#cranky
Current Events: Missing the (Bottled) Point
So the evening news has noticed what the Wall Street Journal pointed out back in January; we have a baby formula shortage. This is very much Not Good. Unfortunately, the MSM and too many other people leaving comments on various spots
on the internet seem to think this is a light and passing problem. “Mother’s milk is best!” is the common snark, with various levels of “how can you be so stupid and lazy not to know that?” often attached.
Which ticks me off, because it’s clear said commenters have never had a tiny infant mammal depending on them when everything goes wrong. And there is so much that can go wrong.
I’ve been involved in a lot of such care. Whenever the ewes lambed or the goats kidded, one of the first things that had to be done was to milk them for some colostrum (the first milk with all the major antibodies), and then freeze it. Usually we didn’t need it, but every once in a while we’d have an orphan. Or the mother rejected them. Or the mother developed mastitis and couldn’t give healthy milk. Then we needed that frozen supply, so much. Formula later, if they lived.
Mother’s milk won’t help if the mother can’t produce it.
Modern medicine has vastly lowered the maternal mortality rate, but that doesn’t nearly solve the problem. What are often lifesaving medicines for the mother - chemotherapy, psychiatric meds, penicillin - can be lethal to a breastfeeding baby. Imagine, as really does happen, you’ve been diagnosed with cancer while pregnant. You likely hold off on treatment as long as you can, and probably have a C-section to deliver the baby early but viable. Then you must have medicine. Chemo in particular tends to kill the cancer just a little faster than it kills you. You cannot pass those toxins along to a child.
Tell that mother a formula shortage isn’t a big deal.
And then there’s the child’s side of the equation. Between unexpected allergies and various metabolic diseases, breast milk is not healthy for some babies. They will sicken and die. Still others never seem to latch onto a nipple, and far too many bite.
That last one I can attest to in my own family. One of the boys was a biter, and at one point bit his mother so hard she screamed. From that point on he refused to take a breast ever again, no matter how hungry he was. It was a bottle or nothing.
I particularly want to take a blunt object to people who think mothers bottle-feeding “for convenience” should “just” start nursing again. Lactation does not work that way. Yes, you can induce lactation again, but it can take weeks, or months, and it is not a sure thing. In the meantime the baby still needs to eat. And anyone who wants to bring back hired wetnurses ought to go read up on exactly why they used to be called “angel makers”.
This also applies to anyone who thinks you can just use condensed milk and karo syrup “like the old days”. Let me introduce you to severe nutritional deficiencies and allergic reactions, you… you… I’ve known people who were raised on that. 0 of 10, would not recommend.
People snarking about mother’s milk being the best “even if it’s inconvenient” remind me way too much of those who go on about “oh, handwashing is the best way to treat fabrics!” When they’ve never had to handle a whole family’s worth of laundry, day in and day out, in their lives.
It’s not always the best. It’s not always possible. Read up before you look down on someone. The answers are likely not as cut, dried, and easy as you think.
march 3 2021
no i did not know that
march 2 2021
tom’s friend
february 19 2021
tom’s first time using a computer
february 12 2021
felicity dies…. again
6 years
Happy 6 Years of Youtube @crankgameplays also your verified now. I just realized that. So Jack can’t make fun of you anymore. You have done something that nobody else has done to people. Sometimes people feel down and your the first person they turn to. You may not have Millions of Sub’s but what you do have is thousands of sub’s who love you to death. Ive had plot of downfalls but you lifted my spirts..I hope you have a WONDERFUL day. Love you -Kortaney
How can a band that can write such a perfect pop-punk song like “Coffee Shop Soundtrack” (above) – and the rest of Put Up or Shut Up and, hell, even “Dear Maria, Count Me In” – as teenagers churn out this excuse for a song over four years later? And I thought things were looking up after all the backlash from Nothing Personal (and at least it kind of had “Weightless” going for it). In one respect I know that ATL has never claimed to not go in the songwriting collaboration route… but it seriously sounds like Simple Plan made out with Ke$ha and then recorded a song. It’s such a shame – Alex Gaskarth easily has one of the best voices in in pop punk (can I even call them that anymore?). He sounds fabulous live. What a waste.
I’m probably jumping on the whiny “Wahhh, I Iiked [insert semi-famous band] when they first came out” bandwagon, but yeeeeeesh, if there ever was a time to do it, it’s now. Absolutely not buying (or probably even illegally downloading) Dirty Work.
Oops! I gifted too hard. @crankyconstruct Jiao is such a party animal, taking bit to clubs. #giftmas @crankyrpg
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