I agree with Naomi.  Rosin is a disgruntled client and we need to treat her with respect. Consider the possibility that she is right. Thinking out loud here.

If an educated lay-person can’t sort out the evidence, who can blame her? We (Americans) have allowed Big Food and Big Pharma to drive the agenda at our government agencies. The USDA and the FDA should have the best interests of the citizens at heart. They don’t. They are vehicles for furthering the for-profit motives of industry.  They obfuscate the facts. Good health and good nutrition isn’t nearly as complicated as they pretend it is. You shouldn’t have to have a masters degree in nutrition to understand that what our government passes off as a healthy diet -- isn’t! and when you become aware of that, you start to wonder who else might be playing you and how and why…. 
We are guilty of “nutritionism.” Cherry picking our favorite studies, and talking about the components of the milk as if it was a magic elixir, all at the expense of breastfeeding our babies. At the breast. I mean, are your clients nursing a baby or a breastpump? Be honest. And here’s another thing: if it is about the milk, why can’t women have real access to donor breastmilk? Horrors! Someone needs to step up and take responsibility for that. We simply can’t have it both ways: educating the public on the hazards of formula and then offering no meaningful alternative other than formula for when mothers own milk won’t suffice. 
 

 If breastfeeding is a major public health issue why do our independent and governmental health agencies put the onus right back on women?  And place us in a structure of childbirth, healthcare, and maternity leave in which to fail. All they want to give us is education.  No real support. That’s really all we (as American citizens invested in public health) can come up with? An ad campaign that can’t decide whether to cajole or to fear-monger. A help line.  How about we (American citizens invested in breastfeeding) put our money where our mouths are and come up with actual public policy like say, paid maternity leave or tax credits for breastfeeding women?  How about starting with demanding that lactation care be covered by insurance.  Btw, 
 

Breastfeeding is not free. It’s hard work and we do it with our bodies. It should be counted in the gdp and we should enjoy some kind of in kind beyond the personal satisfaction we take from our work.  Btw, in the New Yorker piece a couple of weeks ago, Jill Lepore alleges that corporations are being offered tax break incentives for establishing workplace pumping programs.  Can that be true??? How outrageous is that? The workplace gets money. You get to drop your baby off at daycare and cozy up to your breastpump. No wonder Rosin feels like a tool.
 

 Personally, I know of no greater joy. But is that what we get? Personal fulfillment while everyone else gets a piece of the action?  Anyone who’s taken a women’s studies course knows that women have been told bearing and raising children is in their nature and is compensation in itself. And it’s been used to justify lack of access to power.  It’s no wonder someone might think she is a tool of well for lack of better word, the patriarchy? Does anyone still use that word?
 
 

Here’s the thing: breastfeeding is infant feeding. We don’t have to prove anything or convince anyone. And it’s not just about the milk.  We need to start a national conversation about that.
 
 kristen Panzer, MS IBCLC
 
 
 
_________________________________________________________________
Windows Live™: Life without walls.
http://windowslive.com/explore?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_allup_1a_explore_032009
             ***********************************************

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