I didn't mean to kick off yet another debate about the effectiveness of
benefits- vs. risk-based language. What I didn't state clearly enough in my
last email is that the overstating of risks, if not in fact, but in TONE,
and without consideration of an individual mother's resources and
challenges, can backfire. Telling a mother that formula feeding increases
her baby's risks of XYZ, but not addressing her social and cultural
challenges, is overstating the risks relative to HER reality. Many mothers
have to select among a variety of risks when choosing how to feed their
babies. They not only have to consider the health risks of formula, but the
risks of breatfeeding to their relationships at home, at work, and in the
world at large. For women living in a culture that can be downright hostile
to breastfeeding, choosing to do so anyway involves risk. The risk of having
vital support people belittle or sexualize your decision. The risk of having
your boss pound on the lavatory door while you try to pump or losing your
job because you spend too long walking back and forth to your car to pump
because you have no other place to go. The risk of being kicked off an
airplane or out of a restaurant or humiliated at the grocery store for not
being "discreet". These are all realities that women face. 

As far as the "failure" of benefits-based language, I agree that talking
about the benefits of breastfeeding to babies isn't enough to motivate a lot
of women, but as as is being discussed on another thread here, many women
are motivated by the benefits to themselves. The cost, convenience, and
bonding experience of breastfeeding won over many of us to breastfeeding.
See Diane Wiessinger's informal but telling study of the reasons the mothers
on this board chose to breastfeed; she found that 54% had what she called
"me" reasons. (Subject: stats from the "why I decided to breastfeed"
thread.) 

It's easy for those of us who live in a breastfeeding friendly reality to
choose to breastfeed and tell ourselves and others that we're doing it for
the health of our children. Here in the US, anyway, the vast majority of
women are not living in such a reality. Ignoring that fact while beating the
risk-language drum doesn't help moms or their children. 

Chris Musser
Mom's Milk Anywhere
Portland, Oregon

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