I'm Probably Going To Piss Off A Few People....

I just have to get this off of my chest (OMG - no pun intended). My child is not inferior because she was not breastfed. If I see one more Lactation Nazi sponsored billboard that states "breastfed babies are smarter", I'm going to vandalize the sign. That is a crock of shit! Paige was not breastfed, she couldn't be. Not only was she born 2 1/2 months premature with brain bleeds and undeveloped lungs, she had a hole in her heart that was repaired medicinally and she couldn't be fed breast milk or formula for the first two weeks. Besides that, I was taking medication that would have been extremely harmful to her if passed through my milk to her. I explained that to the Lactation Nazi, but she really didn't care. She was too busy telling me how f*cked up my kid would be if I DIDN'T breastfeed her. She wouldn't be as intelligent, she'd be prone to asthma and allergies, we wouldn't bond properly. WHATEVER! I can't stand those people. Then that stupid Gisele Bundchen said that breastfeeding should be a law...and then backtracked when she pissed off a bunch of moms. I know plenty of kids who were breastfed and they have had tubes put in their ears from all of the ear infections, multiple cases of strep throat, bronchitis, pneumonia - oh and they still didn't talk at age two. Let's talk about my non breastfed, no functioning lungs, no eyebrows, no fingernails kid at birth for a minute:

Was walking and talking by 11 months
Has been sick with an Upper Respiratory Infection only three times
Has never had strep, an ear infection, pneumonia or bronchitis
Has bonded to her mommy very well, thank you very much
Is extremely intelligent, sensitive, inquisitive and was reading in Pre K

I'm not here to debate the pros/cons of breastfeeding vs. formula. What I don't like is being told that kids will be/or are somehow less developed, intelligent and bonded to their mommies because they weren't breastfed. Had the circumstances been different, I probably would have breastfed her, or maybe I wouldn't have - I didn't have a choice. But I do know that there are plenty of kids out there who aren't breastfed and they're perfectly fine just like there are breastfed kids out there who are sick all the time and developmentally slow...so you can't paint a black and white picture about breastfeeding. All of us make the best decisions we can for our kids and no one has the right to judge or tell us how intelligent our kids will or won't be if they aren't breastfed.

Okay, I'm off of my soapbox for now. Thank you for allowing me to vent!!!