding in Public

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