Our local BF Alliance offers to come to area High Schools and present a
breastfeeding componant to the child developement classes. It has been a
blast to do and really gives our Alliance a chance to educate our youths (
and future breastfeeders :)
 My own children have been given so much breastfeeding education that my
oldest daughter did her senior paper on the Benefits of Breastfeeding and
the Risks of Formula. Her presentation was so well done she not only
received an A but also educated her teachers and fellow students.
 Especially with the misleading marketing presented daily by the formula
companies, the biggest "myth busting" I do when I teach is  to use these
ads and encourage the teens to become "smart" consumers.  Even the ad from
a natural gas company, that shows a block having an electric poweroutage
but in the house with a gas stove, the mother is able to go down the
darkened stairs an heat a baby bottle....thanks to the power of gas- I have
the students concider the risks the mother is actually taking- falling down
dark stairs, formula from a fridge thats lost its ability to  keep the
formula at  a "safe" temperature, etc. and discuss how the reality of
choosing to breastfeed permits the mother to keep her infant close, not
have to walk around the house in the dark and feed her baby safe food from
a source not at risk from bacterial growth due to unsafe storage..
Between these types of ads and the  ones from the formula companies I love
to demonstrate to the teens how these ads depend on them,as consumers, to
be too stupid to really look through the pretty pretty message of their ads
and see the reality. "Comfort proteins" is one of my favorites!!! After we
look at the pretty baby and the breautiful flowers and hearts flowing
around the baby's tummy, I ask the teens their opinion of the ad...then I
ask " if this product is soo good for a baby and sooo natural for them to
digest- why do they have to add "comfort proteins"? Isn't the real message
that this is so unnatural for the infant that to digest it causes enough
distress that they have to add stuff to keep the baby out of pain?"
 You should see the kids faces when they start to think this out! I LOVE
IT!!!!!
  I encourage all Alliances to approach their local schools and ask to
become part of their guest speaker rotation for the Child Development
classes. Our group also present breastfeeding information to their
alternative program for the pregnant teen students...  lets start to really
educate our young!!!
Lisa Jones RN RLC IBCLC

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