I was glad to see a couple of sceptical posts about this potential trojan
horse.  Been too busy at work to respond to the original post before now,
but my first thought when I read about these pumps was, PLEASE don't give
them to anyone who doesn't have a demonstrable need for a pump already.
Giving them away as freebies for attending an event, or to get people to
think kindly about your program, or even just with the idea that it could
sway a mother to breastfeed who otherwise might not, could easily backfire.
What is the message we want to convey?  Breastfeed your child, and here is
an essential piece of equipment you will have to learn to put together, use,
take apart and clean, and make provisions to carry with you and find a
suitable place to use, if you do manage to establish lactation somehow or
other?
I thought the idea of having them available for disaster relief was
intriguing, but if water supplies and electricity are out, how would anyone
keep them clean?  Hand expression would be better, in lack of a willing
baby, that is.

I would say, keep them on hand, hidden in a cupboard so the logo isn't a
dominant feature of your office decor, and when you work with a mother who
really needs to have a pump available and really can't afford it, consider
offering it to her.  Please don't contribute to the gadget mania around
every imaginable aspect of modern life by strewing them about uncritically.

My horror is that people, when they hear my name, would think 'oh yeah, the
pump person' rather than 'the breastfeeding person'.  Not what I want to
project, and part of the reason I had an almost physical reaction to seeing
a pump company logo printed on envelopes sent me from ILCA.  I'd much prefer
it if that logo weren't there.  In fact, I think I might even mind the
sponsorship less if the pump company were so sincere in their support for
ILCA that they were willing to forego the marketing boost it gives them to
have their logo on the envelopes.

The local chapter of my professional association (midwives) is holding its
annual meeting with dinner paid for by the drug company that makes an IV
iron preparation we use in our hospital.  The only scientific (sort of) part
of the evening will be the talk by the company rep about IV iron after post
partum hemorrhage.  I've RSVPed that I will be attending the business part
of the meeting and perhaps even hearing the shpiel about the iron, but that
I am not interested in eating dinner, because I don't accept gratuities from
drug companies.  Gets me a reputation as a hardliner but then, that's my
intention.  By taking a clear stand it makes it easier for someone who may
be vacillating, to take a stand too.  Often those of us who aren't afraid to
stand up alone, need to do so to give courage to the ones who just need the
safety of one other person by their side.

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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