Oh The Tyranny!
A word usually reserved for the powerful, is in this instance used to describe mothers just like you and me… Wow, except for in my own home I rarely get described as tyrannical, and then only when I’m very very grumpy.
(thanks Antonia!) The Tyranny of Militant Lactivism Oh, please! There’s so much good (as in bad, but inspiring) stuff worth responding to in this article, but I chose to do a comic in response to his final line: “Surely it is time we left it to mothers and mothers alone to decide how to feed their infants.” Indeed. And that’s EXACTLY WHY we ‘militant lactivists’ (funny, the only arms I have are for hugging ;o) - ooooooh, another good comic idea! want a ban on formula advertising to new mothers. EXACTLY.
xox,
Heather
ps. I spent some time reading the comments and found this:
BVGeesten
Comment No. 1084123January 27 11:45
GBR
Q: “What do infant formula milk, cigarettes and alcohol have in common?”A: The fact that all of the industries that make these products have historically poured money into phoney thinktanks and front groups to try to deflect criticism, and push the idea that any attempt to regulate their activities is “irrational” and “hysterical”.
Brendan, why don’t you tell us a bit more about the relationship between your online magazine, Spiked Online, and the “Infant and Dietetic Foods Association”?
On page 10 of your “Brand Manager’s Pack” (http://www.spiked-online.com/pdf/BrandManagersPack.pdf) it says that you’ve “worked with” the INFORM campaign, which is apparently “an Infant and Dietetic Foods Association (IDFA) initiative on behalf of the UK infant formula manufacturers SMA Nutrition, Nutricia (Cow & Gate,
Milupa) and Farley/Heinz.” (http://www.idfa.org.uk/resources/public/InformManifesto.pdf)Also quite striking is the fact that all 8 articles on breastfeeding on the Spiked website (http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/issues/C112/) seems to take exactly follow the industry line in attacking what you call “militant lactivism”.
Sorry to bang on, but in your “Brand Manager’s Pack” it also says that one of the services you offer to businesses is that you can help them with “brand alignment”, or they can “commission a Spiked series”. I’m curious - how much does it cost to “commission a Spiked series”, and what would I get for my money?
In the name of robust, open debate, free speech etc., do you not agree that journalists with financial links to a particular industry ought to declare any such affiliations up front?
Nice, very nice.
This Musing is directly related to the Comic The World According to the Formula Manufacturers!
wiffersnapper said,
February 23, 2008 @ 9:57 am
OK… so we have two things. One MIGHT protect my baby from bad/painful/deadly things happening later in life. The other definitely WILL NOT offer the same protection. Why would I not choose the chance that my baby might be spared things like allergies and asthma? We could apply this same logic to infant car seats- having your child strapped in will PROBABLY protect them in a crash. Having them run about loose is DEFINITELY more dangerous. But that choice isn’t left to mothers.
My midwife worked for years in Africa, where the water isn’t the sort of thing you want to drink. She tells me that their breastfeeding success rate is like 99.9%, because there just isn’t another option. Why can’t that be here?
I also found his comment about it isn’t a mother’s job to give her breast milk to her baby. Funny- I thought that was why we had boobies in the first place!
amyphilo said,
February 23, 2008 @ 10:48 am
Ha ha and in related news, read the last 2 comments on “It’s Super To Be So Normal” on Youtube.
Q: “Why don’t you just drape a simple blanket over the baby? I am pregnant and not planning on breastfeeding.”
A: “Well then you have no idea what you are talking about then. Duh”
WHy do people bother after watching a video like that, obviously created by lactivists?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c__pUPoGRBw
mamaof5 said,
February 23, 2008 @ 12:00 pm
I want to post… breast isn’t best it is NORMAL! All the benifits of breastfeeding are not benifits, but how we are suppose to be. Breastfed babies are not smarter… they are NORMAL! AGH.
This stuff makes me nuts. Why are breastfeeding mamas called names and formula feeding moms not (not that that would be good or nice at all) and why do we promote something that cost a freakin’ fortune to families and not something that is pretty much free?
Heather in Tucson
wiffersnapper said,
February 23, 2008 @ 3:13 pm
I worked one summer in a grocery store as a checkout clerk, and it always made me wonder why moms on WIC were spending all their WIC money on formula, when they could just be buying good foods for themselves and nursing. Many of them told me that they weren’t working, so it wasn’t like they needed the formula to feed the baby at daycare while they were at work. This baffled me even before I had my daughter and nursed her! (And found out for myself how truly cool it was.)
Also- when we were discharged from the hospital, even though they knew I was nursing, we were given a rather nice diaper bag, compliments of Similac. I used it for about two weeks, and then realized that I just didn’t need all that room! I kept a diaper, a little pack of wipes, and a clean onesie (just in case!) in my regular purse, and we were good to go! Yet another advantage of breastfeeding!
angelofthenorth said,
February 23, 2008 @ 4:44 pm
Hmmm, perhaps in the comic, the free choice would be an additional information leaflet about breastfeeding, with a short note saying that “bottled breastmilk is also available where breastfeeding isn’t medically possible, and in a few rare cases formula may be appropriate*”, so that mothers who can’t feed for whatever reason would be aware of that, but the overwhelming message would be breast is best.
*for example where there is no milk bank, and there is a risk of mother-child transmission of HIV/other infection, or the mother is sick.
esper_d said,
February 24, 2008 @ 12:37 am
It saddens me how many mothers don’t even try to breastfeed, or give up easily… too sad!
esper_d said,
February 24, 2008 @ 12:38 am
To wiffersnapper! Yes! I’m the same way, I don’t use a diaper bag. For what? You throw a diaper or two with wipes in the purse and you’re good to go!
wiffersnapper said,
February 24, 2008 @ 4:50 pm
Don’tcha wonder what mommies are lugging around in those diaper bags? And why?
Julinda said,
February 25, 2008 @ 5:37 am
Okay, this seems to have been hijacked! But since we’re going that direction, I carry a diaper bag. It is stuffed. 5 diapers, a spare shirt and pants, a few books and toys for church, a container of Cheerios. But since Alex is 2 and really doesn’t need to be changed that often, I admit have been thinking about keeping extra diapers and clothes in the car having more space for books and toys.
sheepdoc said,
February 25, 2008 @ 6:42 am
Guilty on the enormous diaper bag.
My diaper bag has water, crackers, cheese, diapers, cloth wipes, and recycled newspaper baggies for wipes and the occasional diaper that is too stinky to be trashed alone, My sanitary pads, children’s Tylenol, children’s benadryl, dosing spoon for said. My ibuprofen. Rescue Remedy - also for me. Arnica, Bandaids, Crayons, crayon bits - if not cleaned that day. Pens, business cards, my planner/calendar. Cell phone. wallet and keys. Changing pad and toys. Whichever books the kids stuffed it with. We use a full size backpack - go figure. Mostly we leave it in the car.
mfindley said,
February 25, 2008 @ 12:09 pm
This is not about my diaper bag. Less said on that topic, the better.
On the comic: It struck me looking at it that the way the comic is drawn is like the “breastmilk is better” rather than “breastmilk is normal” debate. When you show the hospital room with labels like “no billboard,” “no formula ads on TV,” “no free samples” you are calling attention to the lack of those things. Really, the lack of those things should be NORMAL. So I would show just an empty hospital room with no words in it. Nice, clean, simple. Mama and her baby in a peaceful environment. Then the second room should have all the extra cr*p from the formula makers, with all the labels and signs showing you where they are, and how that’s really not normal at all but a barrage of aggressive marketing shouting at you so you can’t hear yourself think.
Oh, and as I do my backseat-comic-drawing let me make it clear that I bow before Hathor’s awesome artistic genius, and she can do nothing wrong.
Hathor said,
February 26, 2008 @ 9:11 am
Dearest MFindley, thank you so much for the constructive input. As a goddess I don’t generally do well with criticism of any kind, but when you add the part in which I am an “awesome artistic genius”, well…it just makes everything all better;o) And bowing down to me, heck, that’s just icing on the cake. thank you.
(See dearest superhero husband I CAN take criticism, it just has to be followed by foot-massages!)
Love,
Heather
ethele said,
February 27, 2008 @ 10:59 pm
I liked his tactic of claiming that there wasn’t even a total ad ban on alcohol. Um . . . are they allowed to advertise to people who are underage, for whom alcohol is especially unhealthy?
Because that is what the ban on advertising formula for babies under 6 months is comparable to, if I understand correctly. Can’t they still advertise it for older babies?
Great idea from the EU. We should do that here.
Oh, and my hospital delivery looked like the top picture, except that I did get a bag of goodies from the doctors. Lanolin, disposable nursing pads, and some nice pamphlets on the first days of nursing, reminders about the free lactation consultants available, etc. Baby Friendly hospitals aren’t perfect, but are a step in the right direction.
It wasn’t perfect - the LC after my birth was an idiot who didn’t listen to me and who didn’t give me basic advice. I think she’d already decided I would fail at nursing twins since I was “poor” and “young” and therefore “stupid”.