Dear
Shill, I mean Barb, My favorite part of you 'blog' is when you say you
were "a little surprised" that public health policy indicates that the
marketing bags should be banned from hospitals. I know you are being
paid for this, but don't you have any pride in your profession? Think
back to how much work you spent in Nursing School, getting an advanced
practice degree, etc. Are you so willing to pretend that you don't know
about the research that shows how these bags can and do undermine
breastfeeding? It makes you look stupid, or at best uninformed. Do you
even write it yourself, or , as I would bet, does the formula company
write it for you? (Or at least have full editorial control)
By Jamelle
Actually,
Barb (or the formula companies, cough-cough) are fully aware that one
of the largest obstacles is whether women feel comfortable
breastfeeding in public. That's why there's the inference that women
who are "out" in public need to either bring chilled milk or else they
"rely" on formula samples. When in fact, breastfeeding in public is
legal in every state, and specifically protected in many states. And
far easier than lugging free formula samples OR pumped breastmilk. More
crucial yet- it doesn't potentially compromise a mother's supply. It's
insulting to lactivists to pretend that we don't work on all areas of
lactivism. The bag issue is a part of a larger picture. One piece of a
puzzle.
By TK
Well
aren't you a lovely little pawn of the formula industry? Can you parrot
that crap out in your sleep? I love how you make a jab at
breastfeeding, trying to make it sound as inconvenient and impossible
as possible, while trying to pretend that what you want is for women to
make informed decisions based on unbiased information! Give ME a break!
By Kay
How about both?
Why can't we get rid of the sample in hospitals and work on getting
employers to provide better pumping conditions?
You said it all here: "I was a little surprised by this, since so many
moms love the Bags and rely on the samples when they are out and can’t
breastfeed or don’t want to lug chilled and pumped breast milk around.
The argument is that this will help women breastfeed longer." Rely on
the samples? Can't breastfeed? Don't want to lug expressed milk around?
These are exactly the things that can lead some (not all) women to
formula-feed more often! If a woman thinks she has to rely on some free
product given out through the hospital, then she has less confidence in
her ability to nourish her baby already. Being uncomfortable when
nursing in public is a problem, and one that benefits the formula
companies. The fact is, babies have immature guts and do not need
anything but breastmilk in the first 6 months when that is possible.
Their little systems were not created for these proteins anyway.
By Erin
