How long did you breastfed ?

@SW-User Lucky you. A baby who is not breastfed is the most deprived human being alive.

@sree251 Not so. Neither of my two were breastfed. They were born in the early sixties and breastfeeding was considered low class. It was normal to get a shot to dry up the milk before you left the hospital. A high percentage of babies born in that era weren't breastfed.

In my case, that turned out to be a godsend. My daughter was born with a birth defect called galactosemia, milk consumed in any form causes brain, neurological, and organ damage. She was fed formula, and before she was a month old, we knew something was seriously wrong. By then, she had sustained serious irreversible damage. Can you imagine how guilty I would have felt if that damage was caused by my breast milk? I still think about that 58 years later. She's been on a totally dairy free diet since that time.

My second daughter tested negative for this birth defect.

I agree that if you are able, breastfeeding is the most beneficial for the baby, but don't use statements like, "the most deprived human being alive". There's a lot worse things that can happen in the beginning of a child's life!

@notyouraveragedummy You are not being fair in your analysis. Your daughter had a rare defect ( 1 in 30,000). God knows why that even happened. We are subjected to a way of life impacted by chemicals. Even here in rural America, living in the midst of a sea of corn, soy, and other industrial produce, one can feel the taste of chemicals from crop dusting and plant fertilizers. It gets no better in the city. I stand by my judgment about the sacred right of babies to mother's milk. And not just any mother but one who values her own body and not trash it the way she trashes herself.

I wonder if you treat your own body with care and did not cause it to give that disease to your children.

@notyouraveragedummy How awful for you - and for her of course. But if you had breastfed her hopefully any guilt would go once you knew that it was a reaction to any milk not just yours.

@sree251 What a crass baseless thing to say, suggesting that she was responsible for her daughter’s rare condition. Especially considering it is most often the result of both parents having a rare gene.

@sree251 it's your semen that makes us all sick

@sree251 Idiot

@SW-User Baseless? What kind of food do you eat, Diana? Not that you have a choice because our stores are stocked with processed foods; and if you are the average woman, you can only afford to buy that kind of food contaminated with chemicals. We are all responsible for all the diseases we are suffering. You think heart diseases and cancers are normal?

@sree251 That "disease" is a genetic mutation. People born with it a hundred years ago just died in infancy because parents didn't know that they were poisoning the child with the milk.

@SW-User That is correct!

@notyouraveragedummy You know what? You fed your baby formula and she got sick. And you feel vindicated that it was the formula and not your own milk that caused it? Something is disquieting here. Your baby was in your womb for nine months and shared your blood system. And after birth, it couldn't deal with feeding off your body's milk? Galactosemia is a rare disease. There couldn't have been enough research data to base credible medical opinion on reaction to mother's milk opposed to formula.

@sree251 Even back in the sixties, most formula was made from milk. Any form or trace of milk is poison to a person with this condition. The damage can never be fixed, it's permanent.

By the end of the sixties, galactocemia is one of the conditions/diseases that all babies are tested for before they leave the hospital. That was not so when my daughter was born.

In the past 50+ years, I've had to read the ingredients for every single food or drink item that comes into our house or that she consumes outside of the home. I have to know if any of the chemical ingredients that are so common in food now are derived from milk. My daughter is still disabled and dependent. Even in my late 70s I have to care for her as a child. Your finger pointing or shaming may have affected me five decades ago, but not now.

@notyouraveragedummy I am not shaming you at all. I am defending mother's milk that cannot be analyzed and broken down by a chemist. A newborn is as vulnerable as an open wound exposed to the world outside the protective body of the mother. Nature provides a shield for the baby through mother's milk that has a lot more than we can ever find in a laboratory. Formula is made from cow's milk and packaged with whatever stuff Big Pharma puts in to boost sales. Mother's milk is made for baby. It is not produced by a business enterprise created to make money off babies.

@sree251 That is all true but that's not all you were saying. Even if you didn't recognize it, you were finger pointing and shaming. Stick to the facts as you've just stated, not judgement.

@notyouraveragedummy If I questioned your narrative, then that's judgemental? I feel oppressed.

@sree251 It was crass and baseless to suggest that this woman could have caused her baby's very rare condition because she led an unhealthy life and 'trashed' her own body. What I eat is irrelevant.

@sree251 OMG now you feel oppressed! Oh dear poor you.