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Subject:
From:
Digest Katie Allison Granju <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 23 Jun 1998 22:33:18 -0400
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> Subject:
>         Comparing formula and BF
>   Date:
>         Tue, 23 Jun 1998 21:41:34 EDT
>   From:
>         "Carol Kelley, LLL Leader" <[log in to unmask]>
>
>
> Carrie and all,
>
> La Leche League encourages its Leaders to emphasize the advantages of
> breastfeeding and breastmilk rather than the disadvantages of bottle feeding
> and formula.  We are to avoid putting down or ridiculing bottle feeding (p 91
> Leader's Handbook, revised ed.)  It has been the experience of LLL over the
> past 40 years that mothers are more receptive to a positive presentation of
> information than to a negative one.For example, bottle bashing can make moms
> who've bottle-fed previous babies defensive, but a positive approach to the
> many benefits of breastfeeding can empower those same moms to breastfeed a new
> baby. My co-Leader is a perfect example of this. Besides a positive approach
> makes us seem a bit less like the "nipple nazis". There are women, however,
> who probably are more motivated to BF by horror stories of the hazards of ABM
> than by the advantages of breastfeeding.
>

I wonder, though, whether it's less than honest to talk about the
"advantages" of breastfeeding, when in fact, the real issue is the risk
of artificial feeding. Breastfeeding helps keep babies well, but infant
formula can make them sick. This is a reality that breastfeeding
counselors and advocates are going to have to figure out a way to impart
to women.

Katie Allison Granju
Knoxville, TN

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