Dear Friends:

Jeanette talks about a foster mother angry at state funds supporting a
breastfeeding website. Jeanette's thoughts about and appreciation of foster
mothers feels accurate to me.

I remember that some squawking about breastfeeding support at a higher  level
came from adoptive mothers, who, at least in the States, rely on  formula.

Formula is, was, and always will be, a substitute for the real thing. Until
milk banks and wet nursing are commonplace, there will be a need for formula,
particularly for situations such as adoption and fostering. The truth of  the
health risks of formula will still remain.

There are compensatory mechanisms that also boost health. One is  infant
massage,  important for babies born without the benefits of labor.  Infant massage
also improves the mother-infant interaction, particularly  important when the
baby carries a history of neglect or abuse, or when the  mother is depressed.

The mother Jeanette describes needs validation of her feelings. I imagine
that foster mothers receive the most challenging children and, in today's
climate of shrinking healthcare dollars, insufficient support to tend to those
children. Some health programs have suffered a 40% cut in governmental  funding
in my own health department. (Gotta send all our money to war and
CEOs...........forget babies.)

The lowliest mouse that lurks in your kitchen takes better care of its
babies than healthcare policies do in the USA.

warmly,

Nikki Lee RN, BSN, Mother of 2, MS, IBCLC, CCE, CIMI
craniosacral  therapy practitioner
_www.breastfeedingalwaysbest.com_ (http://www.breastfeedingalwaysbest.com/)
_www.myspace.com/adonicalee_ (http://www.myspace.com/adonicalee)



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