Here in Texas, you sometimes see moms giving babies bottles of Coca-cola or
manzanilla tea, or regular iced-tea, or apple juice, or whatever -- and this
applies to woman of all socio-economic statuses and ethnicities, though the
manzanilla tea is mostly a Hispanic practice.  So it isn't just the WIC moms.

I mean, what about all those middle- and upper-class moms who give their
babies this stuff?  No one is watching them, no one seems to care whether or
not their babies get *real formula*.  We only care about the babies of the
poor???  It is part of our culture to give babies all sorts of nasty stuff
in bottles, regardless of whether the mothers know that breastfeeding is
best, regardless of whether they get subsidized formula from WIC or buy it
out of their own pocket, regardless of whether they can afford formula or
not.  It isn't just a matter of people giving root beer or tea because
they've run out of formula or don't know any better.

Feeling feisty, even though I've gotten two very nasty flames about this.

Kathy Dettwyler

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