While a rights based approach to breastfeeding sounds attractive, there are pitfalls. Whenever people live together (whether in a society or an economy - don't get me started on that!), their rights claims will come into conflict with one another. (For example my right to personal autonomy might conlict with your right to park your car in your own driveway.) Of course there are often accepted ways to navigate these conflicts but not always. Do we really want to put ourselves in a position where we pit the rights of the infant to be breastfed against the rights of the mother to autonomy? As hard as it is, I think it is more fruitful to think of ourselves as supporters of the rights of the dyad. When we give mothers complete information about the risks associated with artificial feeding, we respect her right to make informed choices; and the infant's right to a carer who is capable of making them on his/her behalf. We know that it is no good making a choice that you do not have the power to achieve - what each of us seeks to do is to teach mothers the skills they need to turn their choices into actions. Nina Berry BA/Bed(Hons) Dip Arts(Phil) Breastfeeding Counsellor PhD Candidate - "Ethical Issues in the marketing of 'Toddler Milks'" *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET email list is powered by LISTSERV (R). There is only one LISTSERV. To learn more, visit: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html