To the Editor:
Three cheers for Courtney Jung. I identified with her article completely for myself and for my patients.
Not all women are able to breast-feed and breast-pump because of various factors, whether medical issues with the mother or the baby, or simply logistical barriers that are societal and/or related to work. Yet mothers who cannot or who choose not to breast-feed are treated like second-class citizens, and their dedication to mothering is considered suspect.
It is time for this treatment to end and for breast-feeding proponents to allow mothers to have a choice without feeling guilty.
Luckily, when I couldn’t maintain breast-pumping for my two children who were born prematurely, I had a pediatrician who was completely supportive. I offer the same empathy and reassurance to my patients when they report breast-feeding issues; I acknowledge that it can be difficult and offer them lactation consultant services, but I also tell them that if they need to switch to formula, they should not feel that they have failed their child at all.
REBECCA H. ALLEN
Providence, R.I.
The writer is an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
Note from KBJ: God forbid that any woman (or man) should be criticized! Each of us is responsible for his or her behavior and must stand ready to be blamed, censured, or criticized by our peers. If you believe that what you are doing is right, all things considered, then you should reply accordingly to the criticism. If you don't believe that what you are doing is right, all things considered, or believe that what you are doing is not right, all things considered, then perhaps the criticism will have a salutary effect on your behavior, which is its point. We need more judgment and criticism in society, not less. Moral standards are enforced not by some central authority, as in the case of law, but by each of us. Each of us has a stake in (1) there being moral standards and (2) those standards being effective.
