Thanks to Mary Kay Smith, Mardrey Swenson, Ruth Fiedler, and Linda Smith
for your enthusiastic responses to my attempt at a "balanced statement"
about infant feeding. Glad you liked it. If you're confused about its
purpose, though, you're not alone.

What I intended by writing it was to provoke thought and discussion.
There was also a sly, playful spirit that led me to use the infant
formula industry's own language in the statement. But I didn't mean this
seriously as a manifesto---more as a place to begin talking abut how
things are and how they might be different.

Is there a place for infant formula in today's world? In the absence of
1) universal access to effective breastfeeding support and 2) widely
available banked human milk with affordable price and fair compensation
to the suppliers of that milk, I regretfully conclude that there is a
place. Those babies gotta eat, and a mother who is truly unable to
provide the human milk that her baby needs has her back to the wall.
She's in a situation with which we all sympathize...and which we have
seen all too many times.

The problem is that by merely existing, commercial infant formula
decreases the public's motivation to provide breastfeeding support and
crowds out the milk banks...and corporations do more than merely exist,
they seek to grow their markets, to spread their influence, to demolish
their competition and take over the field. Our task as advocates is to
find ways to put corporations on a leash, to limit their influence, and
to build instead the necessary network of breastfeeding protection,
promotion, and support, with milk banks as a safety net. It is truly a
huge task. I am glad that all of us Lactnetters are there to work toward
that goal.

Chris

Chris Mulford, RN, IBCLC
LLL Leader Reserve
working for WIC in South Jersey (Eastern USA)
Co-coordinator, Women & Work Task Force, WABA

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