>I have not been able to get this webpage to work


The link is correct - maybe you need to register with the site first, not sure.

I had this issue come up in a class last night and I used an analogy
that seemed to go down well.

Our government has new health guidance that says excl bf to 6 mths is
recommended. One or two of the parents in the class said this was
'unfair pressure' on mothers and women who didn't do it  'would feel
guilty'.

I agreed that without the support systems (social, employment,
cultural, adequate help) in place, that guidance can be meaningless,
but that it does not need to be any more pressurising than other
health and nutritional guidance.

For example,  we are told in the UK we should have 5 servings of
fruit/veg a day, and that we should exercise for a short time on most
days of the week. We discussed how that particular guidance doesn't
create pressure, or make us feel bad if we don't follow it, and how
we don't take it personally.  We laughed at the idea of feeling
guilty if we only managed four portions of fruit and veg,  and if we
feel 'guilty' at missing out on exercise, we don't berate the
government for having told us it's a good idea to get off our
posteriors once in a while : )

Yet when it comes to feeding babies, the response is all of those things!

We talked about why this should be, and how giving parents good
information helps them make informed choices.

It's just struck me, actually, that another reason why no one feels
pressured about fruit and veg and exercise....it's because it's
totally accepted that a healthy diet and regular exercise (HD and RE)
is A Good Thing. No one says that sitting watching TV all day eating
junk food is 'just as good as' an HD and RE. We believe the guidance.

Not enough people believe that formula feeding is *not* 'just as good
as' breastfeeding.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT, UK

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