Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Thanks Grumperina!

Grumperina left a link in a comment yesterday, and I've been enjoying it so much I think it deserves it's own post. The postcards are particularly funny! And in the calendar, there is a picture of a bride, nursing while in her wedding gown! I love the little t-shirts for baby "Little MotherSucker" LOL. The Lactivist has one "I play with my Baby's food". I wish I had seen that earlier, I think Rob would really have liked it :) (And in case you've been wondering, the Pork Board apologized to her, but asked her to change the slogan to "Breastmilk: The Original White Milk" which I think is a much better slogan!).
While you're at the BabyMilkAction site, you might see some things about deaths from bottle feeding. Although the images are of 3rd World countries, it is applicable to North America. Just think of Hurricane Katrina. I don't know if any babies died from Hurricane Andrew, or the Ice Storm '98, or the Big Black Out of Aug '03, but if you are dependent on sterilized water and bottles, and refrigeration, while stores are closed and power is out....Even if you use 'ready to feed' formula--do you have a manual can opener? There was an episode of "Untold Stories of the ER" on TLC and a one month old baby just happened to be at a children's hospital because his 15 year old mother was having surgery. A nurse pauses to admire the baby, and notices that he's quite blue. It turns out the family ran out of bottled water and was using tap water. The water had high nitrite levels due to agricultural runoff and the baby had nitrate poisoning. Formula gets recalled, farms get outbreaks of diseases, hormones weren't declared, the milk truck was 2C above required temperature, hands don't always get washed....the chain of events from the cow that provides the original milk to the formula in the bottle is HUGE. At any one of the events, something can happen. Let's see what the chain of events are for breastfeeding...Pull up shirt, unhook bra, latch baby on. (I'm NOT trying to make b.f. look so simple. I KNOW it's not--I've had lots of different issues. Huey almost didn't get b.f. past 3 days, but I was adamant that he should have human milk--after all, despite what we call him now, LOL, he IS a human!).
Human milk should be the first choice for all babies. Women should have the support needed to work through ANY difficulty. Doctors who say "Formula is just as good" should have their license suspended. Hospitals who say "Your milk hasn't come in yet (on day 1!), here's some free formula" or "Baby is jaundiced, here's some formula" should pay a hefty fine. Only 5-10% of mothers really, truly, cannot breastfeed their newborn. It should be seen as a national shame that 30% of newborns are formula fed. Don't even get me started on C-Sections :)

PS--And for goodness sake! The Blogger spellcheck should have the word Breastmilk in it!!!!!!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you liked the link!

To elaborate a little bit: I came across that link through SouleMama: http://soulemama.typepad.com/soulemama/. It's her babe and her kitty (and her boob) featured in "nursing: view from the top" postcard.

For more breastfeeding inspiration:
http://flickr.com/photos/22554961@N00/84518972/
http://flickr.com/photos/22554961@N00/273896626/
http://flickr.com/photos/22554961@N00/145892730/

http://soulemama.typepad.com/soulemama/2006/10/mamas_milk.html

Sandra said...

And if your milk NEVER comes in? (Six weeks of trying at a lactation clinic.) What to do then? Pay a fine because I bottle fed my baby? (MY Mom's milk never came either - something genetic, I guess). NOt everyone CHOOSES to bottle feed - sometimes, it's the only opion...

Anonymous said...

I appreciate your stance on breastfeeding, but not all of us who used formula are evil or ignorant. I persevered feeding my son for 4 and 1/2 weeks, despite two bouts of very painful mastitis, a baby who, despite help from La leche league, NCT and others, refused my milk to the point where he was starving himself and we had to go to hospital where even the breastfeeding consultant conceded that it was time to move to formula. It's heartbreaking as a mother to have your child refuse what you truly belive is good for him and that heartbreak led to post natal depression which lasted until last Christmas. I had demand fed from day one, but I had far too much milk and the poor boy was choking. Everyone told me that my milk flow would calm down and would be regulated by the baby's intake but that never happened. because he began to associate BF with choking and distress, I started expressing and could easily express over 8oz every couple of hours. I kept expressing for as long as I could once we were told to change to formula, so that he had at least 2/3rds of his milk from the breast, although in a bottle. Ultimately my milk did start to dry up a couple of months later but by that time there was no getting him back on the breast, so I persevered with formula until he was one. Don't assume the choice to switch to formula is ever an easy one, or something that is bourne lightly.