Coal miner's wife and child. Pursglove, West Virginia. 1938 Sept Here's the funny thing about these photos: During this time, it was the poor mothers who stayed fast to the natural art of breastfeeding, whereas metropolitan mothers and those who had better access to health care went to doctors who pushed formula and subsequently convinced them to feed their babies artificially.Now in 2008, poor, rural mothers statistically do not want to have anything to do with breastfeeding and mothers who are better off economically breastfeed in higher numbers -- what a flip-flop. Elita @ Blacktating Blog (not verified) wrote:
It's interesting that in order to provide free food to your baby you have to be well-off! Poor mothers can't afford breast pumps, don't get paid maternity leaves (if any leave at all!) and don't have the time or opportunity to pump. If I were faced with all of those challenges, I probably would've opted for the bottle, too.
The same with homebirth. It used to be that poor women could not afford the hospital delivery, so they delivered their babies at home with a granny midwife. Now, it is considered elitist to have a baby at home with a midwife since poor working women can only afford what their health care insurance will pay for - a hospital delivery.
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