Janice Reynolds points out what several of us non-US Lactnetters have
noticed, and been bothered by, with the new PR campaign to increase BF
rates.  Heather Welford Neil noted that guilt seems to be a bad motivator
for improving public health, and that unless the guilt-inducing ads are
accompanied by legal sanctions, little change takes place, leaving us to
wonder how the legal sanctions would work without the guilt-inducing
tactics.  I don't think people put their children in car seats simply
because they would *feel* guilty, but because they would be *found* guilty
if caught, and there are penalties for this transgression.
Likewise drunk driving... Are parents actually smoking less around their
children since the current campaign with billboards showing a little boy
with puppy-dog eyes and overflowing 1960's ashtrays for lungs, or are those
who smoke merely feeling even worse about themselves?  Does anyone know?

The troubling thing for me is, as Janice says, the burden is placed squarely
on the mother - even though there is no move to protect a breastfeeding
mother's employee rights, nor to establish universal rights to maternity
leave as already exists in most of the world, even in countries nowhere near
as well off as the US.  These are the kind of sanctions I do not see in the
campaign - I am in no way hoping there will be fines for not breastfeeding,
or laws requiring women to do so!  I can echo Janice's words, probably on
behalf of many others of us outside the US: 'perhaps, since I am Canadian
(or British, or a US ex-pat living in Norway, fill in what fits for you) I
have a different expectation of the role of society in supporting individual
action.  I know that the US is built on a strong belief of "you can do
anything you want if you try hard enough", thus placing all responsibility
for breastfeeding on the shoulders of the mom.'  As Maureen Minchin wrote,
without the necessary support in place, breastfeeding becomes merely another
stick to beat women with.  We have enough sticks already.

I would add that the flip side of 'you can do anything you want' etc. is 'if
you are not successful, it is nobody's fault or responsibility but your
own'.  This attitude is more strongly ingrained in the US than in any other
country I can think of.  I sometimes miss the sense of personal
responsibility in work life - esp. in the health services - that I grew up
with in the US, and my own sense of responsibility for my work actions
sticks out like a sore thumb here because the norm is to be a cog in the
anonymous machinery.  But I don't often miss the victim-blaming which is so
easy to fall into from such a stance, and I am glad my children learned from
first grade on up, to think of themselves as part of a global community in
which we all share responsibility for one another's survival, and those of
us who have plenty of everything have a moral duty to share it with those
who have not enough.  Sadly, Norway is moving into a 'we have North Sea oil,
and the world is my breakfast' mentality so I'm glad my kids got through
school before that happened.

I am so impressed with women in the US who breastfeed despite the tremendous
obstacles in their way, and I use their dedication to inspire the daughters
of the welfare state with whom I work (who can seem spoiled by comparison!)
but in my heart of hearts I wish all women and all their children had a
safeguarded right to their breastfeeding relationships.

Rachel Myr
spouting off again from Kristiansand, Norway, where I nabbed my first
formula company logo pen during the pediatrician's rounds today, aarrrgh!!
It was a Mead Johnson Enfamil AR pen and the pediatricians all got them from
a rep who visited them recently to remind them how great the breastmilk
fortifier they make is.  The pediatrician didn't know that Enfamil is
formula, even though the AR type, thickened for babies who 'need thicker
feeds', is sold here to anyone who wants to buy it, in pharmacies.

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