Ignorance!

I am a breastfeeding consultant and advocate. I received this sms just now:

"I don't understand. Why majority women around me against breastfeed. Some comment milk formula better than breastmilk.Some said breastfed not good for mother healthy. They said my wife not strong enough for breastfed. Breastfed wil cause my wife not get enough sleep, indirectly affect her health in future. Some said my wife milk less quantity and quality. All of them are women. I really not understand!"

This was from a new-daddy of a 3 week old baby. From day 1 he has been very supportive of his wife, very encouraging, and I know his wife really appreciates him. They both want to give the best to their baby and know that breastfeeding is the best. Unfortunately the confinement lady they hired has been very negative about breastfeeding. All people around them were not supportive.

The doctor told them baby's not putting on enough weight and advised them to switch to formula! They called me. I checked the WHO growth-chart for breastfed baby and discover that the weight gain is right on target!

IGNORANCE!!!

While breastfeeding might not be the best for every parent, it certainly is the best for every baby! And it's so sad when the parents wants to breastfeed, has sufficient milk to breastfeed, they were discouraged from doing so! Ignorance!

Ignorant and negative family and friends can certainly add lots of stress on the new parents.

So....my plea to those of you who might have friends or family who are pregnant and intended to breastfeed - PLEASE ... if you have nothing nice to say about breastfeeding - just keep your big mouth shut!!!!