Saturday, August 7, 2010

What's wrong with a law that aims to protect our babies?

My head hurts. It really does.

If you live under a rock like I do, you perhaps didn't hear about an opinion that sparked a furor. A few days ago, Brazilian supermodel, Gisele Bundchen, made a comment about breastfeeding that elicited everything from sheer outrage, to admiration.

Ironically enough, I got to hear (or read) about this comment from a formula feeding blog (I'm not going to even cite the blog name because I don't want her making money off of me by sending people to her passionately uneducated musings.)

Gisele expressed the following;

"Some people here [in the US] think they don't have to breastfeed, and I think 'Are you going to give chemical food to your child when they are so little?' I think there should be a worldwide law, in my opinion, that mothers should breastfeed their babies for six months."

Wow. People.Got.Mad.

Wait, let me rephrase that. Moms got mad. Men couldn't care less if Gisele said that it should be mandatory to prance around in our underwear. Strike that, men would love that.

Moving on. Mother's around the U.S. got really mad. What was unfair though is that they tried to discredit her very correct opinion by citing the fact that she stole a pregnant woman's partner, that she's a stinking rich spoiled supermodel, that she's an alien from outer space, and so on and so on.

First of all, you haters, her marriage and how it came about is non of your business (or mine), and good advice will always be good advice, whether the one giving it is educated or not.

What made people really angry was that she didn't only say it is the best way a baby can be fed (6 months of nothing but breastmilk, that is), she also expressed that formula was chemical food and that it should be a law that a baby should drink only mother's milk for the first six months of life. But what's wrong with feeling that way? She certainly didn't mean it in the way that mother's who don't breastfeed, should be locked up and thrown in jail, she just feels that all babies deserve breastmilk. Yes. Yes they do.

Even though by choice or by unforeseen chance, it's not possible, the fact still remains that the number one, two and three best choice for infant nutrition is and will always be human milk. So... what's wrong with wanting a law that would only bring benefit to babies? Are we that self-concerned and short-sighted that we only perceive Gisele's comments as judgmental and air-headed?

Happy World Breastfeeding Week Y'all!

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