Bloomberg's War on Mothers

I shall never forget May 19, 1997. I gave birth to my first son. After being married for 12 years, I was finally having a child. I was so sick with morning sickness 24/7 thru the entire pregnancy. I was bed-ridden toward the end. I had preeclampsia (high blood pressure or hypertension during pregnancy) and was induced two weeks early. I had to lie on my left side for 14 hours to keep pressure off my son. I'll spare you the details of the actual delivery. But, Steven was born with breathing problems and was taken to the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit).

I wasn't able to hold Steven for the first three days, and then it would only be for a few minutes at a time. I'd waddle down the hallway, wait outside the NICU for someone to let me in. After checking that I was really a mother who really had a baby in the NICU, I'd finally get inside only to find that the nurses had already fed Steven even though I arrived for feeding time when they told me. I didn't get to truly hold Steven until he was five days old. It had been a long haul, so to speak, but I finally had my baby boy!

Then, came the lactation zealots. Even though Steven was too small, too weak to breast-feed, the "lactation consultants" still came into the room to "advise" me that breast-feeding was the best for my baby. They were relentless. Why, they'd even help me at home with breast-feeding. Yeah, right. I wasn't able to breast-feed my son. In fact, I wasn't be able to breast-feed all three of my sons. But, that never slowed down, or kept away, the lactation zealots. It was unpleasant and upsetting.... Just what a mother needs when she finally gets to hold her baby.

I truly cannot express my rage when I saw news articles that NYC Mayor Bloomberg is pushing hospitals to HIDE their baby formula behind locked doors to persuade more new mothers to breast-feed their babies. In fact, starting Sept. 3, the New York City Health Department will monitor the number of formula bottles being given out and demand a medical reason for each one. Outrageous! Supposedly, mothers who want to bottle-feed their babies will not be denied formula, but for each and every bottle they request, they will be given a lecture on why breastfeeding is better by hospital staff. This is atrocious! I've already dealt with the lactation zealots in 1997, 1999 and 2000. I cannot imagine hospital staff being even worse than these women. I was 32 when I had my first child and found their "encouragement" distressing. I cannot imagine even younger mothers having to deal with these women.

NYC Major Bloomberg is insane and needs to be removed from office! (1) He wants to control the amount of soda that people drink. (2) He wants to change the legislation so he can hold a third term in office. (3) Recently, he tells police officers to go on strike. (4) Now, he's telling mothers how to feed their babies!

Breastfeeding is a woman's personal decision, and certainly none of Bloomberg's business. It’s the epitome of hypocrisy for the same people who claim that a woman has the “right to choose” to abort her unborn child has no right to choose whether she breast-feeds a child.