Susan Senator

I noticed a couple of letters to the editor that I agreed with, in today’s Boston Globe. Apparently the Bush Administration has asked that a particular breast-feeding campaign be toned down because it uses scare tactics regarding bottle-fed babies. In this particular case, I say, “Go Georgie, Go!”

One size does not fit all. Some people want to breast-feed, but for many reasons, personal, economic, physiological, cannot. It is generally not about ignorance, the choice to formula-feed. And that choice should be okay. Yes, I breast-fed Ben successfully for nine months. It was wonderful. I still remember saying to him, “Hi Benji! Wanna eat?!” and how he would lunge towards me. The whole thing was sweet, as if it happened in another lifetime. Did it make me closer to Benj? No. I think a whole constellation of things did that. Did it make me lose baby weight? No way. It made me keep my weight on. Did it make Benji my healthiest baby? No. In fact, of the three, he is the only one who has an allergy, and who had upper respiratory problems.

No, I am not a Militant Milker, nor a Ferocious Formula Feeder. I did what I could, I did what I had to. That’s what we all do. And that should be okay. We need to support nursing moms at work and in public, etc.. etc.. but for God’s sake, parenting is hard enough without forcing everyone to figure out how to fit a soccer-sized football-shaped object into a tiny baby mouth. Healthy children are grown from a combination of factors. Nat was my least sick baby, with Max as a close second. Both breast fed for only a few days, until I could take the pain no longer. With Ben I learned how to deal with the pain. End of story.

Beginning of new story: baking with Nat. He doesn’t want to! Oh, how the mighty are fallen. Now we all see that what is going on with Nat is probably plain old ornery teenage boy shit. He is contrary, stubborn, moody, annoying. Welcome to 18 year old parenting. The only difference the autism makes is that he is not talking back. So I got that going for me, as Bill Murray said in “Caddyshack.”