Stigma and lack of regulations make breastfeeding hard

Today is the last day of the International Breastfeeding Week and I want to talk about the stigma around breastfeeding and the obstacles that prevent so many women from breastfeeding their babies at all, or the way they want to.

Our breasts have been sexualized for so long that we have forgotten how it feels like to be free in our own bodies. Our nipples have become so taboo that in most parts of the world it’s a social crime to swim topless, breastfeed in public or show them on social media, meanwhile we all know that so many men around the world sit on porn sites like Pornhub and watch violent, humiliating sexual acts on submissive women (!!) that actually hurt people – and have very negative impact on our kids. Real, naked nipples have never hurt anyone, on the contrary, they feel heavenly out in the wild, when they are caressed and licked on during a consensual and beautiful sexual act, and they feed the new generation of humans. Talk about a sick double moral that both deeply affect women’s and children’s lives.

Women are biologically made to be the life-giving temple, and the human race’s survival has been dependent on our magical milk, which is perfectly created to give our offsprings all the nutrition they need to grow and develop the first year of life. Breastmilk is packed with vital macronutrition, microbiobe and microRNA.

Most women who have children feel an urge to make breastfeeding work, because we’re programmed to meet our children’s most basic needs, but the way our patriarchal world is structured makes it very hard to follow our instincts (like other mammals). In cultures where the female body is free and where breastfeeding is socially acceptable women continue to breastfeed for years since it has so many different amazing benefits for both mother and child. Breastfeeding more than one child at a time is not strange in those cultures either.

World leading health authorities recommend breastfeeding exclusively for at least six months and continuing for AT LEAST up to two years. However, fewer than 44 percent of moms breastfeed their infants within the first hour of birth, only 23 countries report exclusive breastfeeding rates at six months above 60 percent and in some countries, like in the US, less than 25 percent of moms breastfeed their babies exclusively for the first six months, according to a new joint report released last Thursday by the WHO and UNICEF. The report states that millions of babies could be saved from dying each year if their mothers were encouraged to breastfeed after birth and supported during the postpartum period.

In the Western world infant formula works as a substitute if the mother can’t or really don’t want to breastfeed, but since most people on this planet live in areas where the water quality is low, infection rates are high, and infant formula is expensive women need to hear (what they instinctively already know) that the best thing for their babies is mother’s milk.

Research has also found that there are residues from pesticides in highly processed, industry-made infant formula, and there’s also the risk that the baby won’t get enough skin-to-skin contact with their mother if they’re being bottle fed, which can affect both the baby’s physical and emotional health as well as the attachment to their mother. Breastfeeding also prevents babies from SIDS (Sudden infant death syndrome).

The taboo around our naked breasts and the lost contact with our own bodies, along with birth trauma, postpartum depression, little or no support during pregnancy and the postpartum period are all reasons why breastfeeding doesn’t work for so many women.

The economic and social stress during our childbearing years that we need to be productive at the same rate as men in order to be valued and have a chance to get a seat around the table are other important reasons why so women can’t or don’t want to breastfeed at all or stop prematurely.

In a true feminist society, where women would be truly and highly valued and respected, none of this would be a problem. We wouldn’t have to choose between a career and a balanced family life, and we would proudly be in- and enjoy our own bodies, have empowering births and be able to breastfeed our babies for as long- and wherever we wanted to.

How, when and where women breastfeed their babies should ALWAYS be the woman’s OWN choice.  

See our breastfeeding guide for breastfeeding tips (it’s in Swedish but you can take the text and translate it online).