Doc’s view on breastfeeding

I am writing to express my disappointment at a piece run in your issue, as part of an advice column ( WD, Nov 18). I am a women’s health doctor with a special interest in lactation, and in breastfeeding advocacy. It was to my dismay that I read this piece in your “Ask Polly” column – where a woman talks about how her friend breastfeeds her four-year-old and it “makes her want to gag.” The letter was sad enough, but this was then responded to with a very judgemental reaction, including labelling it as “unusual-slash-weird” and saying “I’m all for breastfeeding ... but ...” The WHO recommends that children are breastfed for up to two years and beyond. The natural age of weaning, if mums and babies are left alone to reduce and stop breastfeeding when they actually want to, is somewhere between three and seven years old. Mothers need to be empowered rather than belittled, and this piece is straight-up mum-shaming and anti-breastfeeding. You cannot be a breastfeeding supporter if your support is conditional. This is judgemental, unnecessary, and has the potential to cause real harm to some of your audience who will now feel that their choices are invalid or are going to be judged. I urge you to think more carefully about what you publish in the future, because you will alienate readers with these kinds of regressive attitudes.

✦✦ Dr Heather Johnston,

via email