Breast Feed or Else?

According to the New York Times, breast milk is so magical a substance that not feeding it to your babies is tantamount to child abuse. I've contacted a lawyer to sue my bottle-feeding Mom, but really I think the Paper of Record just might be overreaching. I'm persuaded that breast milk has some clear nutritional advantages to formula but it was around this paragraph that the whole argument started to fall apart for me:"And public health officials, excited about mounting evidence suggesting that children who were breast-fed are at lower risk of being obese, have been promoting breast-feeding as a strategy to combat alarming rates of childhood obesity."Earlier, the writer noted: "Breast-feeding increases with education, income and age."Guess what also increases with education, income and age?Being thin.You know what definitely causes childhood obesity?Feeding your children too many pies.The fact that medical research dollars are being spent in search of a link between breast feeding and reduced childhood obesity kills me.But this is worse:"The goal of a government health initiative called Healthy People 2010 is to get half of all mothers to continue at least some breast-feeding until a baby is 6 months old."Let's parse that sentence:1) a government agency wants to "get" mothers to breast-feed. How about this? How about scientists tell us the facts about breast milk and we act accordingly. This isn't even a personal issue for me since I don't have children. But I don't want my government "getting" me to do stuff unless absolutely necessary.2) "half?" Why half? If breast milk is a magic bullet, why not all?3) "6 months?" So I guess federally mandated on-site day care is around the corner? If not, how exactly are working mothers going to breast feed?The Times did give some space to Karen Petrone who could not breast feed because of a medical condition and felt "guilty" about it. But you know what? I'm sick of women feeling guilty about not being able to do everything they're told they should be doing. When it comes to caring for children, women do plenty. How about an article on Dads who refuse to exploit the entrance of women in the workplace by pressing their employers for flexible hours so they can pick up some of the slack at home? How about for once a discusion of children point the harsh white spotlight away from mothers and toward fathers?Check this out:A cover story devoted to the struggles of stay-at-home and working Dads. Over 3,000 words on the compromises, sacrifices, and challenges fathers face in raising their children.Where did I see this?London's Guardian Newspaper.What section was it in?Observer Woman.Sigh.