It's World Breastfeeding Week (1-7 Aug) and I thought I should say a little something. As the media bangs on about how critical it is for mothers to breastfeed their babies (higher IQs! stronger bones! bonding!), I thought that instead of agreeing and being politically correct, I would post a link from the New York Post for all of those mothers of the world who are feeling the pressure to breastfeed when they can't or just don't want to. The WBW website suggests that new mothers should 'save one million babies' by breastfeeding within the first hour of birth as "the first and most vital step towards reducing infant and under-five mortality". Point taken, but this suggests to me that women who do not do this are somehow going to do irreparable damage to their babies if they don't/can't breastfeed straight away. That doesn't seem like a fair call. Babies born to mothers in Brooklyn that aren't breastfed are definitely not on par with babies born in Africa somewhere that you see on TV, starving with bloated little bellies. I think 'save the babies' is better suited to babies born in abject poverty or to neglectful parents, not for babies born to mothers who aren't breastfeeding. Although I agree that breastfeeding is critical, there are moral panics surrounding 1) saving children 2) breastfeeding 3) being a 'good' mother. What are we we really anxious about? And why are 'non-breastfeeders' the precipitating factor of blame?
Apparently, NYC has banned the free formula given to new mothers on their way home from hospital. Journalist and mother Andrea Peyser thinks this is just another strike by the 'breastfeeding gestapo'.
Note: Please don't send me nasty emails about how I'm promoting the downfall of society by suggesting that breastfeeding isn't important or beneficial. Let's give the other side of the debate a little air time.
Source:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/08012007/news/columnists/breast_feed_gestapo_in_a_milk_bilk_columnists_andrea_peyser.htm
http://worldbreastfeedingweek.org/
