-  Tobacco controls were not introduced on the basis of campaigning for
clean air...

Morgan Gallagher


Hi Morgan
You are right. I quite agree that mothers are entitled to real information
about risk - and that 'moving towards the positive' is often code for 'I am
not comfortable telling mothers that'.  In fact there is some research
around the difficulty that doctors who smoke or are overweight have in
addressing these issues with their patients.
That said, the anti-smoking campaign quickly became everyone's problem.  It
was supported (at least here) with legislative change, fully funded quitline
counselling programmes, education for doctors and nursed and other community
wide interventions. 
My beef is that breastfeeding is still so privatised.  We still conceive of
it as a mother's individual choice.  We allow it to be constructed that way.
Obesity has the same problem and seems to be similarly resistant to
intervention - but more attention is being paid to solving that one (at
least here).
I think that the risk based messages (and the anti tobacco campaign has used
them quite effectively) have to be accompanied by the 'how you can support
mothers to breastfeed' messages and the legislative change (if necessary),
health professional education and the like that makes breastfeeding more
feasible in the real world.  

I am really enjoying this conversation.  My brothers are out from the UK and
I am starting to feel the need to visit there and to take the opportunity to
meet Morgan, Heather, Mike and others who reside there.  (That would be an
interesting lunch date, I think!)

Have a great Christmas 
Nina Berry
Australia 

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