I just learned that a girl who babysat for my kids (she is now 19) is going  
into the OR for a C-section because of failure to progress in labor (she is 7  
cm)...actually failure for the hospital to try any natural alternatives.  I  
am thousands of miles away and FUMING.  So I decided to read  
LACTNET...shocking and try to put my energy to good use.  No, I am not  going to clean my 
house.  :)  I wrote the following letter to the 'No  Free Lunch' website.
 
Christie Pillado
El Paso, TX
Really tired of requirements for how mothers and babies "should" labor and  
breastfeed together.
 
Letter to No Free Lunch website:
 
As a lactation counselor I would love to see the so-called "gift bags" of  
formula handed to every new mother as she leaves the hospital included as  
contraban on your website along with the pens and other paraphernalia from drug  
companies.  The breastfeeding friendly bag has powdered formula instead of  
bottled ready-to-drink formula...how that makes it breastfeeding friendly I will  
never know.
 
We are writing into our clinic and hospital unit policies that NO formula  
reps are allowed in the clinics or on the wards.  We cannot get support to  kick 
them out altogether because the staff and administrators claim we  HAVE to 
have the free formula.  
 
If all 70% of American women who say that they are going to breastfeed  prior 
to the baby's birth were given the right support and encouragement and  
actually DID breastfeed for six months exclusively and continued through the  first 
or second year of life (see the Surgeon General's goals for breastfeeding)  
how much formula would one really have to have?  AND consider that the US  
government is the largest purchaser of formula in the United States through the  
WIC (Women, Infants and Children) program and those participants have much 
LOWER  breastfeeding rates than the rest of the population.  Some WIC programs  
have done an amazing job in turning this statistic around but most women are  
told to take the FREE formula "just in case."  In case what?  We  evolved as a 
species on breastmilk and suddenly we need something  artificial?
 
Then consider that an infinitely better alternative is donor breastmilk  from 
one of the six milk banks in the United States.  Mother's who donate  are 
screened just like blood donors and not a single illness or injury has been  
linked to donor breastmilk.  In fact, just the opposite.  Donor milk  keeps many 
babies and people alive who might not otherwise have a chance.
 
Given all the time and money that the US government spends to ensure that  
our population is saturated with artificial breastmilk and the enormous  
healthcare expenses that are directly linked to NOT breastfeeding, wouldn't one  
think that we, the taxpayer, would start to get a little hot under the collar  and 
say NO FORMULA SAMPLES to our new mothers?  Well, the answer is  yes.  The 
World Health Organization's International Code of Marketing  Breastmilk 
Substitutes states that artificial breastmilk companies will not  market their 
products to new mothers, give free samples, have a presence in  hospitals or birth 
centers etc.  For more information on this topic please  see the INFACT website. 
 _www.infactcanada.ca_ (http://www.infactcanada.ca/)   Every major  formula 
manufacturer signed "The Code".  Lucky for them there isn't  any legislation in 
the US to give it teeth so they continue this marketing  practices and the 
United States continues to have one of the lowest  breastfeeding rates in the 
developed world and one of the highest infant  mortality rates.  
 
This is a relevant and timely topic and should be included on your website  
if only because formula fed babies spend more time at the doctor's office, more 
 time hospitalized and need more prescription drugs to combat what mother 
nature  could have done unassisted by a questionably marketed substance; 
prescription or  not.
 
Sincerely, 
An advocate for the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative and supporter of the  
Nestlé boycott who is actually a mainstream kind of middle-class American tired 
 of watching mothers and babies trampled by the medicalization of  motherhood.


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