In a message dated 2/2/2006 8:35:06 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
Several people have written about their thoughts that raising the dollar
cost of donor milk to the users will raise the value of human milk in the
public's mind and that this will lead to more babies getting breastmilk in
the US.
This seems to me a specifically US-American line of reasoning. There are
places on earth, believe it or not, where reason speaks almost as loudly as
a fat wallet, especially when reason has an economic argument on its side,
namely that the entire society benefits from making the society amenable to
babies getting breastfed. In many of these places, again, believe it or
not, unless a healthy product has a cost that is within reach of the health
services' budget, it will not be valued, it will be rejected. It will be
suspected that the price is inflated for the sake of profit alone, and a
cheaper product that is perceived to be equivalent will be chosen instead.
The notion that taking something and inflating its cost will somehow make it
seem more worthwhile, is nothing short of bizarre from the standpoint of a
welfare state resident.
Dear Friends:
Yes, we are dealing with the vast differences in national character
here. Even though artificial feeding is linked with morbidity and mortality, it
is promoted in the US because of vast corporate backing, of misplaced moral
judging that make women self-conscious about breastfeeding in public or for any
length of time beyond infancy, and several generations of a culturally
induced lack of value of mothers, mothering and female-specific and unique
function. We love breasts in the States, we just want them to look good. We don't
want them to be used for babies ( at least not for long, and not in public)
, we want to use them to sell beer and toothpaste instead. While tremendous
strides have been made in the past 2 decades towards increasing breastfeeding
initiation and duration, helped by the WIC program, our national initiation
rate is now dropping and women are fighting battles state by state to be able
to nurse their babies wherever they are. Where there should be milk banks in
every city where there is a NICU, there are but 6 or 7 in the whole country.
4+ million births/ year and we have yet to reach the goals for our nation
that were set back in 1984 for an initiation rate of 75%.
This is a sad commentary on our national focus.
I am envious of other countries where the welfare of women and children
is truly a national priority. Isn't Norway the only country in the world
where human milk is incorporated into the Gross National Product?
Lucky Rachel to live in such a place. I wish we had such a viewpoint
here in the States......
warmly,
Nikki Lee RN, MS, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CCE
Maternal-Child Adjunct Faculty Union Institute and University
Film Reviews Editor, Journal of Human Lactation
www.breastfeedingalwaysbest.com
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