Breastfeeding is “Creepy”
A leading online British parenting magazine has been slammed by parents and critics everywhere for a provocative article published by the deputy editor, Kathryn Blundell, entitled “I formula fed. So what?”
In the article, from the “Mother and Baby” magazine, Blundell wrote about how she bottle-fed her baby since birth because “I wanted my body back”. (And some wine)”. “They’re part of my sexuality, too…And seeing your teeny, tiny, innocent baby latching on where only a lover has been before feels, well, a little creepy,” she added.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in India and most other countries recommend complete breastfeeding up to 6 months. Still, Blundell has not been not swayed – “there are all the studies that show [breastfeeding] reduces the risk of breast cancer for you, and stomach upsets and allergies for your baby. But even the convenience and supposed health benefits of breast milk couldn’t induce me to stick my nipple in a bawling baby’s mouth,” she declared.
A spew of criticism and comments were left behind, following the article published on this month’s copy of the magazine. An enraged mum even commented that “As a formula-feeding mum who was unable to breastfeed, I am left wondering whether, thanks to this piece, people who see me giving my baby a bottle may assume that I am doing so because I…found the idea ‘creepy’.”
Breastfeeding advocates and parents feel that, even if the article was meant to be a tounge-in-cheek view of the issue, that it was in rather bad taste, especially if somebody came across it while “feeling vunerable post-natally and struggling with breastfeeding.” Many others felt it might have been a turn-off from mothers who were thinking of breastfeeding.
In spite of this, there were some who took rather well to the article, applauding what they called her “refreshing” view. Said the editor of the magazine, Miranda Levy, “This was her personal experience, and has a place in the debate…We have made readers feel ‘normal’ and less of a ‘failure’ for not managing to breastfeed – a situation which is incredibly common.”
Is breastfeeding “creepy”? What do you think?
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