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Subject:
From:
Chris Mulford RN IBCLC <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 10 Nov 1997 07:13:05 -0500
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Here's mine:

<November 10, 1997

To the intrepid editors of Redbook:

Bravo for your December news stand cover!  In nearly 30 years as a
breastfeeding advocate, I don't recall ever seeing a breastfeeding mother on
the cover of a major women's magazine in the U.S.A.  You've made an important
statement.  I hope you'll follow it up with some honest reporting about why
it's been such a struggle for breastfeeding to make a comeback in America.

You'll get flak for this cover, of course.  Remember the fuss about a nursing
picture that ran inside "People" magazine a few years back?  But you might
use the flak as the jumping-off point for a serious look at infant feeding
issues.  How did our culture's view of women's breasts get to be so
sexualized that breastfeeding becomes an impossible choice for lots of
pregnant women?  How have we managed to let ourselves come so close to
completely losing this important biological function?  If breastfeeding were
our cultural norm, people would assume that breastfeeding is part of every
mother's relationship to her baby, just as we assume that sex is part of the
relationship of every healthy, committed adult couple. It's time for a
revolution, and your cover can become one of the banners!

Being a person who sees connections even when they're not intended, I got a
chuckle from some of the accompanying headlines on the cover.  Breastfeeding
is for sure a "gift that thrills every child."  Once mom and baby know how to
do it, they both have sparks of desire "again and again and again."  And this
uniquely female relationship to her baby can be, for each mother, "one thing"
that she's "incredible at."

Thanks, and keep up the good work!

Chris Mulford
219 Dickinson Avenue
SWARTHMORE  PA  19081-1630
610/543-5990
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