Dear Lactnetters,

A dear friend of mine, who was my co-LLLLeader before I retired from League to devote full-time to my LC practice, has just given me some sad news. Her highly articulate fourth grade daughter prepared an outstanding presentation for the Middlesex County 4H Visuals competition, under the heading of Childcare, on the subject of...can you guess? Of course. It was on breastfeeding. And I hope that you will all trust me when I tell you (I have seen the video of her talk) that the presentation was simple, accurate, extremely well-presented, and contained NOTHING inappropriate. I'm afraid that you can all guess what happened. But can you guess how bad the whole thing got? One of the judges lambasted this nine year old girl in front of other participants, likening her talk on breastfeeding to "talking about sex in public." She was told that she should not have given this talk in front of the children and men who were in the room, that the subject was inappropriate for a nine year old, and that her mother must have coached her. They insisted that she had made a serious mistake in not issuing a "disclaimer" before beginning the talk so that people who were uncomfortable with the subject could leave the room.

Do you know what the 4H organization is all about? It is often thought of as a rural youth activity because they encourage competency in animal husbandry, agriculture, and home arts. I believe that three of the "H"s include Heart, Hands, and Home. I can't remember the last one.

Are you as horrified as I am? I don't know whether there is a national organization to write to or whether they have a web page but I feel strongly that this little girl was treated with unbelievable harshness and unfairness. I hope to hear from any of you out there who have ideas about how to make ONE BIG FUSS!

Another sad thing about this is that the one teen judge, a 17 year old high school girl, was persuaded by the other two adult judges that information about breastfeeding should be neither seen nor heard. Great. A young woman who is within ten years of having her first child was exposed to such senseless acrimony around the issue of breastfeeding. If she "tries" and then "fails" at nursing her infant, I know who will owe her the cost of the formula and office co-payments and the amoxicillin prescriptions. Hey, they are going to owe us ALL for the extra cost of that child's healthcare and the cost of having another citizen who will not be able to achieve her full intellectual potential!!

I guess I will have to admit that this is a rant. And, believe me, I could go on, but I will end here and look forward to hearing your suggestions.

Bonny Nothern, IBCLC
private practice in MA