Clarification

I realize my previous post might have sounded like I was anti-breast feeding, and I'm not. It's just that it's difficult, far more difficult than I expected, and it does feel like a marathon -- just one more mile to go, one more, if I can make it to that next marker. We've all been in that position and I wrote that post at a time when I was really mentally, physically and emotionally struggling with breastfeeding. I think we owe it to women to be truthful about the experience, that it's NOT for everyone, and it's not the end all and be all if you don't breastfeed. I think this last point is really what I wanted to get at.

There's such pressure and guilt put on mothers by society and other women regarding this topic that any deviation for whatever reason feels like a major failure. It's not a failure to say breastfeeding isn't for you. Feeding is such one piece of a complex algorithm on how one raises her (and his! fathers included!) child and there's no surefire way that everything you do is going to be exactly right on setting your child on the way to Bill Gates awesomeness. There are so many questions to answer along the way, so many decisions to be made. So as plaintive that post sounded, I needed to say what I said, and I'm calmer and more reassured about the decision I made. And that's all any parent can really do.