Tuesday, November 14, 2006

White Gold

Vanessa was at the local hospital the other day doing some rounds as a part of her lactation certification. One woman was breast feeding as well as providing formula for her less than 5 month old infant. When asked why she wasn't just breast feeding she replied, "I don't want to be perceived as poor. Only poor women exclusively breast feed." Apparently she had been sold the same old story by the formula companies that breast milk is not sufficient and their more expensive "scientific" product will be better than the highly nutritious, life saving, and immune system protecting and builidng free supply of milk providing by Mom on demand. Who cares that the formula might cost the woman half her savings or mess with the delicate PH balance of the baby, or be mixed with contaminated water, or kill the baby.......what the hell happened to humanity?

For more information: http://www.ibfan.org/site2005/Pages/index2.php?iui=1

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I love tha Vanessa is pursuing this training! I have considered it myself. It's interesting to get an international perspective on this issue. Just last year, a woman was denied permission to breastfeed her infant in the childcare room of a county recreation center. That's right: in the childcare room, in a taxpayer-funded institution. Luckily, she responded with a large number of friends in protest, and the policy was changed with an embarassed apology from the mayor.