Breast feeding is healthy for your baby, and able mothers should at least try it.

So, lets take a look at the topic of this debate: Breat feeding is healthy for your baby, and ABLE mothers should at least TRY it. Never in my opening statement or topic, did I state that bottle feeding mothers were bad. Nor, did I say that everyone should (for one year) breast feed their babies. My debate is about TRYING to breast feed. In the begining colostrum is very important. The arguments I gave were incintives to why you should at least TRY to breast feed. Some mothers don't even see if they could or like to breast feed. Of course not everyone feels that breast feeding is exceptable because of societies biased it is not gross or perverted to breast feed. Our culture should make natural feeding mothers feel more comfortable. As you say there are other ways you can bond with your child. Personally, I think there all good interactions... but don't discredit the fact that breastfeeding is a good way to bond. Personally, I believe you should do more than one thing to bond with your offspring. Just as you say there's more than one way to bond with babies other than breastfeeding, aren't all the wonderfull examples you gave ways for a Father to bond with the baby as well? It takes patience, and a little bit of pain sometimes, but being a mother your job doesn't stop when tht baby is born, it just begins! Parenthood means sacrifice and your body is not yours any more. Sacrificing things you would like to do, such as drink alcohol, smoke, or drugs aren't healthy for you anyway. It would be selfish to decide to bottle feed just based upon the mothers wish to break free from her new little "bondage". // You think a mother bottle feeding her baby means she feels her job is done? I don't agree with that. Just because you feed your baby by bottle , does not mean you do not care about your baby or want to break free of your new "bondage" I think being a good mother is alot more then feeding your child by breastfeeding... Some people its a family thing and their own upbringings that make them choose bottles ... But its a personal decision. //In the excerpt, I never said a mother was selfish for having to go back to work, or having something physical happen to deter breast feeding. Not sacrificing uneeded things is what I suggested was selfish.// I think if a mother knows she will drink or smoke and decides to not breastfeed , she is not being selfish , she is thinking of her baby and knows that it would do more harm for her to breastfeed. I think that is a noble thing to do. Not every mother is perfect. Some mothers are addicted to smoking and feel they can not quit smoking. At least a mother choosing to not breastfeed while smoking is looking out for her child. //Was the smelly poop baby eating baby food?// No she wasn't //Some familes are not in the proper financial bracket to receive WIC, and you can only get certain types of formula with it.// Again , I will say that if a family cant qualify for WIC and still chooses to use formula , that is their choice. Some parents would rather pay money than to breastfeed. That is the choice they have decided on ... Also if you do not qualify for WIC , chances are that you have enough money that you aren't worrying about paying for it... //Please realize this is not an attack on bottle feeding familes... and if there's any more confusion please report back to the topic of the debate. So, do you belive women SHOULDN'T TRY to breast feed?// I don't think any mother should try anything they aren't comfortable with or isn't a good fit for them. You obviously felt it was the right decision for you and your family. Not everyone feels that way. It is a mothers choice to make for her and her child and also for her family. You may not feel you are judging , but it comes across that way...