Dear Ms. Sklar,

I was informed about your website by another person interested in
breastfeeding promotion, and though I find the site interesting and useful,
I was surprised and discouraged by your use of a baby bottle as a prominent
graphic.  I realize this is meant to be clever in association with
"feedback", but one of the great problems in encouraging women to
breastfeed, and a common reason for early weaning is that bottle feeding is
seen as the norm in our society, and we have difficulty understanding
breastfeeding because we use bottle feeding as the model of normal.  I think
that our job will not become easy until *breastfeeding* is seen and
understood as the norm.  With graphics such as that seen in your website, we
are not moving ahead.

Perhaps you feel I am being picky or obsessive or paranoid.  But I wonder
what you would think if I put up a website and had a graphic of a mother
nursing her infant in the car without the baby being in a carseat?  Perhaps
with the caption "You can breastfeed anywhere anytime"?  I think the
situation is similar but if you do not, I would go to the websites below,
and check out the risks of formula feeding.  I know, I know, not all babies
who are formula fed get asthma, or juvenile diabetes.  And not all babies
exclusively breastfed for 6 months avoid getting asthma or juvenile
diabetes.  But then, not all babies who are not in car seats get injured in
car accidents either.

http://www.erols.com/cindyrn/drjack0.htm

or

http://www.bflrc.com/jn_arts.htm

Please feel free to get back to me if you would like to discuss this
further.

Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC