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Date: | Sun, 23 Jul 1995 00:41:22 -0400 |
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I got my moniker from a state official who called me a zealot in public for
using his words, unchanged, in a paper. His deputy said "you haven't
convinced me that breastmilk is that much better than formula." I replied,
"Then why are we promoting it?" Another staffer told me that some people
were offended that I was spending all my time on breastfeeding, until I
reminded her that my contract required me to put 40 hours a week into my job
as breastfeeding coordinator. I think they wanted to have 75% breastfeed and
let the other 75% continue bottlefeeding, not questioning the impossibility
of those numbers. The worst flak came from my pointing out that "increasing
breastfeeding to 75%" meant exactly the same as "reducing artificial feeding
to 25%" and that the flip side of "advantages of breastfeeding" is the
"drawbacks of artificial feeding." My granddaughter was born near the close
of the contract, and I figured "you want zealot? I'll GIVE YOU zealot! I
threw out my high heels and shoulder purse for a beltpack and comfy shoes,
and decided grannies had an inherent right to be opinionated. So there.
Linda Smith
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