I loved Pat Lindsey's story about watching TV with her two-year-old while
Buffy St. Marie explained breastfeeding to Big Bird and nursed Baby Dakota on
Sesame Street.

The report of no nursing, but lots of bottles, on Sesame Street these days
has me VERY worried.  Do you suppose we could mount a campaign among
first-generation Sesame Street graduates and their parents to write in and
ask for more balanced coverage---demand a minimum of equal time for showing
normal feeding, when any baby mammal is shown feeding on the show?  Actually,
what we should be demanding is Real bf promotion and a bare minimum or total
absence of bottles.  The 3-5 age group is exactly where teaching about
breastfeeding should begin---if not before!

I do not have time to organize such a campaign, but I bet somebody or some
group of people could do it.  We have the resources through all those net
connections among nursing mothers and bf advocates.

It might be best to start with getting Proof.  We need some people
who---because of the nature of their work (mothering)---have Sesame turned on
a lot at home and could monitor the baby mammal feeding clips and count how
many times they show bottles and how many times they show (or imply)
mammaries.  Numbers and dates and times and stations are better evidence than
recollections.

A campaign would have the implied support of the Surgeon-General's HHS
Blueprint for Action on Bf, which says "Encourage the media to portray bf as
normal, desirable, and achieveable for women of all cultures and
socioeconomic levels."  What is missing from that language is "...to
audiences of all ages."  But I think we might assume that this language
belongs in the plan.  If you are going to show baby feeding to little kids,
then you have an obligation to show normal baby feeding at least as much as
the abnormal (bottle feeding of abandoned or domesticated animals, bottle
feeding of humans).

What resistance points would we be likely to encounter?  I mean, of course,
OVERT resistance points---since there is formula money at Sesame Street, the
main unspoken resistance point would be "we can't stop being useful to our
donors."  But what we'd probably be told openly is that parents object to
their children being taught material that the parents deem is their job to
teach.

We already know that we have a lot of bottle feeding parents out here, and a
lot of people who are uncomfortable with breastfeeding.  Do you suppose they
intend EVER to teach their children about beastfeeding?  Do you suppose they
really would prefer that their grandchildren not be breastfed---to save
themselves from feeling uncomfortable or embarrassed?  Aren't they a target
audience too?  THEY certainly need some education on this public health issue!

Doesn't Sesame Street, as an educational program, believe it has a
responsibility to teach basic science and health information to its audience?
 Some tasteful lessons on what is a mammal? and how do mammals feed their
young? and what is a mother?---these could educate the parents too!  You
never have to show a human breast.  Just ditch the bottles, show lots of baby
mammals nursing, including some shots of cute babies--lambs maybe, or foals,
or piglets--actually latching on and off, so there's no doubt that
mouth-to-teat contact is happening.  Then slip in some fully-clothed human
moms and babies--including some not-so-young babies--and let the kids draw
their own conclusions.  Kids are smart enough to "get it."

There is a point that Linda Smith made long ago--which is hugely obvious but,
like the elephant in the living room, is seldom acknowledged.  If we want to
have MORE breastfeeding, we have to have LESS formula feeding.  A corollary
of that proposition could be that Public Television, which is supposed to
serve the public good, should show MORE breastfeeding and LESS bottle feeding
in its children's shows.

A second, and perhaps weaker, argument against showing bottles on Sesame,
would be that there are plenty of people out here who are offended by seeing
BOTTLES!  And by having their children see bottles being used to feed baby
mammals.  I am always tempted to voice this reaction for myself, when public
bfing is at issue, but I always worry that it would make me seem too kooky.

A compromise to offer Sesame Street might be that it's OK to show the
occasional bottle being used to feed a baby mammal (including humans) if it's
clear that the baby has no access to its mother.  Show mothers nursing.  Show
zookeepers, hospital nurses, farmers, baby sitters and day care providers
bottle feeding---as long as you also show mothers nursing in the same film
sequence---zoo mothers, hospitalized mothers, mother farm animals, and
mothers in the workplace.  And make as many as possible of the bottle feeders
male, so the little boys can relate to being warm and nurturing, without
saying they have to feed their own babies with a bottle.

Well, now that I've written the script, I feel a lot better!

So who wants to organize a popular uprising?

Chris Mulford
former TV viewer in Swarthmore, PA

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