Thanks to Leigh Fredholm for posting the Washington Post article on infant
formula theft.  What struck me when I read it was this remark attributed to
the executive director of the International Formula Council:

<<Every step -- from production to packaging -- is carefully regulated, she
said, because of formula's role as a primary source of nutrition for most of
the 4 million babies born in the United States each year.>>

And, you know, it's true.  Despite the baby steps in improved breastfeeding
rates that we have struggled so hard to win, "most" of the babies born in the
US are not breastfed.  We're somewhere near a two-thirds initiation rate for
bf, but I bet that half of those fall off the wagon within a few weeks.

The article never once mentioned breastfeeding, not even as a way parents
could opt out of the dependency on a consumer product as their baby's "sole
source of food," which is what drives the high price of formula.

Chris Mulford, RN, IBCLC
Swarthmore  PA (Eastern USA)

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