Last week I was interviewed by a large-ish daily paper on the new
recommendations for exclusive BF.  At a press conference today the State
Council on Nutrition and Exercise will be telling the world that Norway now
recommends BF alone for 6 months, amended from the previous '4 to 6 months',
and breastmilk with other food for at least a year.  The latter part is
unchanged from before.

I was asked to provide a photo of myself with someone who was breastfeeding,
since I live in a different town from where the paper comes out.  I had one
specially taken with my friend and her 15 month old nursling.

The article with the interview is so-so.  The awful headline, on the front
page, says 'Mother's milk for 6 months' which sounds like a 50% reduction
from the recommendations up to now.  Then it says 'Exclusive breastfeeding
has a price, it is very demanding' and inside there is a parallel article
with a mother explaining why she started solids before 4 months, and that
exclusive BF is impractical when you have 3 other very small children.  I
thought to myself, if you had practiced exclusive breastfeeding, maybe you
wouldn't have 3 other very small children, but in any case, why blame the
breastfeeding for the demands a family of 6 puts on ANYONE, regardless of
how they feed their youngest?

To top it off, they used the photo I sent them, but cropped it to show only
my face, and the only babies at breasts in the article are newborns, and
there is no mention of the WHO recommendation and how it is the reason for
the change in the Norwegian ones.
Arrrggh!
Getting ready to cancel my subscription to this paper,
Rachel Myr

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