It doesn't have anything to do with guilt, for me.  It's a question of making sure people understand what's normal.  If breastfeeding is "ideal," then formula-feeding is normal and safe, and there's really no reason not to dabble in it or switch to it or even start with it.  Suppose we were told that an ideal lifestyle includes some exercise.  How different will the impact be than if we're told about the risks associated with a sedentary lifestyle.  Are we talking guilt?  Or are we shifting the perception of what's normal?  

Guilt can be a natural outgrowth of someone not reaching some assumed norm, but guilt isn't what we're trying to induce when we talk about the hazards of not exercising, or of not wearing seatbelts, or of smoking.  We're after 1) accuracy in defining what's normal and 2) establishing a clear link between the problem and the problem behavior.  Why on earth is the wonderful 2004 Chen, Rogan article titled "Breastfeeding and post-neonatal death in the United States?"  Who would ever think to title an article "Healthy lungs and adult death in the United States?"  The second title clearly makes no sense, because the problem and the problem behavior have been disconnected.  What a pity we don't immediately see the disconnect in the first title.

I don't think the guilt notion figured into this at all until the formula companies pointed out that "we don't want to make mothers feel guilty."  We've been sidetracked by guilt ever since.   They're pretty good at coming up with smoke screens, aren't they?  

Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC  Ithaca, NY  USA
www.wiessinger.baka.com

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

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