Re Anne Altschuler's (hope *I* spelled it write, from memory) letter to the
American Doll Company:  At least you got a response.  I remember writing
them a not-very-polite letter in December of 1989.  I had just gotten back
from 6 months of research in Mali, West Africa, right before Christmas, and
had been inundated with 3 or 4 of their catalogs, advertising their Early
American dolls for something like $100 a piece, plus more for the clothing.
I wrote them a scathing letter about how obscene I thought it was that they
even made dolls that cost this month when children in Mali were starving,
and had no toys at all to play with.  I pointed out that the average Malian
family income is about $300 per year, and that $100 for a doll could feed a
Malian family for almost a year.  I was on a tear, suffering from reverse
culture shock.  They never even answered me.  I wonder if they would
remember me?

Anne writes: It would be nice to address
>their belief that breastfeeding excludes the toddler

I could write that surely nursing from the other breast while the baby
nurses is a much better way for the toddler to share the joys of feeding the
newborn!  Think they would go for that?  I haven't seen this new
collection....just as well.  Get Rachael Hamlet to post this to her activist
bf list, and see if you can generate hundreds of letters!  Tell them that
you won't be buying their dolls this Christmas for your daughters,
granddaughters, nieces, or friends, because of their continued promotion of
bottlefeeding.  I wonder if next they'll have the new bent bottles.....

Clearing up a slight misunderstanding:
Felicia wrote that the only problem with Rh compatibility is in the Rh-
mother who gets Rh+ blood in her bloodstream -- but that isn't true.  It
really doesn't hurt the mother at all to get Rh+ blood in her bloodstream.
Her body will produce anti-Rh+ antibodies and destroy the Rh+ blood.  The
problem then is that she continues to have the anti-Rh+ antibodies in her
bloodstream forever (it's just like being immunized), and with the NEXT
pregnancy, there can be leakage of maternal blood across the placenta (not
usually, but occasionally in all pregnancies) and then the mother's anti-Rh+
antibodies attack and destroy the red blood cells of the fetus.  That may
result in infant death, or severe anemia in the fetus/newborn necessitating
complete transfusions.  The shots of Rhogam given to the mother after the
birth of the FIRST Rh+ child are synthetic, degradable anti-Rh+ antibodies,
that destroy any Rh+ cells from the baby that got into the mother's
bloodstream, thus preempting her own body's response.  Once they have done
their duty, they degrade, so aren't there to put her next Rh+ baby at risk.
Again, the conclusion is that the baby can't be harmed by maternal blood it
ingests consequent to breastfeeding.


Re Cancer of the Esophagus:
This is OLD news, and didn't hold up to scrutiny.  Shame on Parent's
magazine.  The baby bottle nipples are silicone, aren't they?



Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Specialist in infant feeding and growth of children
Texas A&M University
e-mail to [log in to unmask]
(409) 845-5256
(409) 778-4513