As some of you may know our province recently initiated a baby friendly
campaign for breast feeding at restaurants.  Fortunately, a lot of the
press has bee positive.  However, yesterday's letters to the editors were
kind of a shocker and made me realize that there is a longer road to
travel than I realized...

Four letters:

Letters 1 - 2 ...not in favour of breast feedingin public because of lack
of sanitary facilities and not being able to wash the breast before
putting baby on breast.  One of the moms breast fed her two children
...and cleansed each nipple with a moist swab prior to feeding..crowded
areas interfere with the babies bonding

Letter 3 -- upsent with Dr. Verity Livingstone being quoted with regard
to the breast feeding and higher intelligence study.  She nursed her
daughter for two days and on top of the all of the "usual postpartum
discomfort" she developed cracked and nipples...each timethe baby cried
out in hunger she also cried in anticipation of the terrible pain.  So
she phone her GP and he advised her to put her on formula.  Due to the
careless, insensitve and questionable comments by people like Dr. L." I
traded the physical pain of suckling baby for the equallytormeting pain
of guilt"


Letter 4 - why can you get arrested for exposing your breasts without a
baby but not with a baby.

So.......I am trying hard to understand these points of view..but at the
moment quite frankly I am disappointed.  It is a newspaper job however to
present the flip side and all of the positive press I guess needs a balance.


Thoughts???

Pam Novak Cawley RN, BSN, MED
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