As part of my job I go to local clinics and teach moms about breastfeeding -
with the nurses present so they can hear my answers to the moms questions and
learn what the moms are concerned about.  The nurses often ask more questions at
the beginning, which breaks the ice then the moms ask more.

All this is to explain that the other day I got to the class early and sat
through two of the videos that are shown to the moms - one on car seats and one
on vaccinations.  Lo and behold - lots of bottle-feeding babies throughout the
contents of the video.  Don't know if a formula company paid for the publicity,
but they couldn't ask for better publicity than this - all children need bottles
and are bottle fed at all times everywhere.

Now another challenge:  to educate the producers of ALL educational videos that
breastfeeding should be shown as "the norm" rather than the ever-present
bottles.  How can we reach them?  Do they have a professional organization with
some sort of newsletter?

Jeanette Panchula, BSW, LLLL, IBCLC, RN
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