Dear Lisa, I researched the net and found an email address for Liz Braun of the Toronto Sun. Here is her blanket permission to copy. Judy Ritchie -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: Gland tidings of great joy Date: 29 Mar 2001 09:28:29 -0500 From: Liz Braun <[log in to unmask]> Reply-To: Liz Braun <[log in to unmask]> To: Judy Ritchie <[log in to unmask]> Dear Ms. Ritchie, I did indeed write this article. Your kind note has made me blush, and I hasten to add you may use it, share it, wrap fish in it, whatever, with my heartfelt permission. If it helps any woman make the right choice to breastfeed, that would be terrific. All the best to you, and many thanks for writing. Regards, Liz Braun On Wednesday, March 28, 2001, Judy Ritchie <[log in to unmask]> wrote: Did you actually write this? because I loved it and hope you did. It was on the Internet and I would like permission to share it with friends who breastfeed. Judy Ritchie Olympia WA By LIZ BRAUN -- Toronto Sun Let's not talk about Rene Heikamp, starving babies, social agencies, legal battles, futile inquests or any of the rest of it. Instead, today's topic is breastfeeding, a slight but important change from the usual handling of breasts in these pages. About two months ago in The Sun, reporter Laura Bobak wrote an informative article about the many benefits of breastfeeding. Bobak pointed out, with grace and kindness, that certain at-risk babies might have had a better chance had they been breastfed. Having been absent on the day that grace and kindness were handed out, we would come right up and tell you that anyone who makes a choice not to breastfeed is just not paying attention. (Please note: We said 'choice'. Some women are not able to breastfeed. We know that. This is not about you, okay?) There is so much tip-toeing around the subject of breastfeeding that it's easy to see how people can be confused. In the name of not hurting anybody's feelings, or maybe in the name of supporting perfect baby bonding or some other touchy-feely subject, breast and bottle are often presented as a six-of-one, half-a-dozen-of-the-other proposition, with breast milk gently suggested as having some sort of vague advantage. Even La Leche League goes around politely whispering, "Breast is best," and they, of anyone, know better -- breast milk kicks the stuffing out of the competition. There is no contest. Breast milk rocks! The only worthwhile thing that comes in a bottle is 30-year-old scotch. From now on, the gloves are off. No more Mrs. Nice Breast. You want all the scientific evidence boiled down into easy terms? Breastfed babies are healthier and smarter. Their immune systems work like rockets and they all speak Greek and Latin fluently by the age of three; 98% of university professors and world leaders, not counting Bill Clinton, were breastfed as babies. Okay, I'll stop. One of the concerns some mothers have is finding a place to feed baby whilst out in public. We have all read the proper way to drape a little blanket over both baby and breast, in order to feed in a modest fashion and not offend anybody. Yeah, sure. Well, let's make a deal. The same day Pamela Anderson and her pneumatic ilk agree to throw a little blankie over their breasts in public, nursing mothers will agree to do the same. Until then, let it be resolved that women are free to ignore those righteous persons who want them to know that breastfeeding should be done in private only. (Such people, by the way, inclined to pick on the vulnerable as they are, may be gently rebuffed in these situations with a simple, "Bite me," although the all-purpose "F --- off," is useful repartee in a pinch.) You may have noticed some very bad reports about cow's milk in the newspapers lately. There seems to be a connection between milk and a whole pack of childhood diseases, including ear infections, asthma, SIDS and juvenile diabetes. Cow's milk is suspected of playing a part in the transmission of the bacteria that cause Crohn's disease. If any of your children has ever had an ear infection, you probably remember the pediatrician saying "No more dairy," or "No milk for a while." There you go. (You really don't have to be a tree-hugger in Birkenstocks to get off the milk wagon. Plenty of us nature-hating carnivores eschew milk.) Meanwhile, the best argument of all for breastfeeding is the one you will get from the lazy people, like ourselves -- there is nothing to boil, sterilize, cool down or generally muck about with when somebody hungry is crying for you. You don't have to stumble around the house looking for apparatus. All a breastfeeding mother has to do is find her own breasts, a job even Lara Flynn Boyle could handle. And unlike bottles, you can't drop your breasts on the floor by accident in your new-mother, sleep-deprived state. You can never misplace the nipples, either. *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html