This kind of stuff, well the whole fertility process really, is what really opened my eyes to what women have to deal with that most men don't seem to have any awareness of.

The sheer amount of guilt, shame, tut-tutting, and general bullshit around the birthing process is just astounding.

Breastfeeding is the poster child for this (great example here) but so does every other thing about parenting. Women have to make "no-win" choices around this, plus career, plus body changes, plus so many parenting choices.

Every single one of these things has 10 books that say X and 10 books that say Y.

Our pediatrician was supportive of nursing and suggested we stick with it but also said "the data that breastmilk is better in any significant way is just not there".

My wife breastfed for 6 months with both our kids then called it good, and I thought that was heroic.

Having to duck out to pump every couple hours is literally the last thing a new mom back at work (guilt! shame! second-guessing!) wants to be doing.

Our kids were breastfed for the most part, but I still agree with you on formula not being a big deal. I disagree with this, though:

> People love feeling superior to each other.

I think it’s simply that people are poor at understanding that Option A being slightly better than Option B does not mean that Option B is bad. I think this deficiency in reasoning is what drives a lot of irrational behavior wrt to parenting (eg, making incredible sacrifices to afford a home in a neighborhood with “good schools”, going through hell so your newborn doesn’t sleep on its tummy, etc).