Hello all, Coach Smith here. I'm repeating my message sent yesterday with a
grammar correction. This post may be shared, forwarded, etc without further
permission as long as I'm acknowledged as the author.

 

I'm writing because I've heard the term "negative view" used by some
whenever the "risks of not breastfeeding" is brought up. I want to take
issue with the term "negative view." This is a personal viewpoint post, not
written on behalf of any organization nor directed at any individual. This
is not a new issue, and I encounter the concept in my lectures nearly every
month.

 

There is wide agreement that "breast is best." That means that
"breastfeeding" and "not breastfeeding/everything else" are automatically
ranked, one better than the other. Simple logic dictates that whenever two
actions, items, or thoughts are ranked, one is BY DEFINITION better than the
other. If A is better than B, then B is worse than A.

 

What is normal determines the language reflecting that ranking: If B is
normal, then A is better than B. If A is normal, then B is worse than A. If
wearing a seat belt is normal, than riding loose in a car is dangerous. If
riding loose in a car is normal, then wearing a seat belt is safer. If
smoking is normal, then not smoking is healthier. If healthy lungs are
normal, then smoking is dangerous. If delivering a placenta intact is
normal, then retained placenta is dangerous; if a retained placenta is
normal, then delivering an intact placenta is better.

 

I grew up in a smoking society. My father was issued cigarettes in his Army
food rations during World War II, and my mother believed the advertisements
suggesting that smoking was normal, desirable, and fun. My grandparents
smoked, our doctor smoked, and my mom offered to teach me how to smoke
before I went out on dates so I wouldn't be embarrassed if I tried to learn
from my friends. (I didn't take her up on the offer)  My dad died at age 58
of esophageal cancer; my mother died from emphysema at 71 - both killed by
smoking. Before her death, my mother said "Nobody told us smoking was bad or
dangerous."  Withholding or whitewashing the truth about smoking caused my
parents' early death.

 

As we all know, the societal attitudes toward smoking did an abrupt
about-face when Surgeon General Koop had the courage to speak the truth:
smoking is dangerous. As a result, healthy lungs are now considered normal,
and there are strong, effective programs and campaigns that have steadily
reduced smoking.

 

Breastfeeding is normal. If we want to "increase breastfeeding to 75%," that
automatically means "reducing artificial feeding to 25%."   The phrase
"breastfed babies are healthier" is reframed as "babies who are not
breastfed are sicker." The USBC (and many others) says that "breastfeeding
is normal, desirable and achievable."  That means, by definition, that not
breastfeeding is ...well, how else would that sentence logically conclude?
Not breastfeeding is not normal.

 

Speaking the truth about "risks of not breastfeeding" is not a "negative
view.' It's simply speaking the truth - breastfeeding is normal.

 

Linda J. Smith, BSE, FACCE, IBCLC- Daughter, mother, and grandmother with
compromised lungs today because my parents were not told the truth about
smoking. Or breastfeeding, for that matter.

Bright Future Lactation Resource Centre Ltd

6540 Cedarview Ct, Dayton OH 45459

ph 937-438-9458 www.BFLRC.com 

 


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