February 7, 2007
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My daughter, the non-lactivist
Bug has told me before that she was going to bottlefeed, or that she has problems with breastfeeding. Today she was showing me some pictures that she had drawn in her I can draw 100 things booklet. Yesterday was the 100th day of school, and there were special activities there. Bug was home sick, so she gets to do all the work at home that she missed during the classroom day. For 10 soft things she drew 10 babies in pajamas. "And look, this baby is wiping the milk off his lip, and this baby is holding is bottle, and all the others have pacifiers." I couldn't resist and said in a dismayed kind of tone, "Oh, you mean they aren't breastfed?" She said, "well, this will probably hurt your feelings, but I want to give my babies bottles." I have heard this before, but I still test the issue when it arises. I asked her why she wanted to bottlefeed, and she said that she thinks it is better. I told her it wasn't better, that breastfeeding is.
A little while later she wanted to know why bottlefeeding is bad and I told her it's not that it is bad, but that mammals are meant to get milk from their mothers and anything else just isn't as good, it's just a matter of biology. So her response was, "But mama, we aren't like other mammals." Well, that is certainly true enough.
Comments (1)
I remember you talking about this issue before. You know, hopefully it's just one of those things kids do to separate from their parents...the whole I am my own person with my own ideas thing. And when she grows up, and does her own research because she is going to have a baby to feed, she will decide to nurse.
I have boys...I've already mentioned that they might want to ask about how their prospective brides might feel about things like nursing, co-sleeping, CIO, etc. Blushes. Sigh. They do grow up, though, and have their own ideas about things...and those ideas aren't always the same as ours at all. It's interesting.
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