Jill Duggar: Derick Dillard’s Israel Video Sparks Breastfeeding Debate

Jill Duggar’s husband, Derick Dillard, recently shared a video of baby Israel enjoying his dinner, and it sparked a mommy war in the comments section of the Instagram post.

Jill Duggar’s husband gave the new mom a break from dinner duty by giving 5-month-old Israel his bottle and watching him slurp it down. Derick recorded a video of Israel relishing his milk, and he provided a little commentary during the short Instagram clip. It sounds like the new dad dreads Israel’s reaction to dinnertime coming to an end.

“Here’s Israel, drinking his milk like a big boy,” Derick Dillard can be heard saying in the video below. “He gets mad when it’s gone, so we’ll have to work on that.”

https://instagram.com/p/7t333lGCSu/?taken-by=derickdillard

Many fans were quick to take note that Israel was sucking on a bottle instead of being breastfed by Jill Duggar, and they jumped to the new mom’s defense after one of Derick’s Instagram followers made a comment about baby formula.

“I suddenly smelled the smell of formula,” @melindacotton wrote.

Other fans immediately assumed that she was trying to insult Jill Duggar for choosing to bottle feed Israel.

“‘I smell formula?’ Because it’s in a bottle?” @eragsdale wrote. “Most breastfeeding moms now pump to allow dads to feed the child while mom gets a break, or goes to an appointment they cant reschedule. Also some moms (me included) were unable to breastfeed exclusively due to medical reasons. Or the child had medical reasons and amino acid formula has to be given.”

The original commenter responded by saying that she wasn’t trying to insult Jill Duggar at all.

“That comment had nothing to do with breastfeeding. I guess it just brought me back to when my kids were babies and I can just remember the smell of formula. Thats all!” @melindacotton wrote.

Unfortunately, the damage had already been done — even though the original commenter wasn’t trying to start an argument about baby formula, Derick Dillard’s Instagram post was flooded with angry responses to her innocent words.

“Oh my god! It could be breast milk, it could be formula, who the hell cares?!? Think formula is devil dust? Don’t give it to YOUR kid then! Problem solved. Mind your own business.”

“It’s a medela bottle so more than likely it’s pumped breast milk… Even if it was formula who cares the child is eating! There are babies around the world that would die without formula! So who gives a hoot what’s in the bottle!”

“People get their panties all bunched over formula vs breast. It’s a picture of a baby holding a bottle… Why was that even brought into the mix unless to make someone feel bad. I didn’t read all the comments but the first one I did see was about how formula is terrible, not how cute the baby is, which I’m sure was the point to the post to start with. People always run to left field with everything.”

It’s not surprising that so many of Jill Duggar’s fans got so defensive. The old “mommy wars” battle over whether breast is really best has gotten so ugly that the Telegraph labeled breastfeeding-only advocates the “Breastapo.” Many health organizations recommend breastfeeding a baby for the first six months, but there are a number of reasons some mothers simply can’t (or shouldn’t) breastfeed.

However, Jill Duggar and Israel probably aren’t having any issues with breastfeeding. In a post that was shared on the Dillard Family website, Derick revealed that Jill Duggar has been successfully breastfeeding Israel during their mission trip in Central America.

“Israel seems to be adjusting to the new climate, culture, food (via mom’s milk), and language faster than Jill and I are,” he wrote.

Shortly after giving birth, Jill Duggar told People that she was getting breastfeeding advice from her mother, Michelle Duggar. According to Michelle, she tried to breastfeed as long as she could after each child was born, but she always had to stop shortly after she got pregnant again.

“I’m breastfeeding the baby until I can’t anymore,” Michelle told Love to Know. “About a month into pregnancy, the milk dries up. The baby is not content and by about nine months of age (longest I’ve been able to breastfeed a baby), we’re done. The average length of time between my children is 16 to 18 months apart.”

Do you think Jill Duggar will follow in her mother’s footsteps by getting pregnant before she weans baby Israel?

[Image credit: Derick Dillard/Instagram]