Hi All,
Just wanted to let you know that I read the WWW page that Peggy has.  Pretty
sad.  She had some quotes on there that came directly from Lactnet.  Here it
is one:
"[How about] 'Cocaine Use During Pregnancy Without Guilt', 'Driving Under the
Influence Without Guilt', 'Smoking in Your Baby's Face Without Guilt?'"

Did she get permission to quote that quote?  I doubt it.  Who wrote that one?
 I'm going to search my  files for it.

Anyway, I wanted to share my letter with you all.  I wonder if I will get a
response?
Enjoy!
Jay







Hello Ms. Robin,
My name is Janet Simpson.  I am a CLE and am studying to be a IBCLC.

I must tell you that I have read your book, loaned to me by a friend who
could not breastfeed.  She was afraid that I would not be able to read the
book with an open mind, but I am an open minded person.  I am also a
breastfeeding zealot, though I know that there are some women out there, like
my friend, who can't breastfeed for one reason or another.  I am respectful
to all women, regardless of their choice of how to feed their baby.  However,
I think that if more women knew the truth aboutABM (Artificial Baby Milk) and
what it can do to babies, they would choose to breastfeed, or at least
breastfeed for a while.
Your book has many things in it that I find very sad.  Many things are out
and out, in my opinion, lies.  The things that you say about the
breastfeeding community are so wrong. You lump all of us into one group of
militant ogres who care nothing about peoples feelings and opinions.  Yes,
there are people like that out there, but they are ABM feeding folks too.  We
are not a "Cult" as you present us.  We are people who are trying to let
folks know that breastfeeding is a beautiful gift you can give your child,
and also is the best way to feed your child.  For the women who can't
breastfeed, ABM is there for them for this reason.
While reading your book, I felt bad for all the women who will see a
misrepresentation of the breastfeeding community.  They will consider all
women who breastfeed as a bunch of mean spirited people who want to force
their opinions and ideals upon them, which is simply not true.  You also
lable all of us as Pro-Lifers, which is simply not the case.  Not all of the
ABM feeders are pro-Choice, and not all of the breastfeeders are Pro-Life.  I
frankly don't see how abortion even has anything to do withbreastfeeding.
I wish that you had decided to write this book as a way to help moms who
chose to bottlefeed or had to bottlefeed, not as a way to slam the
breastfeeding community.  I am sure that you do not think that you have
slammed the breastfeeding community, but you really have.  You have made it
seem as if Lactation Consultants are idiots and know nothing, and that the
breastfeeding community is out to make ABM feeding moms feel guilty.  That is
sad.  No one can make someone feel guilty.  People need to take
responsibility for their own emotions and their own decisions.  Your book
gives people an opportunity to cop out and lay the blame of feeling guilty
where it does not belong, on the breastfeeding community.  I support my moms
who have decided to give up breastfeeding, and they still feel guilty.  I
tell them that they did their best, and that they tried and that is what
counts.  They still feel guilty.  Why?  Because they know that breastmilk is
best.   In todays world, too many people want to make others responsible for
their failures or feelings.  We need to remember that we are responsible for
ourselves, our emotions and our lives.  No one can make us feel what we don't
want to feel.
As far as your quotes go on your web page, I recognize at couple of them.
 Did you get permission from the writers to post the quotes?  I will ask
them.  I know them.
I wish that you had chosen to write this book as a way to help ABM feeding
moms come to terms with their decision.  It would have been wonderful to see
a self-help type book designed to make ABM feeding moms accept their decision
in a healthy way, rather than give them someone to be angry at.  The moms who
feel guilty need understanding and reassurance, not a book that slams the
people who are there to help them in case they want to try to breastfeed, or
have problems breastfeeding.
I feel bad for you that you had so many problems breastfeeding your second
child.  I, too went through Hell to breastfeed my second child.  I was lucky,
I guess.  I had a supportive family and a great LC who worked with us for 2
months while I healed from the external damage that my son caused (pumping
and feeding EBM in a bottle), and then another 2 months while healing the
internal damage in one breast (sitll pumping on that side, breastfeeding on
the other).  I also suffered from bi-lateral mastitis that refused to resolve
for 4 months.  I was a very sick lady.  If I had not had the excellant
support I had, I would have quit breastfeeding too.  However, I chose to
stick it out.  That was my decision.  People thought I was nuts.  Maybe I
was.  But, I am still breastfeeding that same baby today, and he is now 17 mo
old.  And, I might add that he just got his first cold 2 weeks ago.  And, yes
he's been around plenty of sick people and kids in the past.
Thses are my thoughts about your book and what you have said in it.  I still
think there is a better way to support ABM feeding moms than to slam the
breastfeeding community.  Also, I urge you to recheck your references on
certain things.  There have been studies that have shown an average 10%
increased IQ in breastfed babies.  If you are interested, I'll find the
references for you.  But I figure that you are capapble of finding accurate
information on your own, if you really want to.  Would you be interested in
re-writing BWG in a fashion that is helpful and not intended as an attack
against the breastfeeding community?  I think that you would do a good job if
you tried.  I doubt that if you wrote a book supporting ABM feeding moms,
without attacking and slamming the breastfeeding community, that it would
raise the kind of controversy that this book has raised.  But, then again,
maybe controversy was what you after?
Sincerely,

Janet Simspon, CLE

If you would like to quote any part of this letter, please get my permission
first.  I do not want anything I write to be taken out of context and used
improperly.
Thank You.