> Forgive me if this comes through twice.  I recently(as an assignment for BreastEd)figured the cost of feeding formula for
> one year in Canada, you can see this at my advocacy groups website
> http://ca.geocities.com/mothersownmilk

I'm just wondering if perhaps prices are different throughout the
country, i.e. due to hidden taxes, or whatever.

I wouldn't mind researching here in Québec, but don't know exactly how
people are looking at the prices.  Just noting how much an X-sized can
of Y type of material costs and sending back to the list to have it
added up with some mathematical FORMULA (pun intended)?

> click on the "why not formula" button.  I couldn't believe how much it would cost to
> artificially feed, you'd think that alone would be enough to convince everyone to breastfeed, eh?

I think that the major problem with this is that formula cost is
something people assume that every baby will need, and "if you can
breastfeed, even for a month or 2, you're lucky because you'll save
money".  This fits in with Diane Wiessinger's "Watch Your Language"
essay, in my opinion, in that we should tell moms that babies don't
actually cost a lot except for a carseat and a sling and diapers and
clothes, but that if you choose to formula-feed you're going to have a
big bill of formula to pay plus medications, dr's visits, bottles,
electricity etc.  I guess that gets into the politics of babywearing,
co-sleeping, holding your baby, using cloth diapers etc. a lot more too,
a lot of which much of our world is not quite ready for, but I do
honestly think that parents should know that a baby in itself does not
need to cost much at all really for the first 6 months with the
exception of a carseat (*if* you have a car or will be using one at any
point in time), and this only because we live in a society with cars,
and if you want a sling you can find a way to make one if you get some
material on sale...but the cost of a sling is very little compared to
the cost of a stroller.  ;-)  (Oh, there's the diapers [foldable cloth
ones are the least expensive] and the clothes, but quite honestly,
anyone with a bit of a thrift bone in their body can go to Value
Village, or any other used clothing store and find lots of bargains if
necessary.)

For what it's worth, I also found that during the first month of my
daughter's life I didn't need many clothes either.  She was constantly
snuggled up to me, skin-to-skin, nursing.  When she wasn't I just draped
a recieveing blanket over her to keep her warm.  I had 3 pairs of
pyjamas that fit her (she was fairly small at birth) and used them for
outtings.  After that first month or so, she fit into the bigger clothes
I had.  Given the fast growth in the first month, I'm sure this could be
a big cost-saver if everyone did this.

How many moms in developing countries spend lots of money (or resources,
i.e. MAKING a crib out of wood, or whatever the equivelant might be) on
their babies up until they start eating food with the family (which
probably isn't expensively puréed food at 6 mos, is it?)?  I suspect
that their costs for young babies are considerably lower than are ours,
whether counted in money or in personal work time, using things from our
surroundings to make whatever we might make.

Fio.
ressource person with Allaitement Québec.

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