My wife had a great deal of trouble getting our first child to latch and breastfeed, while our second child took to it immediately. This was despite a great deal of effort, significant paid time off, lactation experts, ert. My perception is that the 2nd child was simply more naturally able to feed. But, the response from outside observers has often been that my wife is a better mother for an action I truly believe was largely out of her control.

I'm very sympathetic to families who need to use formula. It's not a stigma, and we should do more as a society to support families who are unwilling or unable to exclusively breastfeed.

Finally, I'm not in medicine but my review of the literature indicated that the advantage of breastfeeding is largely overstated. I do believe it has small benefit the first six months, but after that the impact simply was not apparent in the effect size.