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> While there are certainly advantages to breast feeding, it is not necessary. Sure, but it does have positive health benefits for mom and baby and is cheaper
by tathougies 7y ago
> While there are certainly advantages to breast feeding, it is not necessary.
Sure, but it does have positive health benefits for mom and baby and is cheaper than formula. In order to continue to breast feed the baby to two years (as recommended by the WHO), the mother needs to actually breastfeed the baby. Using pumps can result in milk supply lowering, not because pumping is incapable of keeping up milk supply, but because without the hunger cues of a newborn, the mother doesn't typically pump as much and as long as a newborn would. Moreover, the oxytocin from holding the newborn and the hormones released when the newborn cries keep the mother's supply up. There is no way to replicate this in an office. It requires a baby.
My solution to this 'problem' is to create a society in which moms can stay home with their babies and simultaneously, for those women who choose to work, normalize bringing your child to work. Not only does this keep mom and baby together, but it also means there will be adorable babies in offices everywhere.
- eesmith 7y agoI'm glad I was able to change your mind and convince you that breastfeeding is not a necessary part of taking care of a newborn.
- tathougies 7y agoI never argued that it was. I said breastfeeding leads to the least stress for mom, dad, and baby, in the general case, which is still true. Before boldly proclaiming winning in something that is not even a competition, I think it's worth it to understand the argument.
- eesmith 7y agoAt https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20683397 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20683397 you wrote: "Breastfeeding is a necessary part of taking care of a newborn ... plus the vital component of breastfeed" Now you say you didn't write that?
- TheSpiceIsLife 7y agoIt seems evident to me that @tathougies intended their statements to come with the 'when and where it makes sense to do so' aspect I mentioned earlier. Of course there's going to be circumstances where, for whatever reason, breastfeeding isn't optimal or even an option.
- eesmith 7y agoYour reading is more along the lines: "Breastfeeding - when and where it makes sense to do so - is a necessary part of taking care of a newborn that men cannot do."? Isn't that like "Wearing a bicycle helmet - when and where it makes sense to do so - is a necessary part of riding a bicycle." That is, your addition negates the seemingly firm statement of "necessary", while the later use of "vital" seems to support the firm intent of "necessary".