ElilyMommy alerted me to the fact that just as the world breeds Breastfeeding nazis (my words, not hers), the world also breeds Anti-breastfeeding nazis.
Wha…?
Curiosity killed this cat – with laughter. I had a quick Google, and found the following gems without looking all that hard.
- Anti-breastfeeding campaign – serious whack jobs on a massive scale. They hate God. They hate breastfeeding slightly more. The good news: I’m pretty sure it’s satire. A lampoon of misconceptions and prudishness surrounding boobs and babes. The bad news: remember how art imitates life…?
- Found this on Yahoo Ask – but my absolute favourite was the mother who purportedly saw the act of breastfeeding as akin to animal behaviour, adding “We’re not in Uganda!” as a debating point. Yuh.
- The one with the dentist – although interestingly, the whole cavities by kissing thing seems to have legs. Huh.
- Anti-breastfeeding Bingo – for every time you hear that comment…
On a more serious note, this journalist puts across some valid points about how breastfeeding fascism, as she calls it, is uncalled for – and has ramifications of its own. I guess the most important take away for me is that “scientific theory”‘ changes all the time, and unfortunately I’ll have to hone my own mommy instinct and figure this out, while growing thicker skin.
Finding The Happy 
2 May 2011 at 9:38 am
love your bloggs and their honesty … should males be commenting on these things??? mmm probably not but I’ll tell you about one thing that used to get me wound up anyhow – it was western company big billboard adverts for formulae milk in Bangladesh that said formulae was scientifically better. It was so sad because apart from the claim not making sense to me, the mum’s would try but couldn’t afford it long term and after a while they couldn’t feed their babies any more and it lead to more malnutrition. I used to think it was preying on the vulnerable- the mums desire to do the right thing and her trust in the west being right. I think breast feeding is wonderful in all societies, but yeah judging peoples situation from a distance ain’t going to work either. Maybe that makes me an anti-anti breast feeding nazi.
3 May 2011 at 7:44 am
I remember one of your Facebook posts about having a ham sandwich in the public toilet having the same gross factor as needing to breastfeed in a public toilet. Got me thinking, actually. I grew up in a culture that didn’t breastfeed in public. I don’t know what Singapore’s really like now on the baby front, but I don’t recall seeing ANY mother breastfeeding in public every time I’ve been back.
Meanwhile, I’ve been trying to work out the logistics of shopping and breastfeeding in my head. Optimistic, I know! lol
11 May 2011 at 9:42 pm
Glad to stir your thinking. I know I have little bits of odd culture that drive me one way or the other, sometimes to repeat and sometimes to be committed to do the opposite. Still, I always liked the comfy intimacy when our boys were breast feeding. Josh used to fall asleep as soon as he was attached and comfy. It was so funny/cute and heart warming to watch him get out of it on milk and then drop off. We’d keep tickling his cheek to keep him awake. I can’t even comment on the MIL MILK thief and stay polite – I do remember how much hassle the whole expressing thing was, even a small part of a bit of a bottle.
Also can’t really comment on the logistics of baby feeding and shopping trolleys – are you thinking of them as logistically interspersed or concurrent?
2 May 2011 at 2:26 pm
wow there is some weird stuff out there on the interwebz huh! I just have to share this one story from a girl I ‘know’ online in a due date club – her MIL has totally anti-BF and thought it was sick and disgusting, she didnt feed any of her kids that way and they were fine, etc etc. So the girl had been expressing all this milk for when she had to go back to work (they have to go back crazy quick in the USA) and her MIL was babysitting and while she was out, the MIL bought a stack of formula and THREW OUT all that hard earned ‘worth its weight in gold’ Breastmilk (expressing is really hard for many ppl!) – like, poured it down the drain!!! and said she just wanted what was best for her grandkid. mmm Crazy huh! SO yeah – just an example of some ppl being anti-BF. (maybe slightly more full on in the US where culturally i think many more ppl are uncomfortable with it?). Re waynes comment – yeah – nestle – not cool at all, babies starving for mkting – no good!
3 May 2011 at 7:52 am
Oooohhh… the whole, “I’m only thinking about your poor baby” comeback is so low, I find. It makes my blood boil, frankly. Your poor friend! She must have been livid. I hope her husband stood up for her.
And yet, I can see how someone who’s been taught in her time that boob juice is inferior milk and/or the pastime of uncivilised animals (or “Ugandans”!) would be sorely tempted to change something as crucial as a child’s diet. It’s a toughie – especially since the move stemmed from a loving, protective place. But…gah!
Aren’t both of us glad we get along with our MILs!