http://www2.oprah.com/tows/slide/200402/20040225/tows_slide_20040225_10.jhtml

The opinions of  television personalities have a major impact in the US on public opinion and thus our choices. The link above is from today' s Oprah Winfrey Show. This couple had designed a blanket to hold the infant feeding bottle while the parent holds the baby. Their invention was previously demonstrated on Oprah's show and they received 3000 emails and the product will now be marketed by Toys R Us. (In case anyone hasn't noticed, Oprah has never been a friend to natural birth or breastfeeding, but I would venture to say that if she had been, it would have had a very positive impact on the health of women and children in this country).

I understand the concern with nurse-ins, and I also know that the average mom may feel motivated in a moment of outrage to take action, but the issue often falls away when she is past breastfeeding or just immersed in her life. On the other hand, these kinds of actions can make a difference, when the timing is right. For example, several years ago, we had legislation introduced in CT that would severely restrict the rights of homeschooling families here. With less than three days' notice, we had over 1000 people at the capital in protest. The bill never made it out of committee. 

I agree with Janice that PR is severely under-utilized by breastfeeding advocates. I suggest that anyone really interested read the book "The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR". It isn't that these efforts are a bad idea; it is that they need to be organized and orchestrated and properly timed and efforts need to be sustained over time. 

CT is one of the states in the US that has legislation protecting a woman's right to bf in public and her right to pump in the workplace. While I was not involved (except to be present) the year that we did pass the BF in Public legislation, it was a phone call from me to my local representative that initiated the first effort two years before. The timing was right--his mother had been a LLLL and he had just read about a similar law in another state. Two years later, the harrasement a mom encountered in public set off protests and another call for legislation. That time, it passed. It is often a combination of outraged protests and methodical working with the system that creates change. 

I agree that changing the way that AIM is marketed is essential, but the reality is that changing the way we as a culture value breastfeeding, and thus what we are willing to do to protect it, is a multi-faceted issue. Individual mothers do need to feel a personal threat, b/c it is their voices that will ultimately create a din that cannot be ignored. It will not be the voices of lactation professionals. What we can do is educate, support and lay the groudwork for effective systemic changes.
Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, CT, USA

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