Nikki wrote:
>> When focus groups were providing input into what became the terrific
>> video "Giving you the Best that I got Baby" (Maryland WIC in the middle 90s).
>> comment group participants made was about the lack of reality in
>> breastfeeding promotion. At the time, promotional materials never discussed
any problems >> which gave people the idea that breastfeeding was easy. The
section of the Maryland WIC film that deals with practicality is entitled
"Expect some  Difficulty".
>> " I remember the discomfort that many advocates, including myself, felt at
>> hearing a woman say on screen, "You can expect some difficulty." The narrator
>> went on to say "Don't give up, get help, most problems are solveable."


Thanks for reminding me of that Video Nikki. I was a member of the Maryland
WIC Breastfeeding TAsk force that worked on developing it.  The committee
had many long discussions about the expecting difficulty part, but it came
from strong feedback from WIC moms who thought we always protrayed
breastfeeding as too easy and didn't tell them the truth.  The moms in the
focus groups were clear that they already knew the benefits (or at least
that BREAST WAS BEST) and that hadn't made the difference.  They really
wanted a more realistic approach.  They wanted to know that problems could
be solved and that breastfeeding was possible.  Remembering back to those
discussions makes me question the National Ad campaign approach of focusing
on the benefits.  Seems to me that taking out the statements on Leukemia,
Cancer, and other illnesses plays right into the hands of the formula
industry.  They already know that the benefits approach doesn't work.

Peg Merrill, IBCLC
Baltimore, Md.

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