Breastfeeding versus Formula

I recently ran across a blog post where a woman, for various reasons, had to give her son formula instead of breast milk. This move made her feel so guilty, but she did her best to think that it was out of her hands, and move on from the situation. However, the woman had recently attended a video (promoting breastfeeding) showing at a breastfeeding boutique. She agrees that education on how "breast is best" needs to be done in, but she didn't agree on how guilty the video made one feel if they WEREN'T breastfeeding. The whole point? That we need to be sympathetic to all people and all situations. I commented on the woman's post, saying that I have friends, who, for some reason or another, couldn't breastfeed. They cried and cried, tried and tried, but for whatever reason--be it the lack of milk production or a child's

health issues, they couldn't. I have friends whose babies couldn't latch, so these women would tirelessly pump in order to give their baby breast milk. And I have my own story--when my daughter was nine months old, she was severely underweight and we found out that she had cancer. Her tumor was removed, but she couldn't eat or drink for a couple of days after surgery. This, coupled with the fact that she was being continuously NPO'd (medical speak for no food or drink) for the slew of tests she was undergoing, meant that I was continuously pumping. No easy feat when you're in a hospital. I had to have a nurse sit with my daughter while I went to a different floor to use the NICU's pump. Then, I had to carry my milk back down in the elevator and save for future use. After all this work, the doctors were recommending that I supplement with formula in order to get her weight up. It tore me up, but I did it. In that sort of situation, you don't think twice--you'll do anything to help your baby. And it helped--she guzzled the stuff down like there was no tomorrow and started to gain weight--ounce by ounce. My point? Don't judge others on how they're feeding their baby--you have no idea what the back story is.