I am very disappointed by your reply to the woman who was upset that people were telling her to breastfeed and she did not want to. I agree that if things happened as she said, it was not the best treatment however, I feel that she could be exaggerating a little to make a point.

I am a breastfeeding peer counselor for a county in Florida and we help WIC mothers to breastfeed their babies and provide breastfeeding support and education so that the mothers may make an informed decision about their feeding method for their babies.

The problem with the message that new mothers are getting is that they are being told (by the formula manufacturers of course) that breastfeeding is above and beyond and that formula is the norm. That message is WRONG! Breastfeeding is the norm and the baseline for infant nutrition and everything else is below normal. There are health risks for mother and baby associated with not breastfeeding. The American Academy of Pediatrics has stated that babies should be breastfed exclusively for the first six months of life and it should continue after introducing solids until at least one year of age and as long thereafter as it is good for the mother and baby.

That lactation consultant may have given the message in a rough manner (maybe) but that does not take away the fact that it is true that breastfeeding is what she should be doing. Her family wants what is best for the baby and that is to be breastfed. If the mother has medical issues, she can work with a lactation consultant (another one) to work out her issues. It is not necessarily impossible for a mother that has had breast reduction surgery to breastfeed. She should at least try for the sake of the health of her baby and herself.

In summary, if you are going to give advice about breastfeeding, you should consider all sides and give a complete and informed answer.

Based on what a number of other people have posted in other threads, breast feeding advocates/activists seem to be self-righteous bullies. Do they/you think that mothers don't want the best for their child? What is there to gain by being incredibly mean and insensitive to the point where new mothers cry, get (possibly more) depressed, hate themselves, think they are terribly mothers, etc? Breast milk is undoubtedly the best nutrition for an infant. Being informed is important but what seems to be lacking is not info but complete lack of compassion for women who don't want to or (in particular) are unable to breast feed. Your online name leads me to believe that in your mind no mother cannot breast feed.

The letter-writer CANNOT breastfeed because of a prior surgery. She did not ask for advice about breastfeeding. She asked for advice about dealing with strangers who assume she's not breastfeeding by choice and criticize her.

I sympathize with the letter-writer. I had similar experiences. I'd had breast cancer so my own surgery was more radical, if you will pardon the pun. I did not feel that every pro-breastfeeding busybody had a right to my medical history, but THEY seemed to think that they had the right to tell me what to do with tissue that had in fact been removed from my body 7 years before I became a mother.

Penthesileia was right. You aren't paying attention.

This young woman was reduced to tears because someone with an ax to grind and who was not authorized to do so pulled her private and confidential medical chart and used it to verbally abuse her for no good reason.

This person was not a medical professional, she was not a nurse, she was not invited into the room and she refused to leave even after the poor lady asked her to go. She bullied her way into a hospital room within a couple of hours after a birth and accomplished nothing. The only agenda that so-called "counsellor" was interested was her own. She clearly did not have the best interests of the LW at heart.

If someone marched into your home and did this to you, what would you do? Call the police? Gee, I wonder why? Could it be that verbally assaulting a total stranger isn't just the right thing to do? D'ya think?

There are quite a few women who physically CANNOT and WILL NEVER be able to breast feed. That is a simple fact. She doesn't need you or anyone else to tell her differently. Why would she lie? What would that gain her? Or is that accusation just another excuse for you to abuse and excoriate a woman that you have never met? Do you get a thrill when you make people cry?

She knows what her medical status is, she is an adult, and she has every right to tell you and your cohorts to bugger off whence you came. There is nothing you can do about that, no matter how gratuitously cruel you're willing to be.

Now go away. I hereby sentence you to The Rock of Presumptuous Ninnies, there to be ignored for eternity.

A close friend of mine has been going through some of the same unwanted commentary as the LW from breastfeeding advocates. While she agrees that breastfeeding is best for the baby, she was unable to produce enough milk or of sufficient quality to properly nourish her new son. She has gotten a lot of grief from people that don't know her or her circumstances...or the fact that it was her doctor that recommended that she switch to formula. I have heard some of the comments that these people make when they see a bottle or formula in her diaper bag. Ultimately it is not anyone's choice but the mother's. The rest of civilization needs to butt out.

As for someone who is NOT a medical professional picking up my medical charts without permission, you can guarantee that I would have had security escorting them out by force.

Just my .02 cents.