I've been following this thread since the start and have read the website and
Sears letter of "excuse". I'm a private practice LC. My only income comes
from home visits, breastpump rentals and sales. I made more money doing
medical transcription at home when my two older children were little. I
boycott all the products made by ABM companies (ok--so I sometimes have a
frozen spinach souffle made by a company owned by an ABM company). I paid
for all of my books, conferences, IBCLC exam out of pocket. Before marrying
for the second time and having 2 breastfed children, I was a single parent of
2. I worry about having money to send my two to college now (hopefully the
bfing IQ will get them some scholarships). Breastfeeding is my "hobby",
because if my husband is unable to work fulltime as a truck driver, I would
have to find some "real" income. I am working on getting donations in order
to be able to attend the LLLI conference and am saving money to go to ILCA,
since I haven't been able to go for a few years now. I am not complaining.
I love what I do, but would never accept one penny from a ABM company.
One of Dr. Sears excuses really bothers me. Adoption. I have worked with a
lot of adoptive moms (recently a white mom here in the South who adopted a
African-American baby). Every baby should be entitled to MOTHER'S MILK.
Hence, all of us (Dr. Sears included) need to be working very hard, not
toward improving infant artificial feeding, but establishing breast milk
banks in EVERY single facility where babies are delivered. No excuses. BTW,
I bought the Baby Book for my daughter and we have all the Sears books in our
LLL library, and that is good. However, I see that he and Martha are
speaking at the LLLI Conference in Chicago. Maybe I'll decide not to use my
hard earned "donations" to support ABM advertising!
Alice Ernest IBCLC
Simpsonville, SC
Mom to Michelle (breastfed and breastfeeding), Ray 32,Nathan 16 & Jonathan 14
(who as a baby swam in the pool at the LLL Area Conference hotel with Bill
Sears toddler, probably #4 or 5. It was early Sunday a.m. and Dad was
letting me sleep.
Upset this week because our local Parenting monthly carries an ad for
"Babywise".
To end this on a positive note, I got a "weaning call" yesterday. African
American Mom-Baby, 3 wks old, already stopped bfing two days before,
engorged and wanting to know how to use cabbage. Baby throwing up ABM big
time. We talked, connected, visited and when I left last night (late) baby
was happily nursing like a champ! Mom works for our local newspaper. Now
plans to continue breastfeeding when she goes back to work!
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