Bottled Up
How the Way We Feed Babies Has Come to Define Motherhood, and Why It Shouldn’t
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- $20.99
Publisher Description
As the subject of a popular web reality series, Suzanne Barston and her husband Steve became a romantic, ethereal model for new parenthood. Called "A Parent is Born," the program’s tagline was "The journey to parenthood . . . from pregnancy to delivery and beyond." Barston valiantly surmounted the problems of pregnancy and delivery. It was the "beyond" that threw her for a loop when she found that, despite every effort, she couldn’t breastfeed her son, Leo. This difficult encounter with nursing—combined with the overwhelming public attitude that breast is not only best, it is the yardstick by which parenting prowess is measured—drove Barston to explore the silenced, minority position that breastfeeding is not always the right choice for every mother and every child.
Part memoir, part popular science, and part social commentary, Bottled Up probes breastfeeding politics through the lens of Barston’s own experiences as well as those of the women she has met through her popular blog, The Fearless Formula Feeder. Incorporating expert opinions, medical literature, and popular media into a pithy, often wry narrative, Barston offers a corrective to our infatuation with the breast. Impassioned, well-reasoned, and thoroughly researched, Bottled Up asks us to think with more nuance and compassion about whether breastfeeding should remain the holy grail of good parenthood.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Blogger/editor Barston had every intention of breastfeeding her newborn son, but the baby's severe intolerance to breast milk along with other factors thwarted her efforts. Feeling conflicted, defensive, and guilty, she spent two years researching the ups and downs of bottle and breastfeeding. Her text interweaves memoir and reporting as she scouts recent medical literature, interviews experts, and recounts her own tale as a "lactation-challenged Hester Prynne." Barston makes clear that she is not antibreastfeeding; rather, her goal is to lay out the facts and examine the research so that each mother can decide for herself. Breastfeeding, she asserts, is not for every woman, whether for medical, psychological, professional, or many other reasons. She advocates a "new outlook on infant feeding: one that refuses to embrace a one-size-fits-all strategy." While much has been done to support the breastfeeding mother, Barston argues, formula feeders have often been judged unfairly, without due attention to each woman's individual circumstances. Society's goal, she contends, should be to support all mothers in their right to choose what is best for themselves, their babies, and their families. Formula-feeding parents will find support, information, and encouragement in this well-researched and compassionate text, and breastfeeding moms and advocates will benefit from Barston's authentic experience and perspective as well.
