Susan,
France has banned all surrogacy! 

The bottom line is that France is a bottle-feeding culture even more so than the US. Breastfeeding is generally actively undermined from the get-go. France has the lowest breastfeeding rates in Western Europe and for all its well-touted parental leave (mothers cannot work the last month of pregnancy or return to work before ten weeks--you get an extra month if you breastfeed, many are guaranteed the right to part-time work until their child is three, breastpumps are 100% covered by insurance), but separation is considered desirable and breastfeeding past that third month--not done. No can imagine a mother having issues with her child being fed AIM--all babies are--in the creche (daycare which is heavily subsidized) or by the nannie.  One of my friends told me that mothers tell their daughters how important it is to be independent of your children!

Interestingly, there have been warnings here not to give cow milk to children and pregnant women due to radiation. Yet, that has not seeemed to translate into any fear of cow milk formulas that I have heard of.

This whole thing started because I brought donor milk from CT to Paris via NY by plane for a friend. The media has simply reported the health bureau position and presented only one side of the story. First the milk bank here argued that milk-sharing was illegal--which the media reported and then when two attorneys proved otherwise, they simply used the media to promote a fear-based agenda. In France, where breastfeeding is seen as an okay thing to do for a very little while, I suspect they have a very compliant audience. 

 

 

Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, France
Intuitive Parenting Network, LLC
 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: LACTNET automatic digest system <[log in to unmask]>
To: LACTNET <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Fri, Apr 29, 2011 10:58 pm
Subject: LACTNET Digest - 29 Apr 2011 - Special issue (#2011-378)



Date:    Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:51:16 -0400
From:    Susan Burger <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: And powdered formula doesn't contain those bacteria?

Really, it never ceases to amaze me how IRRATIONAL humans can be sometimes.  We 
have hospitals in Manhattan that distribute promotional samples of powdered 
formula even though at least one journal showed that 14% of samples contained E. 
Sak.  I'm sure there are hospitals and pediatricians giving out powdered formula 
in France too.  Why aren't the French health authorities issuing public health 
warnings about E Sak in powdered formula?  And the 20% higher death rates from 
formula in the United States with relatively decent water and sanitation.  They 
don't talk about the known threat, but they do scare parents about an unknown 
threat.  And that unknown threat can be diminished.

If we can make cow's milk sterile enough for human babies to ingest without 
immediately succumbing to disease from the milk itself -- which does NOT negate 
that the cow's milk will increase their risk of disease because it deprives them 
of antibodies and appropriately balanced nutrients -- it is not so hard to make 
human milk from another mother sterile.  My mother's generation knew how to 
pasteurize.  It is not rocket science.

Furthermore, if the French are so worried about regulating all of this instead 
of actually informing women how to share safely, then why don't they just ban 
sperm donors, egg donors, and surrogate moms.  All require similar screening 
tests.  Perhaps surrogate mothers are closest in that they are carrying the baby 
for a while.  And if you take it a step further, perhaps we should just ban 
kissing, hugging, sex and sharing the same air space with everyone else.  All of 
those can lead to disease transmission too.

Susan Burger

 

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