Misperceptions about breasts

When I was a baby, I wasn't breastfed. I didn't think anything of it until my mom's youngest sister prepared for her first child, and then I felt like I was screwed out of something important. Plus I had aunts on the other side of the family who did breastfeed. Honestly, it wasn't ever a question for me as to what I would do when I had kids. Breasts are made for babies. I don't care what anyone else does for their children, so long as they feed them. But this is what I did for my kids.

I wasn't around many people when Savannah was born. Nobody questioned how I fed her. It wasn't until I moved closer to the in-laws that people had opinions about it. People thought it was gross, and didn't want their kids exposed to it (because they didn't do it themselves, and somehow exposing breasts is disgusting- I didn't nurse in public, but other people they knew did). Jack refused to drink anything I pumped, so I couldn't leave him with anyone- the one time we tried, he wouldn't eat. The in-laws thought something was wrong with my milk. In fact, I had someone at a wedding (someone I had never met before then) tell me that her daughter's pediatrician told her that her milk was bad and to use formula. REALLY??

Any time I think about that, I get upset. I don't think my husband has my back on this issue- because to him, it's all about preference. So who cares if his family's preference is NOT to breastfeed? That doesn't mean anything they've said is actually hurtful or offensive, or that I should be upset by it. Fast-forward to last night when we were talking about some dumb things we heard at the in-law's house on Christmas Day. Apparently he heard Jack saying something about people who are breastfed have some mineral or something that's missing. Where the hell my kid heard this, I don't know. But I immediately got pissed. Immediately my stomach hurt- like someone punched me in the gut. Is this why they think Jack has Autism? Frankly, at this point, it wouldn't surprise me in the least. This must be what happens when you give your child what your body creates specifically for them. I mean, it's not like women haven't done this going thousands of years back before formula was invented. It's not like there's a history that far back for Autism. Where's the overwhelming proof? Where's the ground-breaking research that can surely be used to promote formula?!

Again, I get the need for formula. I don't knock anyone's choice or need to use it. That's just not the route I took. To shame ME because I fed both of my children the way nature intended? I just want to tell them all to go to hell.