Politics and Impact of Breastfeeding Essay

Several commentators have been debating on Politics of Breastfeeding and the impact breastfeeding will have on both the mother and the baby. An examination of the period of 1865 to 1897 shows that it was believed that breastfeeding was a social standard for the mid-nineteenth century lady. According to the evidence within that period, it had not been the trend because women were advised to take care against what was termed as the "baseless traditions of grandmothers". With these thoughts in mind. The politics of breast feeding can be handled in different ways as it already shows that there has been differentiating opinions even in the mid nineteenth century.
Commentators on the debate on the politics of breast feeding give an argument about the importance of breast feeding and the impact it might have on the health of both the baby and the mother. Each of the commentators has different opinions about the issue. Just to mention a few, Rachelle Lesteshen, one of the commentators in the debate argues that breastfeeding is very essential in every individual's life as it is very helpful in aiding for their growth and development. She argues that breastfeeding in the initial months is essential as it helps in the prevention of different types of diseases such as gastrointestinal infections, asthma and many more. Joan B. Wolf, on the other hand has a very different opinion about this. She argues that breastfeeding is not a big deal as people claim. The politics of breastfeeding, according to her, relate to the lack of information about science. The consideration of breastfeeding as being beneficial to health is a total misunderstanding. She believes that if mothers can put more effort, they can be able to avoid so many risks that breastfeeding is said to be able to avoid. This commentator also adds that there has been no compelling proof about breastfeeding being able to provide better health and thus the good health that the breastfed babies have could be as a result of other things that the mother might be doing and not just because of the breast milk.
Breast feeding has been faced with quite a number of controversies. In the 21st century, breastfeeding has been faced with a lot of public opinions. In the recent years, a Canadian lady who breastfed in the public was faced by a lot of emotions from the public when the issue went viral. It went as far as being picked up from the news outlets. However, this was heartwarming to many. A woman in the hotel complained that there was a lady breast feeding without covering up and told a male barista to handle it. The barista instead brought the breastfeeding woman an extra cup of coffee just as appreciation for being able to handle a lot of pressure and unpleasantness. This is a very great indication that breastfeeding is faced by a lot of controversies as there are those who take it positively while others ae totally against it.