At at the same time, I really have to say that I see even more judgmental comments made about women who do breastfeed than those who don’t. I work with women every day who have the worst nasty negative comments said about them because other people think they are doing it too long (your baby will become clingy and dependent, you’re only doing it for yourself, your toddler will become a sexual deviant) or in the case of one of the posters, you will transmit horrible diseases to your baby (as an epidemiologist, let me make it clear that the risks are infinitesimally low compared to the greater risks of ear infections and diarrhea). Even worse breastfeeding helpers are often equated with Nazis who committed genocide. Even the most clueless breastfeeding helper is not committing genocide, she may just be incompetent at managing the complexities of improving a woman’s feeding experience and her emotional responses to that experience. As for the comment that formula never killed anyone, that simply is not true. Having lived in many developing areas of the world, nothing will erase the imagines from my brain from the far too many malnutrition wards, where I saw the impact of formula in person. The scientific evidence backs this up — formula is particularly deadly when water and sanitation are poor. Fortunately, most of the posters on this website don’t live in those circumstances and do not have to worry about their infants being at risk of dying from those conditions.

I hear some women say things like, “Breastfeeding is promoted everywhere in my community. I felt so much pressure to choose breastfeeding.” And so they think this campaign is not needed. It very well may be true that the initiation of breastfeeding is promoted. (I have seen it in my community.) But it doesn’t change the fact that we live in a climate that makes it incredibly difficult to succeed at breastfeeding. They were all listed in Danielle’s first comment. Personally, my biggest pet peeve is the ignorance of many health care professionals. Sure, there are some good knowledgable doctors out there but in my experience they are in the minority. It is scandalous that the majority of doctors, nurses, etc. have such poor lactation knowledge!

Why do women who can’t breastfeed say they were made to guilty?

I can’t fly a jet plane since I don’t have good vision, but that doesn’t make me feel guilty. Instead it makes me feel sad.

If a women can’t breastfeed then I can see her feeling sad.

Now if she choose to not breastfeed after being fully informed of the risks of not breastfeeding and either she or her infant suffered the consequences then she has the right to feel guilty.

I breast fed my two kids happily. I did this knowing that my kids only needed ‘TWO’ breast feedings a day to get the full effect of my antibodies, that after 4 months I am ‘NO LONGER” passing on helpful antibodies and that my job is done for healthful supplementation and that a mother could ‘PASS HERPES’ on to their child via breast feeding, as well as ‘AIDS’. These facts are NEVER told to women. I feel women are often intimidated into breast feeding without all the facts. If you are going to pass on ANY disease (AIDS, Herpes, whatever) via breast feeding- then breast feeding is NOT the best now is it? Most hospitals do not routinely test for these disease and I have yet to hear of a lactation consultant tell a new mother they need only breast feed twice a day to be just as healthy as babies breast fed full time.
We need to get the correct facts out to moms!

This is such a great article! I think it’s so important for women in the limelight, like Gabrielle, to share their experiences in an honest way and demystify it for women who may not have been exposed to breastfeeding.

I’m fortunate that I was able to breastfeed both of my boys and it was a wonderful experience both times.

its such an inspiration to a all us women. l will difently contiue to breastfeeding my baby

My hat is off to you Danielle- you eloquently said what needed to be said about the infiltration of negative comments from those who feel they are being attacked for formula feeding. It was well said.

While this is a “Gossip” blog as a previous poster mentioned, it is naive to think that celebrities and their choices around birthing,infant feeding, and parenting do not have an effect on the general public. When a celebrity outspokenly talks about her breastfeeding experience, you can bet that there are pregnant and postpartum mommas listening. And I greatly appreciate that in this instance, breastfeeding was discussed outside the realm of postpartum body image or weight loss (for the most part). It was discussed for the health issue that it really is. And I appreciated that Gabby discussed a lot of the obstacles to successful breastfeeding and the need for support which is so vital to all women when they become mothers. Her attitude about her body, mothering and breastfeeding is refreshing. Thanks for posting this and taking the time to ask some thoughtful questions and post her very thoughtful answers.

As other posters have mentioned, there is absolutely no need to be touting formula feeding among celebs when marketing of formula is a multi-billion dollar business and the industry has its hands in just about every pregnancy or parenting related publication (except the ones that have chosen to eschew formula advertising in favor of breastfeeding as the normal and healthy way to feed babies).

Formula is not the healthiest food for infants- breast milk is (And breast milk is best for mommas too!). Women who struggle to breastfeed but ultimately decide to formula feed to stay sane as mothers, to make sure their baby is growing because they did not produce enough (and the list continues)- you are to be commended and I am sorry that you were unable to continue to breastfeed. And some others are physically or medically incapable of breastfeeding though as the CBB staff points out, this is not very common.

Women who don’t breastfeed because it is “not for them”, well fine. That is your choice. But it always seems that these are the women who are screaming the loudest about being judged and being made to feel guilty about their choice to formula feed and often try to downplay the difference between breastmilk and formula (ie. breastmilk ain’t all that, my kid is healthy and he/she was formula fed, etc). But breastmilk IS all that. Formula is an inferior food for infants. Period. If you made the choice to formula feed, then stand by your choice without resorting to the “guilt” argument. No one makes anyone feel guilty. We are responsible for our own feelings.

We do not make our birthing/infant feeding/parenting decisions in a vacuum- I am well aware of that as a mother of two children. But it behooves us to have the best scientific information available to make those decisions. The scientific data on breastfeeding is not up for debate- it is associated with a decreased incidence of otitis media in study after study to use just one example of scientific data which happened to be mentioned in this interview. Anecdotal evidence does not supercede scientific evidence though many of us would like to believe it does.

And I say a hearty “hear hear!” to the posters who have mentioned donor breastmilk banks and the need for more, more, more! Just think how this would help the many moms who give up because of problems with their milk supply or a difficult delivery or a bad experience because of lack of support or horrible advice from their health care provider. IF they could supplement with donor breast milk, the guilt factor would not be an issue, maybe those formula companies would see their profits decline exponentially and our children would be the healthier for it.

Cara

What a wonderful interview with Gabrielle Reece. The discussion about breastfeeding or formula-feeding is not one of right or wrong, bad or good. Mothers who have difficulty with breastfeeding and must use formula or mothers who decide not to breastfeed often feel defensive when breastfeeding articles or research reveals another positive aspect of breastmilk or breastfeeding. Some say that such articles or information makes them feel guilty and that such things perhaps should not be published. My experience has been that what many of these mothers feel is regret for an experience that they were robbed of because they did not have proper information or sufficient support. Others say that their baby did just as well on formula or that their breastfed baby got ear infections so why bother. We need to remember that research is done with large populations, not a sample of one or two.

Why don’t we as women and mothers find a way to help all of our sisters by removing the barriers to breastfeeding. Just think what could happen if we all wrote a letter to our congressional representative to support the federal breastfeeding promotion act. You can do this easily at http://www.momsrising.org. Let’s make sure that the media hears from us every time they write one of those silly articles that pit breastfeeding mothers against formula-feeding mothers. Much of this animosity is driven by media that loves controversy at the expense of health.

Marsha

I enjoyed reading the article about Gabrielle. What a super mom! Great role model for Mothers who need positive reinforcement on breast feeding.

Annie

Regarding ear infections: Extensive scientific research has proven that formula feeding increases the risk for ear infections and tube implants–some studies say that exclusively formula fed babies get up to 10 times more ear infections than babies who were exclusively breastfed! This is not to say that there aren’t exceptions. Just as we all know someone who smoked and lived to be 80, it doesn’t refute the documented link between smoking and cancer. Therefore, it is best not to go by personal experience when discussing the risks of not breastfeeding, but to stick to the scientific facts. We hope that instead of feeling guilty, or blaming or defending themselves, more women will see how they have been duped, misled and hoodwinked by the excessive marketing and questionable advertising of formula, uncover who is suppressing or denying scientific evidence, and target those who are profiting–certainly not moms and their babies! Breastfeeding is much more difficult today than it should be, because there are a myriad of barriers–we call them booby traps–that have systematically been put in place to keep them from wanting to breastfeed and from succeeding at it. These booby traps include our healthcare system, our employers, our doctors and hospitals, among many others! As a result, many moms mistakenly think they can’t breastfeed, not realizing they have been sent to run a race with a pair of flip-flops. Moms are not to blame! Moms and babies deserve better–just as they deserve to know about toxic chemicals in plastic, or the effect of the transfats in junk food on heart disease. As two women who struggled unnecessarily with breastfeeding, we’ve got your back, babe, but it is up to you lead the way and make a difference.