Dear Friends:

I've seen every type of liquid in baby bottles; along with the Kool-Aide
that Dawn mentions, I've seen iced tea, every kind of soft drink or soda,
and juice along with various milks and water.

The economic collapse in the US means that we have to breastfeed. We can't
afford not to breastfeed.

Yesterday I spent an amazing time with a room full of mothers in the Welfare
to Work program in my City. A big question they had was "how can I be a mom
when I am only with my baby 2 hours a day?"

Being in the program means 30 hours of training a week. This can mean 12
hour days, as public transportation is an arduous and time consuming
process. Most women want their babies on a schedule so the women can do
everything that they need to do in the day. As the official message in my
City is "bed-sharing kills babies", women are gone all day, have a few hours
in the evening to be with their baby, then put the baby in its crib for the
night.

The way I see it is that safe bed-sharing has to be promoted, so the baby
can spend more time with its mother than with anyone else. Partial
breastfeeding has to be encouraged as many of the entry level jobs these
women will fill barely permit a pee break, much less several breaks to
collect milk.

I wish that women could bring their little babies (at least for the first 6
months) with them to the training. This would be one way to attain exclusive
breastfeeding.

These are all temporary measures until legislation pays women to stay home
and breastfeed. Now wouldn't that be a cool idea. "You can receive enough
money to live on if you breastfeed according to the recommended guidelines."
And women could be paid to be milk donors.

Yesterday, on the train to work, I noticed a large (covering most of one
wall) advertisement. "Be a Dreammaker" it said. Be 18 to 30 years old and
donate an egg for another woman to fulfill her dreams of being a mother.
Donors will be paid $8,000 for their time and dedication.

If women can be paid for their eggs, if women can rent their uteruses to
gestate someone else's zygote.............then women should be paid to make
milk.  Animals that are used to provide milk for humans are tested,
vaccinated and monitored for health. There's a template to follow.

The money to pay for monitoring, collection etc. of this milk would come
from the billions and billions of dollars that would be saved in healthcare
costs. In 2002, for example, diabetes cost the US $132 BILLION. That's just
one disease that would be reduced in prevalence. There are plenty of others
that drain resources.

It would be far cheaper to pay women to be certified milk donors, so they
could stay home and be mothers while improving the health of the nation.

I bet this could happen.

warmly,
Nikki Lee

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