Beloved Lactnetters,
I think the lactation community has done an overall
good to great job at educating the general public on
the *benefits of breastfeeding*.  Unfortunately, as
long as children are able to grow and thrive on
artificial infant milks (and they do), these benefits
seem unimportant in our bottle-feeding culture.

Rather than focusing on the *benefits of
breastfeeding*, it is time to Wiessingerize the
discussion, examine the other side of the coin, and
change focus to the *risks of artificial feeding*.
The public and many health care providers remain
largely unaware of the health risks of non-human milk
feeds for infants.  Yes, there are always going to be
infants who NEED a breastmilk substitute, but IMHO, if
more people were fully aware of the *long term health
risks* (hopefully) there would be more infants getting
exclusively human milk, and a real,lasting change in
the casual attitude toward artificial feeding.

My eldest self-weaned at around 9-10 months of age.  I
was grieving, but did not know what to do to change
the situation.  Had I known then what I know now about
the risks of using artificial infant milks, I would
have tried *anything* to keep her at breast, or at
least would have pumped so she could continue to get
my milk. When I think of the amount of soy formula she
ingested over the next year, I cringe and pray she
does not suffer any long-term effects.  But at the
time, it seemed "okay", mainly because I was unaware
of the health risks involved.  Of course, the AIM
companies weren't sayin' nuthin' about this.  No
warning labels on the cans..."Use of this product can
put your infant at increased risk for developing the
following conditions:...."

In my ignorance, I bought the lie that what I was
feeding my daughter was safe.  I will always regret
putting my trust in a company that made money from my
lack of knowledge.

This was tough to write.
Carole Jernigan

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