/Wonderfully put and I totally concur.
Let us all be proactive in support of breastfeeding for all our Mums as 
we know how!

Cheers
Eva
Australia
/
On 2/9/2013 5:09 AM, Pamela Morrison wrote:
> Karleen
>
> Congratulations on writing another fine article!  Although I'm aware 
> of the storm of protest over use of the word "devastating", I, for 
> one, approve your courage in telling it like it is when defending the 
> use of human milk over formula.
>
> Actually, the truth is, I'm a little nervous about our collective 
> concern about the need to be 100% politically correct, and dare I say 
> it, even apologist when we write and speak and advocate publicly for 
> breastfeeding/breastmilk-feeding.  I think there's a world of 
> difference in the approach we should take on the one hand with 
> individual mothers struggling with the decision to abandon 
> breastfeeding, or those who for whatever reason (the 0.1%) who 
> physically "cannot" lactate, and on the other hand the opportunities 
> we have in the public arena (ie generally) to 
> speak/write/strategize/advocate about how to protect, promote and 
> support breastfeeding.
>
> The former require, IMHO, exquisite empathy, sensitivity, caring and 
> tact, for humane reasons, and in recognition that the individual 
> mother does the best she possibly can in her particular, unique 
> circumstances, for her own individual baby.  I do believe that the 
> original wisdom of working with one mother at a time, and meeting her 
> where she's at, can't be improved upon. We could even apply the rule 
> to one healthworker at a time, or one policy-maker at a time.
>
> However, public, generalized statements about the importance of 
> breastfeeding, and the "devastating" differences between breastfeeding 
> and _not_ breastfeeding (formula) need to unambiguously clear, so that 
> no-one is in any doubt - this is a time to speak up.  I don't think 
> that, in writings which will be in the public domain, or in 
> pronouncements which will be repeated or aired or printed over and 
> over, it is helpful to be so tactful that it becomes difficult for the 
> average reader/woman in the street to become confused about our 
> message.  I find it achingly disappointing to see a TV interview with 
> someone who is one of our known big names put forward a publicly and 
> deliberately "moderate" point of view in order not to offend those who 
> so loudly defend mothers' rights to bottle-feed.   It adds to the 
> general misunderstanding that formula-feeding really doesn't matter, 
> so why are some of us making such a fuss about it?  And of course the 
> media love it.  And so do the very militant formula-feeders.
>
> Years ago, when breastfeeding was under serious threat because of the 
> move to provide replacement feeding to the babies of HIV+ mothers on a 
> global scale, a UNICEF person said to me "But you people are only 
> speaking in whispers".  And sure enough, formula-feeding was so 
> heavily supported and actively promoted for about a decade, with truly 
> "devastating" consequences that I wonder now whether breastfeeding 
> rates will ever revert to what they were before this initiative was 
> first dreamed up.  Some of us attempted to engage with those who 
> seemed to be ringing the changes and deliberately maintained a 
> carefully moderate stance so as not to be labelled fanatics.  It 
> didn't help.  Thousands of babies died.  If we don't speak up - who will?
>
> Sure, as I've recently discovered, today's mom's lists and blogs can 
> be merciless and very public in distorting our words and intentions 
> out of all proportion, so it's vital for us to be accurate and 
> scientific.  But do we write and speak for them, or for the health of 
> babies now and in the future?  In telling it like it is, I think we're 
> allowed to use the occasionally negative descriptive word to emphasize 
> a point. In fact, it might be high time we did.  The truth is that 
> physiologically, nutritionally and psychologically breastfeeding 
> really _does_ matter, and it might be our very restraint that 
> perpetuates the myth that it doesn't. So words like "devastating" are 
> good!  We shouldn't be intimidated into muting our advocacy.
>
> Pamela Morrison IBCLC
> Rustington, England
>
>
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