<< Bright Future Lactation Resource Centre letterhead>>
Dear Secretary Thompson:
We support the National Breastfeeding Awareness Campaign as the Office of
Women's Health and the Ad Council are developing it. I urge the launch of
this campaign unaltered and on schedule.
I've heard the term "negative view" used by some whenever the "risks of not
breastfeeding" is brought up. I want to take issue with the term "negative
view."
There is wide agreement that "breast is best." That means that
"breastfeeding" and "not breastfeeding / everything else" are automatically
ranked, one better than the other. Simple logic dictates that whenever two
actions, items, or thoughts are ranked, one is BY DEFINITION better than the
other. If A is better than B, then B is worse than A. What is normal
determines the language reflecting that ranking: If B is normal, then A is
better than B. If A is normal, then B is worse than A. If wearing a seat
belt is normal, than riding loose in a car is dangerous. If riding loose in
a car is normal, then wearing a seat belt is safer. If smoking is normal,
then not smoking is healthier. If healthy lungs are normal, then smoking is
dangerous. If delivering a placenta intact is normal, then retained placenta
is dangerous; if a retained placenta is normal, then delivering an intact
placenta is better.
I grew up in a smoking society. My father was issued cigarettes in his Army
food rations during World War II, and my mother believed the advertisements
suggesting that smoking was normal, desirable, and fun. My grandparents
smoked, our doctor smoked, and my mom offered to teach me how to smoke
before I went out on dates so I wouldn't be embarrassed if I tried to learn
from my friends. My dad died at age 58 of esophageal cancer; my mother died
from emphysema at 71 - both killed by smoking. Before her death, my mother
said "Nobody told us smoking was bad or dangerous." Withholding or
whitewashing the truth about smoking caused my parents' early death. As we
all know, the societal attitudes toward smoking did an abrupt about-face
when Surgeon General Koop had the courage to speak the truth: smoking is
dangerous. As a result, healthy lungs are now considered normal, and there
are strong, effective programs and campaigns that have steadily reduced
smoking.
Breastfeeding is normal. If we want to "increase breastfeeding to 75%," that
automatically means "reducing artificial feeding to 25%." The phrase
"breastfed babies are healthier" suggests "not breastfeeding is normal." The
USBC has stated - in print, passed unanimously - that "breastfeeding is
normal, desirable and achievable." That means, by definition, that not
breastfeeding is ...well, how else would that sentence logically conclude?
Not breastfeeding is not normal. Speaking the truth about "risks of not
breastfeeding" is not a "negative view.' It's simply speaking the truth -
breastfeeding is normal.
Sincerely,
Linda J. Smith, BSE, FACCE, IBCLC
Bright Future Lactation Resource Centre Ltd
6540 Cedarview Ct, Dayton OH 45459
ph 937-438-9458 www.BFLRC.com
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