Katie Allison Granju writes: " The whole gotta-have-a-breastpump mentality
is wrong-headed. Women need social-economic conditions to
allow them to put their babies to breast...at home, at work or wherever they
need to be. "


Agree, Katie.


The tragedy is that it takes money to really promote breastfeeding and to
lobby for the huge changes needed to make bf possible - and the only people
with any money to promote bf are commercial organisations like pump
manufacturers.

But the pump manufacturers have no commercial  interest in true social
change - quite the opposite. If women had realistic and flexible working
patterns that allowed them to bf as and when they wanted to or their babies
needed to, they wouldn't need to buy a pump. Hand-expressing would be a
useful skill for the odd occasion when it's needed or wanted, and it would
be cheaper and, properly done, more effective.

The breast pump people and breastfeeding activists and supporters have
agendas that overlap - a bit.  We need to be aware of where our agendas
diverge.


Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc Newcastle upon Tyne UK