>If my MD would prescribe a certain medication and could sell it to me, I
again, would have enough faith in him where I would either purchase it,
and not have to run to the local drugstore <> or not have faith in him or
not trust him and choose to buy it
somewhere else. It is a matter of trust, after all.
and what is wrong with the MD making a profit from the selling of the
medication? <
In my reading of Rima Apple, Janet Golden, Jacqueline Litt, and Jacquie
Wolf, this poster above describes quite neatly the way in which,
historically, the profession of paediatrics in the USA undercut maternal
breastfeeding and contributed to the decline in initiation, duration and
exclusivity of breastfeeding that happened from late 19th century. Doctors
associated themselves with recommending and selling particular feeding
products and breast milk substitutes, and also particular 'prescriptions' of
routine and timed feedings. Women trusted them. Immigrant women especially
saw the project as a way of becoming 'good Americans' and handed over
control of infant feeding to doctors who were sometimes taking money from
companies making breast milk substitutes, sometimes had invested in certain
types of dairies which provided 'percentage feeds', and were sometimes
trained at the expense of companies, and so on. Doctors coined money and
prestige from trust.
This is exactly my point about IBCLCs -- if you wish to create a profession
in this mold, you have a model to follow. Many appear, to me, to be
following it. I believe that if you follow it, you will probably end up in
a similar relation (that is, not the same in detail, but medicalising,
gadgetising and removing control from women) to the breastfeeding failures
of the future as the paediatricians of the past have to today's women's
struggles.
Have you ever bemoaned the medical legacies for breastfeeding of the last
100 years, or so, for yourself, as a mother, for your daughters, or for the
women who are your clients? How are we avoiding a repetition of the same?
Magda Sachs
Breastfeeding Supporter,
BfN, The Breastfeeding Network
http://www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/
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