Maybe we could encourage Old Navy to run a “Breast Powered” T-shirt to… on second thought, nevermind.

I agree with your perspective, Danielle. Also wanted to mention though that a friend called me last week, saying she had just seen the following bumpersticker, and she thought I could use it: “I make milk…what’s your superpower?”  I thought it was great, but reminded her I’m well past that stage in life (my youngest is almost 11).

Maybe sometimes a shirt is just a shirt and we should quit looking for conspiracies everywhere. I had preemie twins. I used formula. I didn’t want to even try breastfeeding. I doubt I would have bought this outfit but still…. lighten up people.

I think the pro-breastfeeding camp needs to lighten up a bit:)  It’s cute and funny and this is coming from a mother who nursed all her children for a very long time.

Why anyone who breastfeeds would be offended by this shirt escapes me. I don’t see how the existence of this T-shirt would affect a woman (or girls) desire to breastfeed her baby. If a mother chooses formula feeding so her child can wear this t-shirt that baby has much bigger problems than what it is being fed.
There are plenty of formula fed babies whose mothers cannot breastfed or tried and tried HARD and were unable. Despite what some women want to think you can’t tell by looking at a woman why she is formula feeding. There are scads of cutsie breastfeeding onesies out there. Now there is one for a formula fed baby. Why is it such a big deal?

Of all the issues our society needs to overcome/change in regards to maternal and infant health a graphic on an Old Navy T-shirt is at the bottom of my list.

I formula feed my son and formula fed my daughter as well.  I have no private place to pump at work and the only available fridge is used to store bacteria cultures - not exactly somewhere I want to store my child’s food source.  Personally, I find the whole debate somewhat annoying. Different child-rearing practices work for different families.  If you want to put a onsie on your baby that says “breastmilk powered”, go for it.  If you want to nurse your baby in public, good for you.  Let me formula feed my baby without feeling like I am committing child abuse.  Why protest something as inconsequential as this?

Why do we need to empower anyone? This is just a shirt. A stupid one in my opinion. I think we are way too focused on how we feel about things and not enough about how we actually treat each other.

I think the shirt is cute. Calling it offensive, as the article you link to does, seems a bit much. There are so many actually important issues to get upset about this seems very minor. I am sure Old Navy could come up with a cute way to highlight breastfeeding. Maybe “No bottle for me, I am all natural.” or something.

I think this is ridiculous. I worry more about babies sporting shirts with skulls and crossbones than this.

It’s a shirt. It is NOT a manifesto. Those who might be offended need to get a real life. Some women (and men) may need this for their own sanity so it fills a niche. Everyone else needs to lighten up.

As a breastfeeding mother of 7 I honestly think this shirt is pretty innocuous. I don’t think Old Navy is trying to promote anything other than selling their clothing line. Obviously they could not sell a T sporting “breast powered”. Often I feel folks can be a little too sensitive and too easily offended.

Yes! Same here! Thanks to formula my twins are ALIVE and THRIVING! And God knows I tried to breastfeed!

I think that it’s a play on Formula 1 racing.

I prefer to breastfeed my babies, but my older son had failure to thrive and I had to supplement with formula to keep his weight up.  So like it or not, some babies need formula.

Well, to be “fair and balanced”, they put out a onesee that says “Breast milk powered.”  I believe they are the majority, these days, anyway, at least during the first few months. The formula industry needs no help. The cost of their product is through the roof!

Ooops… I was agreeing with Mary’s comment above.

I’m another breast-feeding mom who agrees that this shirt is nothing to get worked up about! I’m glad I nursed my babies and have encouraged others to try (and supported them if they wanted to)—BUT I know several women who didn’t choose to (for their own reasons), couldn’t physically, or weren’t allowed to because of necessary medications for serious illness.

Moms who are lovingly taking care of their children can do so in different ways. It’s sad that so much “mothering” can take on antagonistic tones: working vs. SAH, public school vs. Catholic vs. homeschool, formula vs. breastfeeding, even scheduled breastfeeding vs. ecological, family bed vs. crib, pacifier vs. not…. It’s sad how easily each of these bones of contention came to my mind.

We won’t all agree—but we can support each other in doing the best we can.

Danielle, one of my favorite things you’ve said (in several contexts) is that we all need to do what is best for OUR families—for ourselves as parents, for our kids, and for our life circumstances right now. That will differ family to family and sometimes kid to kid or year to year. It just strikes me as sad that people can get take things personally or be hurt in their vocation as mothers because they disagree with others.

Sorry to ramble a bit! I’m so glad so many people see this shirt as light-hearted and no “threat” or denigration of breast feeding.

(Hee hee, the security word is “enough”!)

Despite wanting to breastfeed, I just couldn’t.  I tried and tried and pumped and took double doses of herbs….just couldn’t do it. 

I wouldn’t buy this for my kid either….blugh….

Some people have way too much time on their hands..

The mother’s body produces a formula to feed the child too!
but like most they go off on some emotional tangent and never think!

Wow, it is so nice to have such a civilized discussion with both breastfeeding moms and bottle-feeding moms being charitable toward each other.  I formula-fed because I am an adoptive mom whose baby was placed with me on 24-hours notice, and I had to work fulltime from the time he was 3 months old until he was 18 months old.  All those factors combined made adoptive nursing very impractical.  If I had bio children, I would have loved to have breastfed.  I feel that breastfeeding is the ideal, but that bottle-feeding is God’s plan B and can be very effective in terms of bonding, nutrition, etc.  And I don’t think any mother should have to validate her reasons for choosing to bottle feed.  I do feel that the formula company has at times crossed over the line from providing a product that is a crucial plan B into subtly discouraging breastfeeding.  I certainly don’t think the formula industry needs any empowering.  But I do think that in some cases bottle-feeding mothers need empowering.  It’s really ironic that in our culture there is both an abundance of anti-breastfeeding bias (for example, people who chastise women who nurse in public) as well as an anti-formula bias (over-zealous people who promote breastfeeding by insulting women who bottle-feed).  Thank you for a very balanced article.

I’ve breastfed three children and am in the process of breastfeeding my fourth.  Obviously I am pro-breastfeeding!  But I fail to see the harm in this shirt.  Like a previous poster said, sometimes a shirt is just a shirt.  I don’t see some Big Formula agenda here, I see Old Navy trying to sell clothes.  Most of the moms I know who formula-fed their babies had to deal with some sort of disappointment or guilt over that fact, even when there wasn’t anything to feel guilty about!  They put too much pressure on themselves or took too much stock in what others thought of their feeding choice.  I would imagine that this cute little shirt might make them smile and that’s a good thing.

No one has the *power* to produce breast milk—it either happens or it does not,  but we are not in control of such a thing—so I would never call it a super power.  Semantics - maybe…but people need to get a grip.  I breast fed all my babies - except my last, and I have theories as to what happened.  Regardless - I pumped for 15 months, and would not recommend anyone to do anything other than breast feed IF they are able.  If not - formula is obviously a must; but I will in no way EVER sponsor/promote formula companies that are out for the $ FIRST AND FOREMOST.  There should be GOOD (excellent) lactation consultants available to women, but that is not always the case.

The gist is - I do NOT like this shirt. :D

God Bless the formula companies, for without them, my 2 preemies would not have survived. I can appreciate anyone who breastfeeds their baby, even admire them for their fortitude. I can mourn that I could not breastfeed my babies, and still enjoy the humor of this harmless onesie!

I’m adoptive mother and obviously, did not have a choice in the matter.  We formula fed our baby boy and he has grown like a weed.  For some reason (and most especially it seems in Catholic circles) the idea that breast feeding is “better” has never sat right with me.  That is wonderful if you have breast fed your child and I applaud you in the time, sacrifice, and love it took.  However, for those of us who use formula, it takes just as much sacrifice and love and, most importantly, our children are no different. 
I have no problem at all with the shirt~ maybe they could also come out with something clever about being breast fed.

THANK YOU!  Amen for the charitable discussion. 

I wholeheartedly support breastfeeding.  I nursed my daughter exclusively for six months, then became very ill.  Being sick wrecked my milk supply and four lactation consultants, fenugreek, reglan, and a hospital grade breast pump later…I was still not making any milk and dear daughter became a formula fed baby.  I felt like I had to justify why she was formula fed, and had lots of good-intentioned advice about how to keep nursing thrown my way.  I’ve had other friends go through this when they become pregnant while still nursing.  Many of them are just tired, too sore, not making enough, etc. and wean earlier than anticipated.  They aren’t ready to tell the world that they’re pregnant again, yet the “world” seems to have many ideas about how to help them nursing, even if it isn’t working for them.

I agree!  I breastfed my son for the first 6 months, I loved it, but after that I switched him over to formula.  It was a hard decision but all things went into consideration and with my job I thought it best to switch over.  I probably wouldn’t have put this shirt on my son, but I see no problem having it for mothers who as you said, have to make the decision for legitimate reasons.