Hi All,
>I see the Walrond incident as a American cultural (read economic) rejection of
>breastfeeding. I wonder what are the commercial influences behind the slant of
>the coverage of this situation. Why is the question about the risks of
>breastfeeding?

This is driving me *insane*. When I was training as a nurse, I dealt
with several cases of so-called "failure to thrive" babies who were
actually victims of severe neglect (in one case, the mother had severe
PPD, but other mothers didn't have such an excuse). I have also dealt
with several mothers who's babies were desperately ill on formula and
were even unable to tolerate so-called "hypoallergenic" formulas. No one
said they were harmed by bottlefeeding, just that they were sick babies
(they needn't have been IMHO, if they had been breastfed and the mother
had been able to control her diet).

One case that particularly sticks in my mind was a 3mo baby who weighed
under his birthweight. The parents cannot have given him more than two
8oz bottles per day, which they propped (a social worker surprised them
with a visit and discovered this). I remember trying to bottlefeed this
poor baby - he was so weak, he could barely suck and we had to widen the
hole of the bottle teat to allow milk so kind of drip into his mouth. He
had to be tube-fed for what seemed like weeks until he was strong enough
to take the bottle properly. The parents were prosecuted, but I am
afraid I don't know what the outcome was, and the child was fostered out
when he left the hospital.

I suppose if this neglectful mother had been breastfeeding him twice a
day instead of bottlefeeding, breastfeeding would have been blamed?

In that case, ofcourse, it was pretty cut and dried that the parents
were at fault. In the Walrond case, perhaps there is some doubt, but
even so, it shouldn't be breastfeeding that was on trial. Sorry to jump
up and down and preach to the converted, but the fact that this baby was
breastfed is a total red herring!

I will now and nurse my baby in the hope that prolactin will calm me
down. Grrrr!
--
Anna H.
mailto: [log in to unmask]
http://www.ratbag.demon.co.uk/anna/

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