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The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding for 1 year, and the World Health Organization for two. > I know several men who have taken parental

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding for 1 year, and the World Health Organization for two. > I know several men who have taken parental leave to be the primary caregiver for their >newborn but <1 year olds, while their wives return to work. It was cruel for neither the father, mother, nor child. I hate the term 'primary caregiver'. Mom and Dad are primary caregiver, independent of whether they are working, staying at home, etc. > Your argument, I believe, is that if the mother dies in childbirth, then it is cruel for the father to take care of the child. In that case, what do we do? Or does that follow under the "necessary" exception which allows cruelty? Well no. This is a strawman. Above, in my previous comment, I said it is cruel to mom, dad, and child. I even mentioned the inconvenience of mom pumping milk. If mom is dead, then this arrangement cannot be cruel to her, and she cannot be inconvenienced by pumping milk. A straightforward and benevolent reading of my comment would have you believe that it does not apply to cases in which mom has died. This is a rare enough occurrence that policies that seek to work well with the norm can't really be criticized for not addressing it. > It might just be that it isn't actually cruel. Or it might be that we as a society are used to being cruel to both women and children.

eesmith 7y ago
Using $TERM of your choice, the father was the one spending full-time at home, taking care of the <1 yr old child, while the mother was not. Is this cruel? Not "is it inconvenient", but is it - your term - "cruel"? (I double-checked, and "primary caregiver" is the correct term for that situation. It is not exclusionary as both parents may be primary caregivers at the same time. Also, the primary caregiver may be another relative or friend, and not always the mother or father.) Also, what does "cruel" mean to you? Babies aren't acculturated, so societal expectations don't really apply to judging the responses of a 4 month old. Do you mean they cry more? Do they have lower levels of oxycotin? Or how else do you figure out that a society has been making a mistake in how it deals with babies?

eesmith 7y ago

Using $TERM of your choice, the father was the one spending full-time at home, taking care of the <1 yr old child, while the mother was not. Is this cruel? Not "is it inconvenient", but is it - your term - "cruel"? (I double-checked, and "primary caregiver" is the correct term for that situation. It is not exclusionary as both parents may be primary caregivers at the same time. Also, the primary caregiver may be another relative or friend, and not always the mother or father.) Also, what does "cruel" mean to you? Babies aren't acculturated, so societal expectations don't really apply to judging the responses of a 4 month old. Do you mean they cry more? Do they have lower levels of oxycotin? Or how else do you figure out that a society has been making a mistake in how it deals with babies?