What I think about the Latch on NYC controversy

I've been thinking a lot about baby care recently for obvious reasons, and when I read about New York City's Latch On NYC initiative and the controversy it's created, I was puzzled. And kind of mad.

Some background: I have never tried to breastfeed a baby. The idea of breastfeeding is not and has never been particularly appealing to me for many reasons - chief among them, the loss of freedom to do whatever I need/want to do for several hours without needing to express milk (like sleep or work or run errands). Other women breastfeeding their babies around me makes me a little uncomfortable, though I strongly support their right to do so - in public, covered or not, and for as long as feels right for them and their children.

Nevertheless, I plan to try my hardest to breastfeed my son when he arrives in a few months. I will be pleasantly surprised if I like breastfeeding; I expect that I will not. I anticipate that I will have to deal with feelings of depression, not to mention physical discomfort and pain sometimes. I wish I could feel excited about it going in, but I am just hoping that the hormonal changes that accompany breastfeeding make my brain feel happy about it.

All that being said, why am I mad at the women who criticize NYC for trying to keep promotional formula out of their hospital rooms?

Because I am a perfect target for that advertising.

I don't really care about the convenience of breastfeeding - I'm pretty sure that convenience will be lost when I go back to work and have to pump milk and reheat it in bottles anyway. The key for me is that the medical community recommends it and I've read the same peer-reviewed studies they have. Given the choice, breastmilk is objectively better than formula. Formula is a fabulous invention that has saved the lives of thousands of babies for various reasons (and the sanity of lots of parents), and babies (including myself 25 years ago) thrive on it, but it isn't the food that babies have evolved to eat, and it should not be the first choice.

But give me free, unsolicited formula and I just might use it. Just every so often at first, for some reason I'd justify. Which might turn into all the time. And then I'm paying for expensive formula and my baby isn't getting the macrophages and antibodies in my breastmilk or the health benefits that come along with that. And the companies get another customer. Which is exactly what they want.

Why would anybody want to be advertised to in the first days of getting to know their new baby? When they are trying to learn to breastfeed, which is not easy for everyone? Any NYC mom who knows she wants formula in the hospital can ask for it. I get why people choose not to breastfeed. I might be one of those people; I don't know yet. But I don't want formula companies to make that decision easy for me, and I don't want to make it before I give breastfeeding a fighting chance.