Ellen,
I'm not sure I have this straight. Na'mat doesn't want to
include day care centers in the formula ad ban because if
the economy in Israel tanks they might need formula companies
as sponsors for their day care centers. Na'mat day care centers
are an important part of the economic and social fabric of the
country.
Your take on this is that it's not worth alienating Na'amat in
order to get day care centers on the legislation, because most
of the work of getting women to breastfeed should happen in a
health care setting and if hcps and society in general has
done it's job, then by the time the kids are back in day care
bf will be established and formula will be a moot point.

If I have this straight, then I have a couple of questions:
1. Are formula companies likely to sponsor day care centers in
trouble? If so, what will sponsorship mean or what will it look
like?

2. Have you had a conversation with Na'amat about the funding
issues? Are there other places they can turn for funding? What
is their relationship with and policy on corporate sponsorship
in general? How worried are they about running out of money?

3. In an ideal world, bf is well established by 3 months and
it shouldn't matter if there is formula advertising in day
care centers. But this isn't an ideal world, and going back
to work is a very vulnerable time for new moms, especially in
Israel, where the entire nation seems to run out of milk at
3 months.

4. Have you developed enough of a relationship with Na'amat
to discuss your concerns and develop some strategies for meeting
their concerns and yours?

5. In the end, you may be right that it's better to have a
powerful ally and part of the legislation than a powerful enemy
all of the legislation. It's a tough call, and I'm sure there
are nuances that you are painfully aware of but that are hard
to explain in an e-mail.

In answer to your question, I don't know of any articles on bf
and day care, but I imagine they exist. A search on education,
medical and/or social science abstracts should yield some
research.
 This is a tough one. Do keep us posted.
  Naomi Bar-Yam

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