In an effort to keep you abreast of news, we bring you this story. A senior editor of a parenting magazine has labeled breastfeeding “creepy” and she doesn’t like it because she wants to be able to drink booze. And she considers her breasts mainly an erogenous zone for sexual purposes and she doesn’t want saggy erogenous zones.
Pundette writes:
More on motherhood in the UK: A British parenting mag editor has written that breastfeeding is creepy. Kathryn Blundell, deputy editor of Mother and Baby, declares that her breasts are for sex only, and breastfeeding means she can’t get drunk when she gets the urge (sorry, Junior: priorities and all that). By her standards, childbirth must seem pretty “creepy,” too. How dare that baby intrude on her erogenous zones? Heaven help the child who interrupts her beauty sleep or cuts into her me-time with his petty demands.
Once upon a time we knew that motherhood involved self-sacrifice. How does a culture work its way back from such self-centeredness?
Pundette nails it. This is the apotheosis of self centered thinking. My body exists for ME to gain pleasure from. Anything which prevents Me from drinking and cavorting as I wish is bad.
But the worst part is she doesn’t just disagree with mothers who breastfeed. She calls it “creepy.” It is all part of the demonization of self sacrifice.
June 28, 2010 at 7:13 pm
Gar!
After all that grief the Lactation Nazis put my wife through in insinuating feelings of being an inadequate mother because our baby wouldn't nurse!
This about face is as bad as the American Heart Association changing the way CPR is performed every few years.
June 28, 2010 at 7:23 pm
As a father of four, I have learned a lot about mother's milk and how it makes the baby smarter and stronger in fighting disease. The newer baby formulas even tries to replicate the proteins in mother's milk. Also, aren't breasts called mamary glands because of mothering functions. To put it plainly, that's what boobs are for. With the focus on looks and implants and yes erogenous stimulation, people forget the purpose of stuff and ultimately of life itself. Selfishness is immaturity and immaturity is stunted growth and development. That is what is creepy – imho.
June 28, 2010 at 7:31 pm
How does someone like this become a senior editor of a parenting magazine? Good grief!
June 28, 2010 at 7:56 pm
I agree with Siobhan. She should be the editor of Cosmo or something that involves sex and selfishness and stay away from all things related to parenting. Ugh…
June 28, 2010 at 8:11 pm
Siobhan: great question.
This is the other side of the world that we live in. Catholics believe in dying to themselves. These people believe in – themselves.
The saddest part, is the complete absence of love. There can be no love without sacrifice. People are not willing to sacrifice anything anymore.
They want to design their new home and then design their new baby (with their partner). They can just go on-line and order the baby they want. "Check here for blue eyes, click here for hazel…" Eggs will be matched with the donor sperm of the pre-screened Spartan/Brad Pitt/genius. Once pregnant, if a defect is detected, they just click "Abort" to schedule an appointment to have it killed then try again. Once it is here I suppose the point in having "it" will be to enhance their status, or be an enjoyable play companion. Much like their Pomeranian.
Children are not sent to us for our enjoyment. They are sent to us to help US get into Heaven through our dying to ourselves for them! (And for us to help them get into Heaven etc., etc.) It is very alien to imagine how one could parent from such a barren perspective.
This weekend at a party some 12 year old punk I'd never met, kicked me in the back of my leg because I didn't respond to his shouting while I was talking to someone else. I politely mentioned it to his mother a few minutes later and she laughed a nice long evil laugh. Talk about creepy.
June 28, 2010 at 8:11 pm
The farther they get from God-centered life the crazier people get. Those milk glands in her breasts are for "sex"?
June 28, 2010 at 10:45 pm
What a total boob.
June 29, 2010 at 12:15 am
Touché, William! That made me laugh.
This woman is loony and obsessed with sex, like most of the rest of our society.
June 29, 2010 at 1:23 am
The point of breasts being erogenous is to encourage breast-feeding, is it not? That's what I recall learning from my anatomy class.
June 29, 2010 at 3:14 am
I knew someone who thought like this and never breastfed. She got breast cancer.
(Yes, I also knew someone who did NOT think like this, and got breast cancer.)
But the fact remains… your statistical chances of breast cancer decrease when you breastfeed.
Of course, nature is trying to tell you something.
Listening to nature may imply listening to nature's God, so I wouldn't expect this woman to jump on that band wagon any time soon.
BTW, I'd bet she doesn't see her breasts as so sexual. I'd bet that she is desperately concerned MEN see them that way because she has yet to know the love and support and commitment of, say, a Catholic man who has learned sexual self-control.
Her Cosmo-view will sadly not compensate as age sets in.
That's the truth, and I'm sorry she won't know it. Marriage is a sweet compensation from God, as are children, and she'll likely never taste the fullness of it with that kind of warped thinking.
Yeah, the sex is good because the love is good, and that's after breastfeeding 4. I suspect the sex isn't so good in her case: I suspect it's fleeting and a bit desperate. kc
June 29, 2010 at 3:48 am
there will be a movie made of this , probably called 'titty titty bang bang.'
June 29, 2010 at 4:47 am
"…her breasts are for sex only, and breastfeeding means she can't get drunk when she gets the urge…"
Ahyup, met a few like her. Roundheeled, mattressbacked, forty looking like sixty and trying to act twenty.
June 29, 2010 at 2:38 pm
I am in disbelief that a woman would actually feel like this, but then again, I have family members that feel the same way….that breastfeeding is repulsive, inappropriate, and sickening. I was the first woman in my family to breastfeed. It was a new experience for me and a new experience for my family to be around me when my son feeds. My son just turned one and I am in the weaning process. My family now sees the importance of it and God's beauty in it. It was uncomfortable for some of them to sit where while I was TOTALLY covered up, feeding my son. They would just stare at the blanket instead of looking me in the eyes. Do I mind the curiousity? Absolutely not! Do I mind criticism and rude comments about women that breastfeed, YES! God placed breasts on mammals for the purpose of feeding their babies. I can say that the biggest thing I have ever done in my life is breastfeed my child. The process of giving birth to my son was truly amazing and a blessing from God, but the year that I personally provided my child with all of the nutrients he needed was the most "giving" of myself I have ever done. Breastfeeding is a blessing. And..in no way does it effect your sex life. She needs therapy for sex addiction!
June 29, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Not surprised at all– parenting magazines basically exist to give baby-gear manufacterers a place to advertise.
And breastfeeding, especially if you're a SAHM, has very LOW gear requirements: A blanket. And we all already have tons of those. Or, in lieu of a blanket, a towel, a sweater, a hankerchief, or a chair turned toward a wall…..
Breastfeeding moms are NOT good consumers. We pretty much just buy food……
June 29, 2010 at 4:56 pm
More Assaults Upon Natural Law…
June 29, 2010 at 5:27 pm
She sure has it BACKWARDS, the breasts are for nurturing and feeding your BABY, not an erogenous switch for a sex object!
June 29, 2010 at 11:55 pm
What bugs me is that in the combox section she is praised, while those who are offended are deemed 'breastapo' 'lacivists' 'obsessed' 'outrageous' and my favorite, 'breasfeeding Nazis.' Eek, what is it with the name calling? Also, since when do people who want to support breastfeeding advocate slaughtering all bottle feeding mommas??????
Earlier this week I read an article stating that breastfeeding was detrimental to the marital relationship. Huh? Dh said the author was lacking the nutritional value of breastmilk 😉
June 30, 2010 at 2:35 am
Rick, I have to say that your statement regarding children being smarter if they are breastfed is simply not a fact. I am also a parent to four children (all boys), ages 18, 13, 7, and 3 months.
When my oldest son was in elementary school, his second grade teacher suggested to me that he may have ADD (attention deficit disorder) because he fidgeted with his hands. He never, ever misbehaved and he always made A/B honor roll, so we simply ignored her suggestion. When he was in third grade, I learned from his teacher that children who fidget could be showing signs of being gifted, as that was the way they processed information. She then suggested he be tested for gifted (especially considering his overall grades and test scores). I declined (for personal reasons). He later went on to obtain over a 4.0 GPA in high school and he also received his AA degree only a few months shy of graduation, as he was dually enrolled in our local college during his last two years of high school. He was never breastfed a single drop (breastfeeding wasn't encouraged/supported in the early 90s like it is now).
My 13-year-old's teachers made comments (since kindergarten)on how intelligent he was and all through elementary school they wanted to test him for being gifted. He was always getting his work done quickly and his test scores were always really high. I declined every year until fourth grade when they put him in gifted classes (I was tired of them asking and my son said he wanted to do the test anyway). He was only breastfed for about a month after birth, then nothing but formula.
My 7-year-old's first grade teacher called right before the end of school this year to ask about testing him for being gifted due to the same reasons as his older brother. Once again, I declined for personal reasons, but I may consider it later if they aggravate me enough. For each nine weeks of his recent report card, he got nothing but As on every subject! He was breastfed for about a month, as well and then formula fed for the remainder.
My youngest, who is only three months old, has been breastfed since birth (and I will continue until he is 12 months) and this is the longest I've been able to do it. I must say, I mostly enjoy the bonding time he and I get, but I also like the fact that I don't have to pay for it and it's always ready! Unfortunately, there are times that formula is necessary, but not very often. He's a bit young to tell right now, of course, but I would bet money that when he enters school, breastfed or formula fed, I will once again be getting those phone calls from his teachers about the "gifted" program.
As for me, I was formula fed, raised by drunks, and dropped out of school in the ninth grade, but my husband and I were determined to raise our children better (and we gave up A LOT to do so). Therefore, I believe intelligent children come from parents who try to be the best parents they can be, not breast milk.
June 30, 2010 at 2:36 am
(CONTINUATION FROM ABOVE)
I've also heard that breastfed babies get sick less. My oldest who never had any breast milk at all hardly ever got sick (even to this day he never really gets sick and when he does, it's always mild). He has never had a runny nose or sick sounding cough. My second son who was breastfed a little was sick with runny nose and colds all the time (and sore throat)! He finally had to have his tonsils removed. My third son is like my oldest and hardly ever gets sick. So far, the baby has had a sniffle and a cough here and there, but not a true cold. I can only hope he won't be like my second son (who still gets sick a lot today).
Now, as for this woman who wrote that insane article, I can only say she is pretty ignorant and will never know what she is missing out on. I love breastfeeding for a variety of reasons and I only wish I had breastfed all my babies for at least 12 months. I simply could not get past the "painful" stage of breastfeeding with the others, but I am sooooo glad I did so this time (I was very determined to breastfeed my last one to save money, but then realized how much I simply enjoy it, too).
Sorry for the hijacking, but I had to give my two cents after reading Rick's comment on how breastfed babies are smarter. 😉
June 30, 2010 at 2:15 pm
Anon directly above:
I enjoyed reading your comments-you sound like a great parent! I don't know if it true or not true that breast-fed babies are smarter. However, your experiences do not rise to the level of scientific proof that Rick was incorrect. Obviously we'd need to apply rigorous scientific standards to determine if the statement is true or false. That would mean lots and lots of stories like yours, controls, variables and so on.
You may be correct, but you may also just have extremely good genes. I've heard (or possibly read?) articles that suggest that breast fed babies are smarter. But I always thought that they were only looking at infants. The hypothesis was that they babies brains are working harder during that bonding and suckling and also that they are receiving fats and other nutrition that formula can not replicate. (I've never heard, for instance, that a breast-fed 5-year-old was smarter than a formula-fed 5-year-old.)
What is not in dispute is that mother's milk, and especially colostrum, contains a wealth of important antibodies that are transferred to the baby as a functioning part of the immune system.
However, if you do transfer those antibodies and nutrients to your child directly from the breast, then you are also a sex-hating, keeping the woman down, national socialist pig-dog. Or somethin'.