Bottled Up: How the Way We Feed Babies Has Come to Define Motherhood, and Why It Shouldn't

by Suzanne Barston

Overview

As the subject of a popular web reality series, Suzanne Barston and her husband Steve became a romantic, ethereal model for new parenthood. Called “A Parent is Born,” the program’s tagline was “The journey to parenthood . . . from pregnancy to delivery and beyond.” Barston valiantly surmounted the problems of pregnancy and delivery. It was the “beyond” that threw her for a loop when she found that, despite every effort, she couldn’t breastfeed her son, Leo. This difficult encounter with nursing—combined with the overwhelming public attitude that breast is not only best, it is the yardstick by which parenting prowess is measured—drove Barston to explore the silenced, minority position that breastfeeding is not always the right choice for every mother and every child.

Part memoir, part popular science, and part social commentary, Bottled Up probes breastfeeding politics through the lens of Barston’s own experiences as well as those of the women she has met through her popular blog, The Fearless Formula Feeder. Incorporating expert opinions, medical literature, and popular media into a pithy, often wry narrative, Barston offers a corrective to our infatuation with the breast. Impassioned, well-reasoned, and thoroughly researched, Bottled Up asks us to think with more nuance and compassion about whether breastfeeding should remain the holy grail of good parenthood.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520270237
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	10/18/2012
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.84(w) x 8.32(h) x 0.77(d)

About the Author

Suzanne Barston has worked for the past decade as a writer and editor for health and parenting publications, including as the Editor-in-Chief of Los Angeles Family Magazine. She runs The Fearless Formula Feeder blog.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 Preconceived Notions
2 Lactation Failures
3 Of Human Bonding
4 The Dairy Queens
5 Damn Lies and Statistics
6 Soothing the Savage Breast
Notes
References and Further Reading

Editorial Reviews

Blogger/editor Barston had every intention of breastfeeding her newborn son, but the baby’s severe intolerance to breast milk along with other factors thwarted her efforts. Feeling conflicted, defensive, and guilty, she spent two years researching the ups and downs of bottle and breastfeeding. Her text interweaves memoir and reporting as she scouts recent medical literature, interviews experts, and recounts her own tale as a “lactation-challenged Hester Prynne.” Barston makes clear that she is not antibreastfeeding; rather, her goal is to lay out the facts and examine the research so that each mother can decide for herself. Breastfeeding, she asserts, is not for every woman, whether for medical, psychological, professional, or many other reasons. She advocates a “new outlook on infant feeding: one that refuses to embrace a one-size-fits-all strategy.” While much has been done to support the breastfeeding mother, Barston argues, formula feeders have often been judged unfairly, without due attention to each woman’s individual circumstances. Society’s goal, she contends, should be to support all mothers in their right to choose what is best for themselves, their babies, and their families. Formula-feeding parents will find support, information, and encouragement in this well-researched and compassionate text, and breastfeeding moms and advocates will benefit from Barston’s authentic experience and perspective as well. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

A sharp and measured critique of America’s discourse on breastfeeding.

New York Observer

As a parenting and family journalist and a diligent researcher, Barston is uniquely qualified to write about this topic. Her book is a balance of experience and researched-based information about how postpartum depression, feminism, and media campaigns exert influence in such a personal realm.

Foreword Reviews

"Barston’s short and well-researched book . . . based on two years’ of interviews with pediatricians, researchers, sociologists, statisticians and fellow feminists will either help expectant moms make personal decisions, or potentially reassure them if they find themselves unable to breastfeed when they had wanted to do so." - Top 10 Books to Gift at a Baby Shower

Child Magazine Brain

Barston [is] one of the most engaging, open-minded and articulate women on the subject of baby-feeding. Like her blog entries over the years, Bottled Up conveys more nuances than absolutes when it comes to the question of how and what to feed babies.

Babble

"A compelling and occasionally moving book that spends as much time exploring the roots of America’s obsession with breastfeeding as with the breastfeeding itself. Barston has a gift for expressing difficult concepts, such as the confounding factors that complicate the study of the effects of breast milk, in an accessible way. . . . it should be required reading for all new parents, regardless of how they feed their infant, just because it does such a great job of interrogating the scientism that has come to permeate every child-rearing decision."

spiked

"Barston’s short and well-researched book . . . based on two years’ of interviews with pediatricians, researchers, sociologists, statisticians and fellow feminists will either help expectant moms make personal decisions, or potentially reassure them if they find themselves unable to breastfeed when they had wanted to do so." - Top 10 Books to Gift at a Baby Shower

Child Brain