Bette Midler was criticized as "ignorant" and "offensive" after tweeting that mothers experiencing a baby formula scarcity should "try nursing."
"TRY BREASTFEEEDING! It's free and available on demand," tweeted Midler, 76, in response to a post by MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle on the formula shortage.
She tweeted, "the baby formula shortage reveals an amazing secret oligopoly: - 3 American companies control over 90% of the mkt - hugely restrictive regulations (thanks to big $ lobbying) prohibit foreign formulas."
Several followers responded negatively to the tweet, including novelist Ilyssa Hogue, who stated that what Midler said is a very poor interpretation. The novelist shared that she gave birth to twins and said that try as she might, she was unable to provide enough milk for both. Without the formula, she would have had to choose who would eat. She added the situation is worse for small children who are torn from their mothers.
Another follower described her post as "profoundly disrespectful and stupid," adding there are myriad reasons why nursing is not an option for many mothers-far too numerous to list here. Moreover, once mothers have already decided to feed their babies formula, they cannot simply turn a switch. Plus millions more infants are sensitive to milk, the follower emphasized.
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"I love you Bette, but this is not okay," a fan of the Tony Award-winner tweeted in response. "I fought to breastfeed my son, he kept losing weight, despite my best efforts, including lactation experts. It was emotional and I felt like a failure and at 3 months switched to formula, because of the stress it put on me and my son."
Midler, who is a mother herself, clarified that she did not intend to condemn women who are unable to breastfeed for various reasons approximately twenty minutes after publishing the contentious post.
She commented that there is absolutely no shame in not being able to breastfeed but if they can, and still using baby formula because they trust it to be more superior than breastmilk, then they are mistaken. Wet nurses for her is the solution to the milk shortage, she repeated.
She is not without supporters though.
A number of the actress's followers defended her stance, with one commenting that there is no reason to be so riled up, because Bette's statement merely meant if nursing is an option, then it is the preferred one, NOT the only one.
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