This is sure to be an important movie. I can’t wait to see it but I have been hearing for months that it is coming and have not seen any dates. Perhaps funding is in short supply and that is unfortunate because this movie needs to be shown.
See also: Mama Knows Breast & Breastfeeding Is Green
I just found your website recently and was totally loving it until I saw this post. Not cool. Breastfeeding isn’t for everyone.
Breast is best for babies, regardless of what moms want to tell themselves. I had to formula feed my third child when I was hospitalized when he was 6 months old. I had a medical reason for making that awful decision but I still didn’t/don’t like it.
No breastfeeding isn’t for EVERYONE, but it is for mother’s who give birth to their young. It may not always be easy and it may take some work, but it is our responsibility as mothers. Unfortunately we live in a society that has conspired to convince us that something derived from synthetic chemicals is actually better for our babies. But then again most of us seem ready and willing to accept that for ourselves as well.
By the way, are you sure you’re in the right place? Of coarse you are, but you need to read a lot and think even more about why you came to this site. There are no mistakes…only learning experiences.
Excellent comments Wendy. I agree 100%.
Oh, thank you for posting this! My best friend is trying to conceive and she thinks I’m nuts for having breastfed my little girl for 14 months. I hope this movie comes out in time for her to watch it before she makes her final decision.
It doesn’t say when the movie comes out. I’d love to see this. It is such a taboo subject and it shouldn’t be.
How on earth did we get the wool pulled so far over our eyes as to think that feeding our babies is unacceptable.? I have never posted a comment for anything…I rewrite them three or four times and then discard them, but this has struck a nerve so deep…there needs to be a crusade of women, not intimidating or scaring women like so many of our breast feeding leagues do, but caring, showing, nurturing, teaching types, but we need to start with those in the medical INDUSTRY!!!!!
Sounds like a great movie!!! I want to see it too!
I actually think that making moms feel bad who aren’t able to breast feed is a crime. I had postpartum depression which was made much more serious because I wasn’t able to breast feed due to a loss of blood from placenta previa.
The day I stopped breast feeding was wonderful. I looked down at my twin boys and for the first time I thought they were cute. I am glad that they got what they did but I’m also glad I stopped when I did. It definitely prevented me from bonding with my twins in a big way.
Karen, I am not sure what that has to do with this post. Should this movie not be made because you don’t want to feel “guilty”? I don’t think the intent of the movie is to guilt mothers but rather to show why breast is best and why formula is inferior. Those are the facts.. they need to be shared. Did you catch in the trailer that 99% of mothers in Sweden (I think it was) breastfeed? That shows more than anything that the low US rates are cultural and perhaps health related which can of course be because we don’t breastfeed.. a vicious circle that MUST be exposed.
We can’t ignore important facts and truth for fear of offending. This is important stuff.
Defensiveness makes no sense. (Unless your part of the formula industry).
If I was unable to breastfeed for medical or other reasons, I would still wholely support the information being shown about the risks of formula feeding! I wouldn’t want to just choose to be ignorant simply because it didn’t work for me!
It would be like a smoker being offended by the research saying that smoking causes cancer!
I am happy to see that people in America feel that this movie was worth making and getting out there. But I am sad that it is triggering some bad and defensive feelings from mothers who couldn’t breastfeed. I am sure this movie isn’t out to point fingers at mothers who gave it a shot or had medical reasons. But there is a vast majority who just formula feed because they think it is easier, or that’s what they learned to do from their mothers or what society is telling them to do. Hopefully this movie will open some eyes and eliminate some taboos. I didn’t know the statistic about Sweden. That’s awesome! They probably don’t have pharma companies giving away formula bags in the hospital. I wonder what their homebirth rates are like?
I breast fed both my children for a very short time. I didn’t have any medical issues, I found It just wasn’t for me and I’m okay with that. Regardless, I am very happy movies like this are made. It is important and the facts should be known. If I had my children today instead of 4 and 6 years ago, I may or may not do things differently but, knowledge is power. And if I had the knowledge then maybe it would have given me the power to persevere. I think in our time with large companies controlling how we perceive health and food it is so very important for these types of movies to be made.
Wow, this sounds like it’s going to be a really good movie. We ended up in the NICU for 10 days when my daughter was born. I exclusively breastfed during that time, but it was a BATTLE. Nurses were continually trying to supplement with formula behind my back. It takes really being educated and feeling confident in your decision to be able to stand up to so much outside pressure when it comes to breastfeeding, whether it’s NICU nurses, your nosy next door neighbor or a disapproving MIL or Mom. We breastfed for a little over 2 years, and I think it was the best thing I have done yet for her!
I do not agree that formula feeding is a major reason that our country is so unhealthy- I think that is actually a ridiculous statement. Maybe the time and money spent making this film could have been put towards movements like banning trans fats (like Sweden did) or supporting causes like Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution.
I’m glad I’m not the only one that equates breastmilk with medicine. What about all the toxins you consume with the non-organic foods, or face cream that has toxins that are absorbed and passed on to the baby through your breastmilk. It’s not perfect.
Obviously they intend to show people with FACTS in this movie that there is a correlation. I saw HUGE health differences in my fomula fed versus breastfed babies.
I love your blog. I recently met with my doula, who had this great nutrient breakdown of everything found in breastmilk compared to formula. Regardless of whether you are or are not able to feed your baby breastmilk, the fact is, we do not currently posses the technology to perfectly simulate every compound found in breastmilk. We don’t even know what the nutritional effects of having or not having all of the compounds are on a growing baby, but I have no doubt that one day, we will.
It is so important for everyone to get the facts without bias and the truth is that everyone for some reason feels an intense need to defend themselves over the choices they make when it comes to their children. The honest truth is that each parent should choose what is best for their baby based on their own family and medical issues. It is wrong how formula can be pushed on you by some hospitals and it is also wrong for Dr.’s, midwives, friends, and family to make you feel guilty when you don’t breastfeed. Having had both sides pushed at me (different pregnancies) and the overwhelming feeling that no matter what someone is going to look down on my parenting skills. I feel that everyone should know all of the facts so that they can take comfort in their decision and know that they made the best choice for their baby that they could make at that time. My only hope is that this movie will help more people to understand that if you can you should and if you can’t then don’t feel guilty for your actions!
I was only able to BF my baby for 2.5 months. My brother died and the stress caused me to dry up. I couldn’t even pump anymore. It literally happened overnight and was very upsetting. Im tired of people making it seem like you are a bad mom if you dont BF a year.
Not everyone is able to BF, some people are forced to use formula (like myself). Those people who can BF for 6 or 12 months should feel lucky. Not everyone has the ability to do that.
I for one will not watch this film.
Wow, I’m so sorry Tiffany that you are receiving some of the comments that you are getting. People truly need to see that you said nothing about whether you are pro breastfeeding or not or anything related to that. All you did was write a few sentences about this movie and attached the trailer. Now if you ask me it does not say anything about your character, so if people want to point fingers at someone they should do that to the people who created this movie. And watching this trailer reminds me in a way of the movie Food, Inc. I am sure some people hated that movie and others liked it. It was put out there to inform and educate people as it appears this movie is too. I’ve breastfed and formula fed and I’m still going to see this movie as I would like to hear what it has to say. I am all about being educated especially when it comes to my babies. And also just because a movie comes to theaters, doesn’t mean you have to support it by seeing it. It’s your choice!!
I find breastfeeding to be utterly important. Though I don’t think you can say we’re obese {only} because of formula. Sure, that might be a component, but it certainly doesn’t help that we’re a fast food nation, that we’ve become a generation of parents who give in to your children’s desires all of the time, want to feed them easy junk food and so forth.
Breastfeeding is important and everyone should, that can, but there are so many other reasons why our children are fat and sick and riddled with diseases. I just wanted to address the ladies comment about an obese nation, in the clip.
Now that I’m past that issue, I believe that because I wasn’t breastfed it opened my stomach up to an imbalance of good and bad bacteria and allowed yeast to overgrow. Then the antibiotics shoved down my throat and my bad diet because my Mom either didn’t know better, we were poor, or simply because it was easier to feed us junk; all created the perfect storm for my body to become sick. Which was then passed down to my children.
The lessons we learn.
If only I had the opportunity to learn these all before I had all of my children. That would have been ideal. Or better yet, for me to have been nursed for at least a year and been fed a healthy balanced diet.
I can’t go back in time but should I have more children in the future, I would choose to do better than my Mom did and what I have done with my three children.
And even though this last time wasn’t because I wasn’t doing it well, the baby wasn’t doing it well, and many other issues I had; I still feel bad that I had to give it up, because “this” time I was totally convinced I’d keep it up for a long, long time. {I had to let it go because of the thrush on my nipples that wouldn’t go away with diet or creams or what not. it’s still there well over a year later!}
When it comes down to it; I think it’s a money thing for our country. And it’s an unease we all feel with breasts being anything other than sexualized. I think there would be more uproar over a Mom breastfeeding in public, without hiding under a heavy blanket, than if a woman flashed her breasts in a sexual way.
Nell
Wow, had not heard of this movie at all – thanks so much for posting. Like the comment above, I also don’t agree that the obesity issue can be solved by breastfeeding BUT I do think many more mamas quit early or don’t try at all due to lack of support or just plain bad information – it’s really lame when mamas want to breastfeed and support is almost impossible to get.
I breastfed my son but not without trouble and not without a lot of effort on my part to get support – AND I worked as a doula, went to college for the RN to midwifery program and read every book ever but yeah, even I had a hard time at first.
You have to be a massive advocate for yourself to get breastfeeding support in this country and that’s entirely wrong. Support should come easily to women who need it. I’ll watch for this film.
Yay!!! I can’t wait to see this film! I’m not pregnant yet, but I fully intend on breastfeeding when I do. Formula seems so counterintuitive to me. I have watched all of my friends that have had kids use formula and every single one of those kids has health problems (asthma, gastrointestinal problems, low immune system, etc.). The whole difference between the male and female sex is for females to raise babies. Why would you not use your God given body parts for what they are there for?
Every single one of your friends’ kids who fed with formula has health problems???? That is a crazy statistic that I find hard to believe! I am not one of your friends, but my daughter is very healthy and I did not breastfeed her.
I had not heard about this film either. Thank you for posting about it so more of us can know it is coming out.
All the comments above are an accurate reflection of the furor that surrounds the breastfeeding/formula debate. I would agree with Jennifer: breastfeeding requires support. I have know so many moms that stopped or nearly stopped breastfeeding when a problem arose because they did not have adequate resources or support. Breastfeeding works best when it is a culturally supported activity. Hopefully this movie will be a step in that direction.
It’s a shame that people can’t come to grips with the decisions they made/were forced to make. You can NOT breastfeed due to stress, illness, etc. and still be pro-breast-feeding. You can still support those who do and have had great success. Please, please, please, work through your guilt, understand why you did what you did, embrace it, accept it and move on. It’s no fun being defensive.
Let’s look at the big picture: We need to breastfeed more in this country. It’s the healthier way to go. And here’s a movie to put that out there.
Who could possibly disagree with that?
I have been looking forward to this film for 17 months now. I want it to be available to all of my friends and family who are having babies. I worked my hind end off to nurse… it was not easy and with all of the products out there, guaranteed I would have got more sleep if I handed it over to the Food Industry to feed my baby. We are mammals, and as such, mother’s milk is the BEST food for our babies. In the US, we are not provided as much education and training on how to breast feed as we are to buy formula. Nursing is NOT always easy… it took me 3 MONTHS to be established… I did what I had to do to make it happen for my 6 1/2 week preemie. This was because of the awesome NICU staff that literally held my hand and nipple through the process. I have no doubt that breast is best
Formula Fed America? I’ll buy it. Can’s wait to see