Posting for Terry Busch.  This is a letter that her 20-year old daughter has written to Dr. Phil.


My name is Robyn Busch and I too am an alum of Dr. Phil's high school, Shawnee Mission North. I interviewed Dr. Phil as a sophomore in high school (about 4 years ago) and found him to be a very kind and generous man. I'm writing because my mother is a Lactation Consultant (IBCLE certified) and Director of Parent Education at Shawnee Mission Medical Center here in Kansas City, and thus I am probably far more educated about breasts and lactation than any normal 20 year old should be. I hesitate to jump to a conclusion about the content of this particular show, as I realize it is just a plugger, but I do hope that Dr. Phil will use his public platform to educate rather than to perpetuate stereotypes of breast-feeding mothers. While there may be some women who might seem to lack modesty while nursing, the vast, vast, majority of mothers breast-feeding children are struggling with the desire to feed their child with the scientifically-proven BEST nutrients, versus a cultural stigma of modesty and puritanism. I seriously doubt that most women intend to offend. They are after all, simply feeding their child.

While I cannot dish out statistical facts about breast-feeding like my mother, I am enlightened enough to know that breast-feeding is above all, natural and best for babies. IF this 'plugger' is indicative of Dr. Phil's agenda to shame breast-feeding mothers, he ought to be ashamed of himself. Even if you are trying to find appropriate guests to entertain the masses, perhaps you should remember that while you are a Doctor, you are not representative of the American Academy of Pediatrics and even the mere stating of "inappropriate habit" in reference to breast-feeding (above, on your website) is a poor way to attract guests even if your purpose is to eventually tell them that they are, indeed, ill-informed on the benefits of breast-feeding and should feel blessed enough to witness a child be nourished and loved, not neglected and abused as many of your guests probably were as children. In my state where the school board can't even decide if they want to keep evolution on the books, mothers are still smart enough to rally behind one mother when she was berated for breast-feeding her child at a health-club. The issue caused such a stir that legislation is finally starting to get churned out, but still---state lawmakers have included the word 'discreet,' causing a huge road-block. An article can be found here: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/mar/15/mothers_say_they/
What does discreet mean? How comfortable is it for a hungry few-months old child to have a drape or cloth over his/her face while eating just so that someone might not see their breasts? Oh dear lord, like we can't see them on HBO or at half-time shows. Even Mardi Gras. Come on.

I do not follow Dr. Phil regularly. I rarely watch the show in fact, but I coincidentally came across my audio taped interview with him a few days ago, and today my mom mentioned something to me about this. I came looking to find if it really was true...I hope that Dr. Phil does not use his clout to perpetuate an unfortunate movement which inadvertently may discourage many women from giving their children the best possible start to a healthy and better life.

Whoever the producer or PA who wrote this plug should be proud of themselves as they have rightfully incensed and alarmed breast-feeding supporters internationally. It will be a travesty if Dr. Phil uses his influence to further a societal stigma. Breasts were created for one purpose and it is man alone that has idealized and bastardized their purpose, now only to have it come back and "embarrass" them.



Terry Busch RNC, MS 
Coordinator, Parent and Family Education 
9100 W. 74th Street 
Shawnee Mission, Kansas 66204 
913-676-2297 

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html