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leni710 t1_j8s8kne wrote

When you're trying to have these discussions, keep in mind some various populations of people and the fact that these are communities that have grown, thus changing the landscape in more ways than one:

-infants in foster care

-infants adopted out

-infants raised by relatives, away from the person who birthed them

-medications needing to be used that negatively impact breast milk

-transgender people giving birth who might no longer be able to breast feed

-teenagers having babies who are struggling to breast feed

-working people who can't stay on top of the breast feeding cycles

-people with post partum mental health issues who are unable to breast feed

-anxieties, depression, and the like that people have that can create adverse environments for breast feeding

-illness that makes it difficult to put baby near the sick person for breast feeding

-societal bullshit around "ahhh, boobies are public nudity and you will be charged as such"

-in general, gross ass people objectifying breast feeding

-sudden change in family dynamics, like a spouse moving out, that requires a new way of feeding infants

I could go on. But I need people to stop shaming the reality of feeding infants. The forced-birther side wanting everyone to just pop out babies is already doing more than enough harm to push people into making dangerous decisions. Infant and maternal mortality rates in the U.S., specifically for Black and Brown people, is insanely high for a "first world" country. The last thing anyone needs is some holier than thou shit around feeding infants, children, and all people. If you're mad enough at the manufacturer, tell them to make better products of formula, don't try to die on a hill of shaming vulnerable people.

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