I suspect that Lucy Ruddle, IBCLC feels put upon by me.
First I took her to task for her meme that analogized formula to cake.
I created this:
Then she implied that anyone who recommends formula supplementation for starving babies is trying to “sabotage” breastfeeding mothers. I created this to express my incredulity that a lactation consultant could discuss breastfeeding problems without once mentioning the baby and his or her suffering:
Most recently Ruddle posted a meme questioning the existence of pressure to breastfeed:
It was a classic example of gaslighting and I called her on it.
She was angry. That’s the typical response of people who suffer from attribution bias, the tendency to assume that one’s own motives are pure while simultaneously insisting that anyone who disagrees has malicious motives.
[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The continuing insistence that “breast is best” is designed to create anger, anxiety, and to pitch us against one another.[/pullquote]
I don’t doubt that Ruddle’s motives are pure. I simply point out the harmful impact her claims have on women who can’t or don’t wish to breastfeed.
But finally there’s something on which we can agree, the Facebook post she wrote today:
The entire point of (“insert feeding method of choice) is best” is to create anger, anxiety, and to pitch us against one another. They aren’t about true support, because if they were, there would be no need to argue. X is best relies on divides… women beating each other up… it relies on our fears. Because while we’re arguing over who is best, we’re not focusing our attention on the real issue. Which is that mothers are not valued, heard, or encouraged to trust their instincts. That we are routinely silenced, are subject to abuse from professionals, and that we are not given access to the quality of respectful, kind support we all deserve…
I would modify that only slightly:
The ORIGINAL point of “breast is best” was to maximize the health of babies. At the time it came into widespread use many professionals believed that breastfeeding must be best because it is natural. There were also studies that suggested that breastfeeding had major health benefits.
But over the following years several things became clear:
- Breastfeeding in industrialized countries is socially patterned. Most benefits that were ascribed to breastfeeding are actually benefits of wealth.
- Breastfeeding, like most natural reproductive processes, has a high failure rate.
- Tens of thousands of babies are hospitalized each year for breastfeeding complications.
- Exclusive breastfeeding has become the leading risk factor for newborn hospital readmission.
- Women who can’t breastfeed successfully are suffering soul searing guilt.
Indeed, it’s been clear for MORE THAN A DECADE that breast ISN’T best for many babies and many mothers. The response of lactation professionals has been to ignore the evidence and dig in their heels. They keep shouting “breast is best” regardless of the fact that the claims of benefits have been largely debunked.
Why?
I agree with Ruddle’s assessment:
The continuing insistence that “breast is best” is designed to create anger, anxiety, and to pitch us against one another.
Breastfeeding promotion in 2019 isn’t about what’s best for babies. It’s about what’s best for lactation consultants and there is no limit to the amount of anger and anxiety (not to mention harm to babies) that they are willing to provoke to pitch women against each other.
Ruddle’s point is the one I have been making repeatedly for years:
This isn’t about true support, because if it were, there would be no need to argue. BREAST is best relies on divides… women beating each other up… it relies on our fears. Because while we’re arguing over who is best, we’re not focusing our attention on the real issue. Which is that mothers are not valued, heard, or encouraged to trust their instincts. That we are routinely silenced, are subject to abuse from professionals, and that we are not given access to the quality of respectful, kind support we all deserve.
Fed is best is a REJECTION of that mentality. Fed is best doesn’t divide women; it doesn’t promote women fighting with each other; it soothes fears. The POINT of “fed is best” is to VALUE and HEAR women and to encourage them to trust their instincts about whether formula, breastfeeding or both is best for their babies or for them.
Breast is best is designed to silence women; there can be no argument. It serves to justify the abuse that lactivists heap on women who can’t or don’t wish to breastfeed; and it promotes a culture that insinuates that women who formula feed are “dupes” of the formula industry and lazy, selfish women who aren’t “baby friendly.”
Ruddle’s words are words to live by. She and other lactation consultants should try to live by them instead of merely paying them lip service.
