This is why the majority of American women will never breastfeed.

As mentioned in a previous post, I went to my LAST EVER visit at the OB's today. Since I got my labs drawn, I won't have to go back and can just transfer my care entirely to Alyson, our awesome midwife.

What I did not tell you is that as I was leaving the OB's office today, they gave me two things, a folder and a box. They said the box was for breastfeeding moms. (They had asked if this baby would be breastfed or formula fed. Of course I told them I will be breastfeeding. I always try... I think I'm going to succeed long term this time, too!!) I didn't open the box until a lot later because I was busy running around for the kids, blogging, cooking, and talking for over an hour on the phone with a friend who is going through some very hard times. Anyhow, when I finally did get around to opening the box, I was puzzled by the contents of it. I thought if it was for nursing moms, it would have Lansinoh (lanolin cream for cracked nipples, aka the best stuff ever), nursing pads, and probably a coupon for a discount on one of the popular brands of nursing covers, possibly some milk storage bags, and ads for different types of pumps, or something like that... That's NOT what it was, though. It was FORMULA!!!! Several of those small bottles you sometimes see moms who never ever breastfeed giving to their babies while in he hospital, and a bunch of other formula-related stuff that I barely paid a glance to before packing it back up. It was newborn formula, too, specifically for the brand newest babies of all, babies who probably should still have nothing but colostrum.

Talk about a cheap sneaky way to get into my house and capitalize on difficult times. It's like a drug dealer. "Here's your destructive crutch at 2 am when you're nursing for the 5th time that night and your nipples are cracked in half." Having been in that very situation before on multiple occasions, I know that when you're that tired, and that sore, there's not much you won't do for a few continuous hours of sleep, including having the not half as tired husband give the baby a bottle. It's not ok, though, not in those early days especially. The more you nurse, the better your milk comes in. I know. I barely nursed Erin (she just wasn't good at latching) and had next to no milk. I nursed Orren constantly and had enough milk for a small village in just a couple days. Supplementing with bottles right from the start will hurt your supply, and probably make a lot of people give up. It is a harmful thing to give a mom who's wanting to succeed at breastfeeding, a box of formula. That is half a step toward failure if she keeps it. I'm not keeping it, though. I'll be giving it away by listing it for free on Craigslist. Thak wanted to throw it in the trash, but I thought giving it away would be better just in case some other baby actually needs it. I just don't want it in my house.

Again, since other than these two OB visits I've had, I have absolutely no experience with the mainstream obstetrical practices. The midwives I've received my care from with both prior pregnancies, have really emphasized breastfeeding from day one, and absolutely never had anything with a formula company logo, or formula samples in office, or anything like that. I'd never seen this type of thing before. I was really floored. I'm only 9 weeks along, and they're already pushing formula. Get me the hell out of there.

I mentioned this to some other moms I know, mostly friends from previous duty stations, but a few civvie types, and they were all shocked that I had never experienced the formula pushing before, despite the fact that I have two kids. All had experienced this in the past, except one. She did a homebirth when she had her only son, 15 years ago. She did know about this stuff, though because she's a Lactation Consultant and sometimes fills in at the hospital, so she sees that they give out bags with this shit to a lot of breastfeeding moms there. I was a hospital transfer for post-dates with Erin, but was not given formula or pushed to bottle feed. I guess our midwife protected us from that, and gave us half a fighting chance even though I didn't end up being able to breastfeed Erin for long. Then again, Gainesville is a very breastfeeding-friendly city, so maybe they don't give that stuff out there because almost nobody would want it anyhow. It seems like it's rampant in most of the rest of the nation, though. People told me about receiving CASES of formula to take home from the hospital, despite being clear that they were breastfeeding.

I guess it's just something I was removed from due to the people I chose to trust with my care. I feel lucky about that. It felt weird to receive formula. I'm always saying how society likes to tell women, "You can't!", as in, "You can't birth the baby you grew!" "You can't do that without anesthesia!" "You can't be trusted to know what's best for your child!" and today, I felt like they subtly hinted to me, "You won't be able to nurse this one either."

Fuck you, society, and your formula samples, too. It goes out the door tomorrow. I CAN.