In thinking of ways to counter this persistent roadblock, it
occurred to me:  What about all the moms who used to put thier
babies to sleep on their tummies?  Surely some of those died of
SIDS.  How does a mom who lost a baby to SIDS and who had done what
was the "norm" at that time, namely putting baby to sleep on its
tummy, feel about the "Back to Sleep" campaign?  Do they complain
about being made to feel guilty?  Did anyone hold back on the BTS
campaign for fear of this possible outcome?  I doubt it.  Once
people accepted that it does make a real difference, of course,
getting the word out to parents was the top priority.

So it comes back to the same basic problem, IMO.  What is really
lacking is a conviction that breast, not formula is and should be
the norm.  Those who throw out the guilt card do not really believe
there is a significant difference.  And if, in one's view, there
really isn't a significant difference, then of course, you want to
guard your words so that we don't make anyone feel bad for opting
for something other that what we may want to promote.  I think the
main goal of any ad campaign should be to shake up this thinking and
move toward acceptance of breast as norm.  One aspect is to get out
the word about risks of artificial feeding, but that can't be the
end in itself.  Wiessingerizing our statements certainly helps.
(Thanks so much Diane for reminding us of how we should be putting
our info.)  Even with my own conviction of breast as norm, I still
find myself using the old "advantages of breastfeeding" approach
without realizing it.  Let's all resolve to strive to make all our
statements in terms of breast as norm.  No more "breastfed babies
have fewer illnesses".  We should keep working on it until we can
all say, quite naturally, "babies who don't get mom's milk (or
formula fed babies) have more and illnesses and they are also often
more severe."

Winnie

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