The War Over Breastfeeding

A dozen or so years since the emergence of the feminist blogosphere, it’s no surprise that a book about “lactivists”—the most fervent of breastfeeding advocates—contains a preponderance of stories from the “mommy wars.” A New York City cocktail party where an aggressive member of La Leche League literally backs an expectant mother (our insufficiently enthusiastic author) into a corner? Check. A new mom so distraught over her lactation failure that she preemptively defends herself to strangers in a pediatric waiting room? That too. A woman bottle-feeding her baby on a subway (under a “breast is best” campaign poster, no less) who hears a fellow traveler mutter that people like her shouldn’t be allowed to have kids? Yep. One of the daughters of folk-singing trio Peter, Paul and Mary responding to Hurricane Sandy by calling for a lactation consultant to visit housing projects in the Rockaways? Why not!

Read Full Article »
Comment
Show commentsHide Comments

Related Articles