From Dispatch Room
A U.S.-based physician and mother of five has defended breastfeeding as a meaningful and deeply rewarding experience despite growing public debates over its physical and emotional challenges for women.
In an opinion essay published by Newsweek, Dr. Charlotte Grinberg argued that modern discussions around breastfeeding often focus heavily on hardship while overlooking what many mothers consider its emotional, physical and developmental benefits.
Grinberg, who works as a hospice physician and childbirth doula in Washington, D.C., said breastfeeding had increasingly become difficult to discuss publicly because of strong reactions surrounding motherhood, bodily autonomy and parenting choices.
She acknowledged that breastfeeding can be physically painful and emotionally exhausting during the early stages, describing experiences such as soreness, sleep deprivation, leaking breasts and the pressures of balancing work and childcare responsibilities.
However, she insisted that hardship alone should not be used to dismiss breastfeeding as outdated or unnecessary, arguing that many meaningful human experiences involve sacrifice and endurance.
The physician said she had exclusively breastfed all five of her children while working full-time jobs and recalled feeling isolated during her early years as a young medical intern without proper lactation facilities.
According to her, the emotional bond created through breastfeeding, alongside its health benefits for both mother and child, often becomes clearer after the difficult early weeks.
Grinberg also stressed that women who choose formula feeding or are unable to breastfeed should not be judged, noting that motherhood decisions remain deeply personal and dependent on health, mental wellbeing and family circumstances.
She warned against what she described as a growing cultural tendency to view all physically demanding aspects of motherhood as oppressive rather than meaningful.
The article comes amid wider international conversations around maternal health, postpartum care, women’s rights and modern parenting expectations.
— Newspot Nigeria
