> Breastfeeding removes the father's ability to independently take care of an infant. Because feeding is a bonding experience, this creates a dynamic where the child looks at the mother as the last line in being comforted. This is a choice couples can make, but it is one that involves trade offs, which the medical community ignores.
What about a breast pump? As long as some lactating female provides milk, the milk can be frozen for months and is nearly as convenient as formula for a father.
Also FWIW men can lactate if appropriate hormone injections are given.
I was almost completely unable to feed my daughter, who was breastfed; my wife expressed and bottled, but my daughter wouldn't accept it. It was a pretty upsetting dynamic at the time; it kept me from being comfortable watching her for any significant length of time.
My understanding: not an uncommon predicament.
If there was a long term consequence, though, (she's 13 now), I haven't detected it.
> What about a breast pump? As long as some lactating female provides milk, the milk can be frozen for months and is nearly as convenient as formula for a father.
There have been few (if any?) studies that look closely at breastfeeding vs bottlefeeding pumped milk. Our society has jumped on the "pump and bottle" wagon because it's seen as a viable way to allow women to go back to work sooner while still "breastfeeding", but it's not known if this actually has the same effect.
Does the increase in IQ/whatever come from the nutritional content of the breastmilk? Does it come from antibodies or other contents that might be impacted by refrigeration/freezing followed by reheating? Does it come purely from the emotional bonding that breastfeeding promotes? We don't know, because we don't even know why breastfeeding is better than formula, and we're basically giving medical advice blindly when it comes to pumping.
But for what it's worth, the difference is so small as to be pretty meaningless. The "gap" is going to be dwarfed by other factors, both genetic and environmental.
I think in practice that's more of a way to "include the father in the process" than genuinely have him offload a task from the mother. I think for many if not most couples, it's almost as much work as breastfeeding and bottle feeding combined.
Perhaps... but my larger point is that a father doesn't have to decide to check out of the responsibilities in order to have his kid breast fed. Thanks to breast pumps a working mom can manage it, and there is a market for fresh breast milk sold by lactating mothers who have a surplus.
What about a breast pump? As long as some lactating female provides milk, the milk can be frozen for months and is nearly as convenient as formula for a father.
Also FWIW men can lactate if appropriate hormone injections are given.