Let's Talk Breastfeeding.

Barriers to breastfeeding most often include work-related issues (bottle that breast milk!), personal preferences (feeling we have the choice not the responsibility to choose otherwise), having an unsupportive partner (choosing partner over baby), feeling embarrassed (lets get over our own selfishness and give baby what is factually, not judgmentally, BEST), concerns about pain(letting fear win), and physical/medical problems.

Just because we live in the minority of the world that treats it acceptable to formula feed at will, doesn't mean it's the right choice.

If a mother decides not to breastfeed she needs to recognize the probable strain on the health care system down the road and the potential problems for baby including passing on issues to care takers later on and society in general. If you decide to have a baby, decide to take the best care of it possible.

Determinants of breastfeeding initiation include income, education, nationality, race/ethnicity, region of residence, age and marital status. The less educated and poorer a woman is, the more likely she is to formula feed, it's just the facts. The more likely she absorbs what formula ad campaigns state, 'best start etc' which is absolutely false. So before you give up because it hurts, remember only 3% of women worldwide truly have a medical reason why they can not breastfeed, the rest works itself out over time, much effort and yes, often pain, and education.

If you are in the 3% that truly can't, of course we are not to judge, but know there is still access to breast milk for your baby through amazing co ops and giving mothers that donate theirs, so all can have access to nature's best. A baby can thrive on breast milk even when it isn't their mothers much better than it will ever thrive on our GMO formulas (that were originally intended for orphans in the UK) NOT as a substitute to human milk.

(Ahluwalia et al., 2005; American Dietetic Association, 2005; Bentley, Dee, & Jensen, 2003; Brownell, Hutton, Hartman, & Dabrow, 2002; Khoury et al., 2005; Kimbro, 2006; Taylor, Risica, & Cabral, 2003).