Hi all

 

Anybody else catch the blood pressure-raising bit on the CBS Morning Show
about New York City's Mayor Bloomberg is "forcing" hospitals to keep formula
under lock and key and making befuddled new moms ask for it? It's been a
while since I've written a complaint letter, but here's what I just sent.
Please add your letters! 

 

Dear CBS This Morning:

 

The only thing more predictable than death and taxes these days is that as
we near the annual global celebration of World Breastfeeding Week (August
1-7), there will be at least one major news story that puts breastfeeding
(and those who support it) in a bad light and puts money in the formula
company pockets. Today's segment on Mayor Bloomberg's campaign to keep
formula under lock and key in the hospitals and "force" those poor confused
new mothers to ask for it fits the bill quite nicely.

 

Just a few points:

 

1.    Breastfeeding saves lives. Period. Not breastfeeding increases a
baby's risk for a laundry list of ailments from the annoying to the lethal.
Not breastfeeding increases the mother's risk for everything from breast
cancer to osteoporosis. Not breastfeeding even increases the landfill
overload and pollution. 

2.    Babies don't get to choose which they prefer. Mother Nature created a
system that they don't have to worry about what they'd choose. Babies are
born to breastfeed. It is the rare baby indeed who cannot breastfeed-and for
those babies, thank goodness there is an alternative.

3.    The best time to make a decision about something so important as how a
baby will be fed is long before delivery, and our health care system should
be set up to make sure that mothers-and fathers, grandfathers, employers,
legislators, etc-learn the importance of breastfeeding before the first
contraction. 

 

What made this morning's show even more laughable (although there was
nothing amusing about how this topic was presented) was that it was followed
by a segment about the importance of states passing laws to protect football
players from the heat. To follow the "logic" of the Bloomberg Breastfeeding
segment, it isn't fair to those football players to restrict their right to
play in 100+ heat. They should be asked first. 

 

Playing football in extreme heat IS dangerous and puts those athletes at
risk. Apparently passing laws to protect young athletes is an obvious
choice-and one that we should be indignant about NOT passing. But putting
regulations on how formula is marketed to protect babies is cause for
indignation all by itself. 

 

And then another segment talked about the evils of texting and walking down
the street and cities taking steps to prevent this health hazard. 

 

Don't get me wrong-football players shouldn't be playing in extreme heat,
and people shouldn't be walking and texting. But your inconsistency in
reporting measures that can be taken to protect people-including especially
newborns-is irresponsible.

 

It's not that formula is evil. It can be lifesaving for the RARE baby who
cannot breastfeed. It is the MARKETING of formula that is insidious. It is a
big business determined to get bigger-at the expense of our youngest
citizens. Mayor Bloomberg is just trying to do his part to improve the
health of all of NY's population.

 

Do your homework, CBS-Start with the US Surgeon General's Call to Action to
Support Breastfeeding:

 
<http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/breastfeeding/calltoactiontosupportbre
astfeeding.pdf>
http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/breastfeeding/calltoactiontosupportbrea
stfeeding.pdf And then Google "World Health Organization (WHO) Code of
Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes."

 

Sincerely,

 

Melissa Clark Vickers, MEd, IBCLC

Co-Editor of The 10
<http://www.ibreastfeeding.com/catalog/p306/The-10th-Step-and-Beyond:-Mother
-Support-for-Breastfeeding/product_info.html?osCsid=rm13mpjdiuq9t8qe6hog7881
u3> th Step and Beyond: Mother Support for Breastfeeding (with Virginia
Thorley, OAM, PhD, IBCLC, FILCA) 

 

[Note: In keeping with Lactnet rules about self-serving advertising, all
royalty income from The 10th Step is being donated to WABA.]


             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome