Thanks to Jodine Chase's blog of breastfeeding news
(http://bfnews.blogspot.com/), some more news from the UK for their
Breastfeeding Awareness Week.
"Who needs Breastfeeding Awareness Week?"
It's national breastfeeding awareness week - and the moralists have got the
teat between their teeth
http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/00000006DD9C.htm
(this will make your blood boil, but I think the writer has a point when
she says:
"If the 'breast is best' zealots put more thought into the realities of
motherhood and less into snappy new slogans about breastfeeding awareness,
they would notice the inconsistencies in their arguments."
As Penny Van Esterik has said, unless we change the realities of women's
situations in society - ie need for paid work, lack of education, lack of
real respect for the work of mothering, all the work on breastfeeding
promotion, BFI, etc is just "tweaking the system".
Also,
Woman 2 Woman: 'Breast is best' but not for us?
Breastfeeding is still a social taboo in some quarters, a new local study
shows. Jane Bell reports on Breastfeeding Awareness Week
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=405660
My comments.....
- Did we (breastfeeding supporters) create the "Breast is best" slogan, or
did the formula co's? Cause I sure think that slogan, in reality, works
more in their favour that ours.
- We MUST do more to get this issue in the hands of mothers - as long as it
seems as though it is only health professionals that are "forcing" an
unwilling group of moms to breastfeed, we will see articles like this. You
must get MOTHERS to tell their stories, of how they WANT to breastfeed, but
are thwarted by society, and health professionals. We WANT to breastfeed,
so either help us, or get the he** out of our way. How about next WBW, you
health professionals all refused to provide those "breastfeeding benefits"
types of interviews to reporters, but refered them to strong pro-bfing,
educated on the issues, moms like me? Wouldn't that tell a different story
of the experience of breastfeeding?
Janice Reynolds
Moms For Milk Breastfeeding Network.
(please don't take me wrong, I'm not trying to attack any individual or
groups of health professionals, especially those people that are dedicated
enough to be on Lactnet. But I do wonder that as long as most breastfeeding
advocacy is spearheaded and driven by person working within the health
professions, rather than the moms themselves, it is likely that the health
system will not be accepting or bringing to the light their FULL burden of
responsibility for breastfeeding failure.
Since reporters (understandably) seem to only turn to the health system
workers for interviews, these articles very rarely point out the serious
weaknesses in our health system re:breastfeeding. - my recomenndation -
start cultivating and mentoring moms like me, to say those things that you
dare not say yourself.).
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