I love how a healthcare decision is dependent in the USA by a consideration
of how shocking the recommendations maybe to the patients.  My, what care and
concern we have about the psychological well-being of American women!

Most of the American mothers I know, if the pediatrician says wean because
today is Wednesday and it looks like it is going to rain, will wean out of
respect for the knowledge and expertise of that medical person.  So, if the
doc says we recommend breastfeeding for 1 year, do you really think these
women would question it.  They might think it was crazy but many would try
and do it.

So what, if American women do not want to hear a healthcare recommendation?
Most smokers do not want to hear about how damaging smoking is to their
health.  Yet, there is the medical community serving up the guilt to these
people.  But when it comes to infant formula, we can't make a policy
statement that will hurt a woman's feelings.  Yeah...sure.  This is all media
hype and everyone buys into.  Did the AAP do a poll of American women that
shows that women were absolutely shocked by this recommendation?  Nope, most
women don't even know what the AAP guidelines are in regard to breastfeeding.
 These guidelines make the infant formula industry uncomfortable not American
women.  But as usual the easy scapegoat is that American women don't want
this.  Some women may not want to breastfeed. But when we broadcast this
concept over and over again in the breastfeeding community, we are embracing
a concept created by the infant formula industry.
Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC





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