. Both acts are necessary in God’s plan for the continuation of the human race. Both acts are normally essential for life. The marriage act is needed to create new persons and to help the bonding of the spouses, and the breastfeeding act is needed for the survival of those new persons and for the bonding of mother and baby. It’s true that today science can create babies without the marriage act, and we can also feed babies without the mother. The latter is sometimes even necessary for the life of the baby and thus a great good. Frequently, however, it is done primarily for the convenience of the parents, and this unhappy practice has become the social custom in many cultures. Because breastfeeding is so uncommon, we tend to forget the important role it should play in feeding and nurturing infants and young children
. In both acts, a woman gives herself bodily: in the marriage act, to her husband, and in the breastfeeding act, to her baby. The woman’s giving to her husband should not detract from her giving to her baby. Likewise her giving to her baby or child should not detract from the love shown to her husband. Love is not exclusive or limiting. There is no restriction. The relationship that a woman has with her husband and with her baby are obviously different, but both relationships involve giving and loving. Neither relationship should detract from the other. A good husband appreciates his wife’s important role as mother in nurturing his children. In addition, breastfeeding, once established, becomes such an easy activity. The mother can converse with her husband, be affectionate, and share in his interests and activities and still be with and nurse her baby.
Sheila Kippley
Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood
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