Jeannie Babb Taylor: The problem with breastfeeding

Here's a great read that has a lot of info. Jeannie did a great job with it!

(To read the article in it's entirety, click on this link or the one below.)

What if doctors discovered a substance so potent, it could prevent dozens of diseases and even reduce the risk of cancer? What if these benefits extended not only to those who partake of this amazing substance, but also those who serve it? If a pharmaceutical company had developed it, it would be a billion-dollar industry. Breast milk, though, is free. Without a visible profit stream, it also lacks a marketing team.

Numerous studies show that breastfeeding reduces cancer risks for both givers and receivers — yet the American Cancer Society (ACS) has no campaign statement on the importance of breastfeeding. One huge study (147,000 participants) found that American women could cut their breast cancer risk by 33% by increasing the lifetime average of breastfeeding from three months to thirty months, which is the worldwide average. The ACS concluded that significantly increasing breastfeeding duration was “unrealistic” and instead continues to focus on mammograms, cancer prevention drugs and other methods that put money in the pockets of physician groups and pharmaceutical companies.

Although breastfeeding has been shown to reduce sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) risk by as much as 55%, the National Institute for Child Health (NICH) invests virtually nothing in breastfeeding education. Instead, the NICH organized the “Back to Sleep” campaign encouraging parents to put babies to bed on their backs. The first corporate sponsor of the Back to Sleep campaign was Gerber, a formula and baby food manufacturer. Is it any surprise there is no financial backing to promote breastfeeding as a SIDS prevention tool?

Breastfeeding contributes significantly to child health. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) breastfeeding is “as important to preventive pediatric health care as promoting immunizations, car seat use, and proper infant sleep position.” Yet a recent AAP survey found that 45 percent of pediatricians who responded see formula-feeding and breast-feeding as equally acceptable. Once again, we can follow the money to understand this phenomenon. Doctors receive numerous samples, perks, and gifts from formula companies — a practice condemned by the World Health Organization (WHO.)

Formula makers are forced to give lip service to the superiority of breastfeeding. Yet these companies spend millions of dollars per year tripping up new mothers. They have inroads at the obstetrician’s office, the hospitals where babies are born, and the pediatrician’s office. Formula makers ensure that every mother goes home with a couple of cans of formula, so it will be available in the middle of the night when the baby is crying, she is exhausted from lack of sleep and she is vulnerable to the insecurities American society has pressed on her day after day. The result? Even though 70% of mothers start breastfeeding, within a few months the statistics have flipped. Only 11.3% of babies are still exclusively breastfed at six months.

It is difficult to blame American mothers for the failure to breastfeed, when everything is stacked against mothers from the start. Unlike women in most other developed countries, American women receive no paid maternity leave. Only those on welfare receive a stipend to carry them through the first months of mothering. Women who support themselves are forced to return to work, where it is often impossible to bring an infant, and pumping opportunities may be few and far between, with unsanitary conditions.

Rep Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) recently introduced the Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2007. The bill amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to protect breastfeeding women from workplace discrimination. It also gives employers a tax credit of up to $10,000 per year to provide employees with equipment, dedicated space and consultation for pumping breast milk. The bill establishes standards for breast pumps, and creates tax breaks for women who purchase breast pumps in order to maintain employment.

Maloney says, “I have heard many horror stories of women who were fired for trying to figure out a way to express milk at work. My bill clarifies the Pregnancy Discrimination Act to protect breastfeeding under federal civil rights law, ensuring that women cannot be fired or discriminated against in the workplace for expressing (pumping) milk, or breastfeeding during breaks or lunch time.”

At least the welfare moms have the chance to stay home and breastfeed — after all, their babies comprise the most high-risk population of infants in terms of health problems, asthma, failure to thrive and learning disabilities. Yet the formula-makers find these mothers, too. Government programs take away one of the incentives for breastfeeding by shelling out $600 million per year to put low-income infants on the bottle. Taxpayers also foot the bill for the increased healthcare cost of these children.... Click here to read more

Breastfeeding Advice - A Help or a Hindrance??

http://www.breastfeeding.com/reading_room/hindrance.html

by Barbara Behrmann, Ph.D.

Many factors likely influence your decision to nurse, how you go about establishing and maintaining your nursing relationship, and how long you keep going. Even if you assert that you are not influenced by others' opinions, your experience, knowledge and values are still influenced by the larger culture and society in which you live.

But how do you figure out who or what to listen to? Say you want to travel to Italy. Do you rely on the advice of someone who has scarcely crossed the state line? Do you read promotional literature about Italy produced by a French tourist agency? Do you go to your own travel agency who specializes in domestic cruises? Maybe, but the helpfulness and reliability would be suspect.

Breastfeeding is not much different. A lot of breastfeeding promotional materials are produced by companies that make formula. (Would you go to Pepsi to find out why you should drink Coke?) On the surface the information may appear sound, but probe a little deeper and it's not always the case.

If you are surrounded by family and friends who have had successful breastfeeding experiences, great! But what if they haven't? How do you react when they ask, "Do you need to feed that baby again? He just ate!" "The poor thing's crying. Do you think you don't have enough milk?" "When are you going to wean that child? She's got teeth already!"

Most of us value input from those who care about us. But with breastfeeding myths and misinformation so prevalent in our society, if we are going to let anyone influence our decisions, perhaps they should be from people who have been there, done that.

This is even true when it comes to medical advice. Some doctors and nurses, for example, know a lot about breastfeeding and have much to offer nursing mothers. But just because someone is a pediatrician or family doctor doesn't make him or her a breastfeeding expert. In fact, studies have documented that medical textbooks on the subject are often filled with errors and misinformation. Many doctors freely admit that they don't have the knowledge, training and experience to adequately council breastfeeding mothers.

Contradictions often result. One mother, for example, had a hard time getting her newborn to breast while recovering from a c-section. She recalls, "Every four hours I had a different nurse. One said don't worry about it; the next said I should be pumping and giving her formula in the meantime; the next said something completely different. One nurse said it's because I wasn't holding her right. There seemed to be no standard. It was very frustrating."

So how do you know who to turn to? How do you know who or what is credible? Here are five suggestions:

General Guidelines

Don't rely on literature produced by and source with an opposing interest. This means any breastfeeding information coming from formula companies probably doesn't have you or your baby's best interest at heart.

If you are reading a magazine or other resource that relies heavily on advertising from formula companies, they may feel a certain limit on how free they are to present certain information.

If you have a partner, obviously he hasn't nursed (unless your partner is female, of course). That doesn't mean you don't want to respect his or her) opinion. But it's important to share information with each other so that your thinking can evolve together.

He or she may be wonderfully supportive and willing to help you in any way possible, but may also be uncomfortable with breastfeeding in general, have concerns about you nursing in public, not want the baby in your bedroom, or may encourage you to wean before you want to. Hopefully you can learn together.Know who you can go to for help before you give birth. Bring their phone numbers with you to the hospital or birth center. Not all lactation consultants are equally trained and some providers may use the title even though they aren't certified. Someone with the initials of IBCLC - International Board Certified Lactation Consultant - has the most expertise and experience counseling nursing mothers.

Choose health care providers who are breastfeeding-friendly. Declaring support for breastfeeding is not enough. Be wary of providers who offices seem to promote formula. Find out ahead of time if your family physician or pediatrician has someone on staff to offer breastfeeding assistance and find out what kind of training they have. You can also ask them what percentage of their new mothers are nursing.

Doing What is Right For You

I think the best advice comes from a woman I know who is now a grandmother. She says, "Whatever the cultural climate is at a given time, you have to be centered in what you want to do because there is no right and wrong. You have to do what's right for you . If you can please yourself, that's wonderful. If you can please yourself and your child? Wow! And your husband? Incredible! And then you want to please all of society? Forget it. You have to be happy with what you're doing because there is no single way and every person and situation is so unique."