This has been floating around on the email lists that I subscribe to. Though
the authors name is given I have not been able to locate the actual article
on line. But I really did have to share this.
Gland tidings of great joy
>>
>> By LIZ BRAUN -- Toronto Sun
>>
>> Let's not talk about Rene Heikamp, starving
> babies, social agencies, legal battles, futile
> inquests or any of the rest of it. Instead, today's
> topic is breastfeeding, a slight but important change
> from the usual handling of breasts in these pages.
>>>
>> About two months ago in The Sun, reporter
> Laura Bobak wrote an informative article about the
> many benefits of breastfeeding. Bobak pointed out,
> with grace and kindness, that certain at-risk babies
> might have had a better chance had they been
> breastfed.
>>
>> Having been absent on the day that grace and
> kindness were handed out, we would come right up and
> tell you that anyone who makes a choice not to
> breastfeed is just not paying attention. (Please
> note: We said 'choice'. Some women are not able to
> breastfeed. We know that. This is not about you,
> okay?)
>>
>> There is so much tip-toeing around the subject
> of breastfeeding that it's easy to see how people can
> be confused. In the name of not hurting anybody's
> feelings, or maybe in the name of supporting
> perfect baby bonding or some other touchy-feely
> subject, breast and bottle are often presented as a
> six-of-one, half-a-dozen-of-the-other proposition,
> with breast milk gently suggested as having some sort
> of vague advantage.
>>
>> Even La Leche League goes around politely
> whispering, "Breast is best," and they, of anyone,
> know better -- breast milk kicks the stuffing out of
> the competition. There is no contest. Breast milk
> rocks! The only worthwhile thing that comes in a
> bottle is 30-year-old scotch.
>>
>> From now on, the gloves are off. No more Mrs.
> Nice Breast.
>>
>> You want all the scientific evidence boiled
> down into easy terms? Breastfed babies are healthier
> and smarter. Their immune systems work like rockets
> and they all speak Greek and Latin fluently by
> the age of three; 98% of university professors and
> world leaders, not counting Bill Clinton, were
> breastfed as babies. Okay, I'll stop.
>>
>> One of the concerns some mothers have is
> finding a place to feed baby whilst out in public. We
> have all read the proper way to drape a little blanket
> over both baby and breast, in order to feed in a
> modest fashion and not offend anybody.
>>
>> Yeah, sure. Well, let's make a deal. The same
> day Pamela Anderson and her pneumatic ilk agree to
> throw a little blankie over their breasts in public,
> nursing mothers will agree to do the same.
>>
>> Until then, let it be resolved that women are
> free to ignore those righteous persons who want them
> to know that breastfeeding should be done in private
> only.
>>
>> (Such people, by the way, inclined to pick on
> the vulnerable as they are, may be gently rebuffed in
> these situations with a simple, "Bite me," although
> the all-purpose "F --- off," is useful repartee
> in a pinch.)
>>
>> You may have noticed some very bad reports
> about cow's milk in the newspapers lately. There seems
> to be a connection between milk and a whole pack of
> childhood diseases, including ear infections, asthma,
> SIDS and juvenile diabetes.
>>
>> Cow's milk is suspected of playing a part in
> the transmission of the bacteria that cause Crohn's
> disease.
>>
>> If any of your children has ever had an ear
> infection, you probably remember the pediatrician
> saying "No more dairy," or "No milk for a while."
> There you go.
>>
>> (You really don't have to be a tree-hugger in
> Birkenstocks to get off the milk wagon. Plenty of us
> nature-hating carnivores eschew milk.)
>>
>> Meanwhile, the best argument of all for
> breastfeeding is the one you will get from the lazy
> people, like ourselves -- there is nothing to boil,
>> sterilize, cool down or generally muck about with
> when somebody hungry is crying for you.
>>
>> You don't have to stumble around the house
> looking for apparatus. All a breastfeeding mother has
> to do is find her own breasts, a job even Lara Flynn
> Boyle could handle.
>>
>> And unlike bottles, you can't drop your
> breasts on the floor by accident in your new-mother,
> sleep-deprived state.
>>
>> You can never misplace the nipples, either.
>
>
**********************************************************************
Patricia Blomme RN
Perinatal Nurse
VP Canadian Childbirth Association
Birth Educator/Doula
Lay Breastfeeding Counselor
**********************************************
my website: Heads Up! All About Breech Babies http://members.home.net/ibirth
my thoughts:
http://www.themestream.com/gspd_browse/author/view_author_info.gsp?auth_id=7
7894
*********************************************
Our greatest food for thought is.......breastmilk!
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