Milk, in Theory and Practice

[browngirl]

This entry is short, impolitic, and plain, because I lack time and focus to make it eloquent, diplomatic, and pretty. But be that as it may.

gosling has been producing a prodigious quantity of milk, and because she's a generous and wonderful person, she's been sharing it. One of the babies fortunate enough to recieve this is the Joshlet.

And, among the many nifty features of this extremely nifty act, it strikes me that... one of the things I learned by having my life enmeshed with a new mother's is how an idea really shouldn't always be judged by its supporters, because I found a non-negligible minority of the supporters of breastfeeding to be pretty cruel. I suppose this is much more about the propensity of human beings to be cruel in the service of the ideas they want to promote than it is about anything else. [Insert witty analysis here, to be made another day]

Gosling, who is utterly wonderful anyway, isn't promoting breastfeeding by telling mothers who don't breastfeed that they're child abusers, by sending them literature linking formula with bone cancer or whatever, by refusing to talk to them, by figuring out who in their life is the stumnbling block (all tactics I've seen used). She's giving her extra breastmilk to her friends' babies.

And in doing so she's nourishing souls as well as bodies, and being the complete opposite of hurtful or harmful in any way.

So I just thought I'd write about how nifty I find her for doing this. (And ceo for helping her produce all this milk.)

Comments

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

*applauds the gosling*

[redbird]

That is way cool.

As a side note, I'm wondering whether a baby who gets breastmilk from two women instead of one is going to get a better selection of antibodies and hence immune protection. (I don't know whether that applies to the Joshlet, but I suspect that at least one of the recipients of this generosity got some milk from zir own mother before being weaned, rather than being on formula from day 1.)

[otherdeb.livejournal.com]

"This entry is short, impolitic, and plain, because I lack time and focus to make it eloquent, diplomatic, and pretty. But be that as it may."

You are wrong on all counts, babe, except that it's not the longest entry I have ever seen. It is clear, eloquent, and speaks directly to an issue that I suspect bothered many of tigerbright's friends, whether they were parents, mothers, breast-feeders or otherwise. Thank you so much for stating it just the way you did.

[gosling.livejournal.com]

Thank you, sweetie. Reading this made me cry it was so wonderful. You just made my week, and it was already a pretty fabulous week. :-)

*hugs*

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

God(dess)((e)s) bless her!

[dandelion-diva.livejournal.com]

Oh, what a wonderful thing to do!

Being a caring and attentive parent is far more important than anything else. tigerbright is certainly that. And I can't put into words how valuable *you* are...new mamas, especially ones who are being bombarded by opinionated twits, need support and you are one of the most supportive people I know.

Sometimes, people need *perspective*. It can be tough, because of the people who say that breastfeeding is disgusting or should be done in the bathroom. But yelling at other mamas is going to make things worse, never better.

I got my package! Thank you so much. I was all bouncy. :)

Love you.

Gessi