That chat page is tragic.  I was so surprised to see such wrath following a
health-promoting tv segment.  These are women whose maternal rights were
violated and they are sorely wounded.  One cannot go back and retrieve her
breastfeeding experience. One can only strike out in rage--at someone.

It is similar to a woman whose doctor saved her and her baby by inducing
labor on Friday morning instead of risking a week-end delivery. Or one who
planned a section because she was carrying twins.  Or who induces in order
to saves her from delivery of a huge baby only to deliver a barely 6 pound
infant.

Medical people who advise a woman to stop working toward breastfeeding her
baby will certainly tell her that it is healthier for her baby to be fed
human milk substitutes for a myriad of excuses.  A woman, who may have
wanted to breastfeed, will *have* to believe that her baby was saved by the
those advisors.

No one stops to ask why so many American women cannot feed their babies.
Each woman believes that she is unique in her failure and she wants to
gather others around her to scream at those who are successful at feeding
their babies.

I've tried for years to think of a parallel to this issue and the only one
that I can come up with is the violation of women by the birthing
malpractices. And they both are happening to women by the controlling
powers that be.

One group of people who hopefully saw the program are medical people.  I
need to remember that most Peds, hospital nursing staff, OBs, and other
HCPs do not know any more about the risks of formula than those
contributors to the chat page.  There may be some that will see *for the
first time* the risks that were eliminated from the ads and who will work
harder to learn how to support breastfeeding mothers.

It will be interesting to see if that population are influenced toward
infant health.  Of course, with the demise of hospital LCs I don't know who
is going to support breastfeeding mothers in the hospitals and clinics. The
timing is so *off*.

It is probably naive of me, but I do believe that if the ad campaign had
come out as planned last fall there would not be the overall abandonment of
qualified breastfeeding support in hospitals. Of course, the money that
promotes formula feeding is the same money that profit-driven hospital
owners are seeking.

My spirits are not dampened by hearing the backlash of those who don't want
to hear that human milk does more than fill a baby's stomach. I am still
thrilled that something that I am passionate about finally gets airing in
mainstream media.

I wrote to ABC 20/20 to thank them for the program. The messages that one
sends to that site is not a part of the chat stuff.

Patricia Gima, IBCLC
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Mailto:[log in to unmask]

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