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>Date:    Mon, 15 Sep 1997 21:29:46 -0600
From:    Sulman Family <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: "Motherguilt"

I came across a book at a University Bookstore tent sale the other day and
was aghast at what I read when I flipped through it.  Not wanting to buy
it, I checked it out of the library.  The book is "Motherguilt: How Our
Culture Blames Mothers for What's Wrong with Society," by Diane Eyer, PhD,
(also author of "Mother-Infant Bonding: a Scientific Fiction").  New York:
Random House, 1996.

Dr. Eyer is not a mother herself, but here is some of what she has to say
in a section called "The Breast-Feeding Police":

        ...Although the psychopediatric community now claims breast is
best,
        the health advantages do not seem dramatic.  Entire generations
have
        been raised safely on formula.  <

Whoa!  I had to stop right there and comment.  In the May 1997 LLLI
Breastfeeding Abstracts, Dr. Jack Newman's feature article, "When
Breastfeeding is Not Contraindicated" stated:  "The fact that many millions
of babies have grown up in presumably good health without ever tasting
their mother's milk is a tribute to the amazing adaptability of the human
being, but it is not an argument for considering breastfeeding and
artificial feeding as equal or formula as without risk."

I have already had to use this quote at least five times in conversations I
have had with "disbelievers."
Thank you, Dr. Newman, for writing such a thought provoking article.

Susan Condon, BA, CLC, San Francisco