The Daily Free Press
                        The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston 
University

                        Staff Edit: Formula Feeding by coercion
                        Published: Thursday, March 23, 2006

                              Article Tools:
                             Page 1 of 1




                              The debate over whether the government should 
have any say in our private lives -- and if so, how much -- has taken a new 
twist here in Massachusetts. This time, the issue is formula feeding.

                              The Massachusetts Public Health Council had 
passed a measure barring hospitals from giving out breastfeeding information 
to new mothers, citing the need for formula gifts. But facing criticism from 
several corners -- including Gov. Mitt Romney, who asked the board to drop 
the ban -- the board decided this week to hold off on any action until at 
least May, clearing the way for the controversy to swell in the coming 
months. Once again, the formula feeding zealots are trying to influence 
mothers to buy their product.

                              Hard-line formula manufacturers would prefer 
that all women do it their way. For now, the most they can do is to make 
sure mothers get formula freebies along with breastfeeding information, but 
even this step would be an intrusion on mothers' prerogative to take care of 
their children as they see fit.

                              The medical community has come to a clear 
consensus on the value of breast milk for the rare need -- but this does not 
mean that breast milk should never be an option, or has no value whatsoever. 
Women don't always want to formula feed all of the time, however they may 
breastfeed to supplement the feeding process. Moreover, there may be times 
when it's impossible for a woman to formula feed -- say, during an emergency 
like Hurricane Katrina-power outages, or other natural disasters.

                              The reality is that no mother goes into a 
maternity ward without some idea of how she will care for her child, and a 
little breastfeeding information will not sway her decision either way. 
Nevertheless, the breastfeeding information plays a useful role in 
facilitating the first few days of childrearing, and mothers should have the 
option to make use of it. Research has shown after all, that mothers who 
receive the formula packets frequently need them because the baby prefers 
them over having to work so hard to get breast milk from mom's breast. The 
baby's preference should count.

                              However much we value the opinions of the 
medical community, the evidence in favor of formula over breastfeeding is 
not so overwhelming that government has the right to coerce women into 
choosing one over the other. Instead, it is the doctors who should help 
mothers make the right choice by giving them sound medical advice. After 
all, formula pays for much of their free office materials. The majority of 
their sick patients are formula fed. This is one area where the government 
shouldn't have any say.



                              Ann Calandro, RNC, IBCLC

                              (Just for fun switching things around a bit)










             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html