Actually I spent a number of years in Zambia (Africa) and know of at 


Actually I spent a number of years in Zambia (Africa) and know of at least 1 family who lost 2 infants consecutively from feeding them Orange Fanta (soda) via bottle becuase they could not afford formula. Granted this was years ago and I was a teenager at the time with no children of my own, but I remember my parents discussing it and morning over the fact that the babies had not been breastfed. 

Holly McSpadden, IBCLC


________________________________
From: Pamela Morrison <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2009 12:46:12 PM
Subject: Obama overhaul education "from cradle to career"

Julie writes, "As a former home-visiting nurse to parents of newborns, I can testify that giving a free can or two of formula at each visit was a large part of my function.  Mind you, if this wasn't done, many parents wouldn't accept services, and some of these babies wouldn't have been fed...period."

This is shocking.  I should stress that I'm only citing Julie's words as just one more example of similar statements I've heard to defend provision of free formula.  Colleagues on both sides of the Atlantic have told me that if free formula wasn't available, then parents would feed their babies ordinary cow's milk, or coca cola, or almost any other unsuitable liquid - deliberately.  Can it be true?  Does this really happen??

There are two pre-conditions for bottle-feeding;  formula has to be both easily accessible and socially acceptable.  It seems to me that giving free formula fulfils both those criteria.  If a hospital or a department of health gives free formula to mothers (in or out of the maternity setting) it puts a seal of endorsement on its use.  At some level, every mother who uses the freebies must think to herself that bottle-feeding _must_ be OK, or the government/authority/health institution wouldn't be giving it to her baby.

What I'd like to know is if anyone has any research which demonstrates that parents/mothers in industrialized countries will actually starve their babies, or feed them orange squash or coke (or whatever) if they don't receive formula hand-outs.

Pamela Morrison IBCLC
Rustington, England 
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