At age 25, kids in the longest-running study of same-sex parenting are doing just fine

[southernhybrid]

Sure breastfeeding is good, but a lot of women don't breastfeed and a lot of women aren't capable of breastfeeding.

You do realize that a lot of hetero couples adopt young infants and those mothers can't breastfeed their adopted babies either, can they? My own Christian mother never breastfed any of us. And, I've heard of gay men adopting older kids too. So, what in the world does breastfeeding have to do with any of this? Breastfeeding an infant may be ideal, but it's not necessary to raise a healthy, decent person.

Breastfeeding is undeniably best for babies, but it all too often is denied them for various reasons...

Most women can breastfeed (only a few inherently cannot), but some choose not to, or give up soon after starting. Those choices are just fine, and just like abortion, only the decision of the woman in question.

The biggest reason for BF failure, however, is sabotage by formula milk companies. They place formula milk, and pressure to use it, in delivery suites. Generally, if BF isn't started with ~24 hours of birth, the "let-down" reflex never happens, and almost all nurses and midwives "force" formula feeding to start, because they only care about rapid weight gain. I know more than most about this topic because my ex-wife and I were instrumental in setting up a very successful BF charity in the UK about 20 years ago.

The sabotage is now illegal in most western countries, but in the third world, it still happens, and formula costs so much, many families can't afford it, and babies and other children die.

Breast feeding isn't always easy for women. Without going into a lot of detail, let's just say that after trying for a month, there were emotional and medical reasons why I had to stop. I'm sure I'm not the only woman who had similar problems. I was actually told by my doctor to stop, as he thought it was impacting my health. And, my son is 47 years old. Very few women breastfed at that time. The hospital nurses kept trying to give me medication to dry up my breasts. I was the only woman in the unit who even wanted to try and breastfeed. So, there used to be a lot of barriers for women that wanted to breastfeed.

I'm very happy that things have changed. So, while I do agree that breastfeeding is ideal, it's not always as easy as you might think, for all women. It can be very painful, and breastfed babies tend to nurse a lot more often than formula fed babies. So, you never get enough sleep, which leaves you exhausted. Some women don't have the type of stress in their lives that I did at the time and they usually transition easily. My daughter in law is one of those women. But, she's never worked outside of the home, and my son has always been very supportive of her. His father was a total asshole when I was married to him. Not having the right emotional support can impact one's success too.

I know we are getting way off topic, but I wanted you to understand that not all women can manage breastfeeding successfully, and while it may be ideal, considering the fact that my son was a very healthy infant, I doubt it's as important as some fanatical advocates seem to think. But, I am glad that you fully support a woman's choice in regards to breast feeding. Unfortunately, most of the poorer women that I've known over the years, choose not to breastfeed. Most don't even try. I only had one woman who planned on breastfeeding back when I worked as a public health nurse in a maternity clinic.

Back in my mother's day, it was almost unheard of, and commercial formulas weren't even available. We were fed evaporated milk mixed with corn syrup. Yet I was a healthy child and a healthy adult. At least commercial formula has the right combination of protein and vitamins. So, while I do agree that it's best to breastfeed and I wish more poor women would give it a try, I think there are a lot of women that have very good reasons for either not trying to breastfeed or for giving up early.

But, back on topic, there is no reason why gay people can't be every bit as good at parenting as straight people. It's just ignorant to claim otherwise. On this I think we can both agree.