From a presentation given at the American College of Nurse
Practitioners National Clinical Symposium by Carolyn Montoya, MSN,
CPNP, October 9 - 13, 2002, Albuquerque, New Mexico
(http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/445472):
"The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that all infants
be breastfed.[1] For various health-related and other reasons, however,
parents often choose to feed their infants commercially prepared
formulas."
Dear Carolyn Montoya:
I was disappointed to read this rather off-hand explanation of parents'
choice to formula-feed. We know that there are a variety of social
pressures and problems with accurate information provision that lead
parents to choose formula over breastfeeding. Indeed, given the
problems with data collection in this area, I believe we may be dealing
with a much greater percentage of parents choosing to formula feed than
we now recognize. However, we also know that infants are universally
healthier when breastfed.
Your sentence implies that formula fed infants are healthier, which
would simply add to the problem of accurate information provision,
given your professional position. On the other hand, the sentence is
worded vaguely enough that you could be implying that parents choose
not to breastfeed precisely because their infants would enjoy better
health if they did so, which is absurd.
Of all the reasons you could have chosen to toss into your sentence as
an example of a major factor driving the decision to opt out of
breastfeeding, "health-related" is the most remote. Even including
galastosemia and (in the U.S.) AIDS, there are extremely few infants
whose health would be even more compromised on breastmilk than on
formula. Imagine if the sentence had read, "Because they have AIDS,
parents often choose to formula-feed." That would scarcely be
representative of most American parents.
If you constructed your sentence in the way you did in order to
communicate a sympathetic position towards parents who, for the most
part, do not realize the future loss in health to their child that a
lack of breastmilk will cause, I believe you could use your sympathies
more wisely by not obfuscating the health situation with regard to
infant feeding. It is a poor kindness to toss a sop to parents who are
dealing with a greatly increased number of infections and illnesses,
when by maintaining a strictly accurate position, one might help to
prevent such illnesses in the future.
I am writing to you just to let you know how important I believe
correct and precise wording to be, especially when a health
professional is giving vital health information.
Sincerely yours,
Arly Helm, MS, IBCLC
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