When responding to the Salon piece about the NY Times article 'BREASTFEED OR
ELSE' I would recommend acknowledging the truth in what some respondents
have said: it is at best a double message to women, to tell them how risky
it is not to breastfeed while failing to provide adequate maternity leave,
including breastfeeding breaks after main leave is over.  I had the same
exact thought when I read the NY Times article.

The US continues to be quite unique in the world in continuing to place the
entire burden for infant nutrition on the mother/family, without making any
real provisions for her to be able to give her child normal nutrition for
the normal amount of time.  Imagine if the entire burden for road safety was
on the drivers of cars - no road signs, street lighting, speed limits,
traffic codes, regulations for standard equipment in cars - all those things
we take for granted when we travel by car.  Why is infant health less of a
concern to the state than road safety?  I'm so old I remember when my father
went and got seat belts installed in our 1949 Plymouth, in the early 1960s.
That was before they were required standard equipment.  Unthinkable today,
no?

Developed, wealthy countries with the highest breastfeeding rates are the
same countries with the highest rates of participation by mothers in the
paid work force.  It can be done.  The per capita domestic national product
is about the same in the US as it is in Norway.  The US could afford to
truly enable mothers to breastfeed.

Obviously I don't think we should shoot the messenger who says artificial
feeding is risky; we should do something so that women in the US can enjoy
the same rights as their counterparts in many many comparable countries
around the world.  To fail to acknowledge the lack of choice experienced by
millions of women in the US is to antagonize the very women who need our
advocacy the most.

And of course Kerry is right - point out whatever ties exist to the formula
industry in the people quoted in the Salon article!

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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