The reason US rates are so appalling has a lot to do with the fact that the US defines infant mortality more broadly than many countries do... Many places do not include infants that die in the first 24 hours of life in their infant mortality statistics, these deaths are classified as deaths that occur in the pre-partum period...many do not include the deaths of babies born prematurely as the US does... By no means do I think the US is a birthing utopia...far from it...but I do think the fact that US reports more accurately than some countries needs to be acknowledge... I think Obstetrical practice in the US may be the least evidence- based of any medical subspeciality here, because so much of what is done to women is for the convenience of the physician and hospital staff, and as the result of the practice of defensive of medicine i.e. fear of lawsuits... Of course this is a chicken and the egg question...maybe there wouldn't be so many lawsuits if obstetrical practice were more evidence-based... Catholicism encourages responsible parenthood which includes taking into consideration the physical and emotional health of one's spouse, the children one already has- i.e. their material, emotional and spiritual needs , and taking into consideration the conditions of the society in which one finds oneself ... The Church teaches there is a positive moral obligation to breastfeed and that by doing so faithfully mothers reap the benefit of the healthy spacing of births, and when the conditions outlined above require the limiting births other NFP methods are used once LAM can no longer be used... Ignorance of NFP leads to the conclusion that it is unrealistic the same way ignorance about breastfeeding leads to the conclusion that it is unrealistic... Artificial feeding and artificial contraception have many parallels and in fact are inter-related in cyclic cause and effect fashion... There is a political agenda (how health-care is paid for) and anti- religious agenda at work in the article... as usual we have to read critically what is reported as *fact* Jennifer O'Quinn IBCLC On May 9, 2006, at 11:41 AM, Annalee Hulburt, IBCLC, RLC wrote: > U.S. has second worst newborn death rate in modern world... > > Melinda Gates says, > > "It's tragic that millions of newborns die every year, especially > when these deaths are so easily preventable," Gates wrote. "Three > out of four newborn deaths could be avoided with simple, low-cost > tools that already exist, such as antibiotics for pneumonia, > sterile blades to cut umbilical cords and knit caps to keep babies > warm." > > ~~So how come in the US, where we have everything money can buy, > is our rate so appalling? What about optimal infant nutrition > practices? The article puts "modern contraception" in the > forefront, as a marker of survival; folks, that's not what it's > about...duh...Annalee Hulburt > > see full article~ > http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/parenting/05/08/mothers.index/ > index.html > > > Annalee Hulburt, IBCLC, RLC > Lactation Consultants of San Diego > www.BreastfeedingSanDiego.com > 858.740.7900 > > > > > *********************************************** > > To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail > To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) > To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet > All commands go to [log in to unmask] > > The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned > LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) > mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: > http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html > > *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html