Disclaimer: I do think breastfeeding is a good thing

I must admit, when I first saw this story about adoptive moms breastfeeding, my immediate reaction was a gee-whiz "isn't that neat" reaction. I also, of course, immediately wondered if they'd be able to extend this induced lactation to men, à la Woman at the Edge of Time.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this is really just one more addition to the cult of Perfect Parenting. Or rather -- let's be honest here -- Perfect Mothering. It's not enough, any more, to adopt a child, bring hir home, and love hir. Now you have to take all kinds of hormones and pump your breasts for weeks, in the hopes of producing enough breastmilk to "give your child the best start in life".

Listen to what's involved:

The 32-year-old municipal engineer started a rigorous pumping routine - every three hours, around the clock - even darting home from work on a sewage project to keep up the routine.

After four weeks, with the help of a drug to promote lactation and some supplemental formula bottles, Ms. Baird was able to breastfeed her newly adopted daughter.

This is not a minor effort. This is something that takes serious commitment, a willingess to take lactation-promoting drugs (with side effects? most drugs do have 'em), and a co-operative employer (who won't mind you 'darting home from work'). And I hear pumping isn't exactly pleasant for a lot of women.

I mean really, isn't it just one more thing for mothers to feel guilty about? If you can't breastfeed for whatever reason -- medical, work-related, whatever -- now there's another counterexample of women going to extreme lengths to do what you can't. And if you're an adoptive mom, and you're not willing/able to put in the kind of effort induced lactation calls for -- and it does sound like a pretty serious effort to me -- are you now an inferior candidate? Will people who'd make great parents start getting rejected because they can't or won't put their bodies through this?