Um, Amen!?

Like you, I fit the umbrella of the organization.  Thank you for writing the
letter.

Linda Pohl, IBCLC
Phoenix AZ

-----Original Message-----
From: Lactation Information and Discussion
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Marsha Glass
Sent: Saturday, April 30, 2005 5:09 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: IWF letter to HHS

Ladies, here is my email to this organization: (I realize I am tipping my
political hand here which I am reluctant to do, but Rachel said someone who
is aligned with them should send this!)

I wish to voice my strong concern over the view you have represented of the
effect of the use of infant formula on the status of women.  I am a
conservative, flag-waving, Bush-supporting citizen of the United States, so
I should fall under the umbrella of your constituents.  Yet, this stand you
have taken in your letter to Health and Human Services Secretary, Mike
Leavitt, is appallingly ignorant.  Breastfeeding is a truly feminine
activity, one which marketing ploys have served to convince the public is
unnecessary and absolutely not valuable or unique -meaning irreplaceable.
There are so many inaccuracies in your letter that it is distressing.  Women
need to be supported in their RIGHT to breastfeed, not convinced that it
isn't necessary, or worse, is indicative of their somehow second-class
citizenship.  As a professional woman, a conservative and a Christian, I
consider my time spent breastfeeding each of my four children to be among
the most valuable contribution I have made to this society.  My children are
intelligent, independent, secure and loving people, able to form lasting
bonds with other people and to feel the pain of others, things I attribute
in no small part to their time spent learning these things at my breast.
They are healthy and have never knowingly hurt another person.  They are
also all now grown.  In my work as a lactation consultant, I consider myself
to be helping families to begin down this same road of forming healthy bonds
with those closest to them and I am proud and humble at the same time at the
power of this attachment.  It is a travesty to women everywhere to claim
that "pushing" breastfeeding by inhibiting the use of formula somehow
inhibits us in our careers or demeans our value as women.  In fact, I argue
that the opposite is true.  Breastfeeding is not just "preferred", it is
unmatched as a form of infant nutrition.  Formulas can substitute inasmuch
as babies can survive and grow on them -indeed I did- but something of our
health is lost with this substitution.  Gone is the built-in closeness
breastfeeding engenders.  Gone is the protection from a multitude of
illnesses and diseases.  I think I am paying for my early nutritional
deficit with my autoimmune disorder now. Some are paying with Type II
Diabetes, some with gastrointestinal illnesses, some even with cancer.  I
think it is likely that as we who grew up on formula get older, we will
start to see more of these effects, even though our health seemed good in
our prime.  
	If you mean to speak for me (and I do fit into your demographic), I
would ask you to tell the truth.  Encouraging society to view breastfeeding
as an expendable activity demeans us as women.  Even women with HIV/AIDS can
breastfeed and new research is showing that exclusive breastfeeding for such
a woman poses no greater a risk of transmitting the disease to her baby than
does exclusive formula feeding.  Many a surprised professional woman I have
worked with has looked at me with tears in her eyes and expressed surprise
at the depth of the emotional attachment they felt while breastfeeding their
baby.  They simply didn't expect it and couldn't really explain it.  With
child abuse and neglect and disorders of attachment on the rise in our
country, you should be taking the opposite position from your current one.
I implore you to look into the facts before you further seek to undo the
good we are just beginning to accomplish.  It takes more than a village to
raise a child.  It takes a devoted, committed mother who is given the
encouragement to experience the indescribable joys her body has been
designed to deliver in our relationship with our children.  Women need
support to be able to breastfeed AND have careers, not to have careers at
the expense of breastfeeding.  We are not men.  That is their lot, and I do
not envy them.  We should not have to settle for the same!

Respectfully,
Marsha Glass RN, BSN, IBCLC and mother of 4

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Marsha Glass RN, BSN, IBCLC~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mothers have as powerful an influence over the welfare of future generations
as all other earthly causes combined.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~John S. C. Abbot~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



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