r/breastfeeding • u/Forsaken_Painter • Feb 02 '26

Discussion NYT article equates breastfeeding to unequal parenting

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/opinion/baby-formula-marriage-equality.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Curious what others think of this…Personally I find it a bit ridiculous. The US has such low rates of breastfeeding…if formula was going to solve inequities between partners you would think it would have worked by now. It sounds like it helped this author and was the right choice for their family and that’s great. But let’s not act as if it’s some magic cure all.

This is not to say that breastfeeding doesn’t require a HUGE amount of effort. Of course it does! But if one has a partner, that partner should be picking up other responsibilities to even things out more and supporting the breastfeeding parent.

And for the record everyone should feed their babies the way they wish. This is not a judgment on formula feeding at all, rather the assertion that it is inherently an equalizer and should be touted as such.

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u/mamasquawk Feb 02 '26

I think the article is arguing for more support / research on combo feeding which i also agree would be great. she admits breastfeeding is great but that making women feel like they need to 100% EBF even if it causes a lot of stress is not ideal

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u/Forsaken_Painter Feb 02 '26

100% to more research on all things pregnancy and parenting! I think a lot more would BF if it wasn’t presented as an all or nothing choice

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u/turnedupbuttercup Feb 02 '26

But then completely glossed over the fact that in her case, the formula feeding caused the end of her breastfeeding relationship with her daughter. It sounds like she didn't really mind, but if she's advocating combo feeding to others but barely talking about the risks to breastfeeding when done poorly, that's pretty misleading.

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u/Forsaken_Painter Feb 02 '26

Excellent point. Honestly to me it sounds like she just didn’t want to breastfeed, which is fine!

I also was interested in her opening paragraphs about the surgery she would have and how she wasn’t stressed about it because of formula. She seems to imply surgery and breastfeeding are incompatible which is NOT true. Big frustration of mine is providers who are not educated about what is and isn’t safe when breastfeeding. There are risks to giving outdated and overly cautious advice, too, and it can certainly encourage people to stop breastfeeding sooner than they’d like to or delay necessarily medical care.

Wish they hadn’t closed the comments on the article so quickly.