In response:
SELF, September 2006 page 148
An article about how horrible the HHS Breastfeeding ads are. You can respond to: http://www.self.com/contact/emailUs
As a new mom and health educator, I was following your orders (pg 148, September 06) and taking a few minutes for myself to avoid stress while reading your magazine in my bathtub. I had already spent 20 minutes reading about the dangers of obesity to my health and the health of my family, including the fact that it may be genetic (pg 144). I was planning on getting up earlier ( pg 28 ) for my new running work out (pg 116), like Shaun Robinson, when I stumbled upon your article on the horrors of the new breastfeeding ads by the HHS.
The true horror here is not that the HHS finally had the ovaries to put breastfeeding into the same context that every other parenting threat, oops, I mean “advice” goes into – the truth about what happens if you don’t do it. I mean seriously, didn’t you tell me on pg 129 about the horrors of breast cancer? I should eat more flavonoids (p 144) to prevent ovarian cancer. You also made references too numerous to count on the dangers of obesity for my family and me. How can you overlook the benefits of breastfeeding on all of these accounts?
Why is it acceptable to tell me my baby will die if I don’t use a car seat every time I get in the car, oh and I that I have to use it correctly unlike 90% of other mothers, and I need to use it according to state law which is at least four years (more in my state) or I’m a bad mom. Gee, and the American Academy of Pediatrics only wants me to do what my body was designed to do and breastfeed my baby exclusively for 6 months. (And let’s not even go into the dangers of not using vaccines – I’m sure you’ve saved that for another issue.)
All of this joy in an issue where you praise Brooke Shields for her unpopular stance on accepting postpartum depression (pg 52)…
Just like it’s difficult to get up to run or walk every morning, just as I struggle to cook healthy foods in an ever increasing sea of fast, easy and less expensive unhealthy food – all of which I do because it’s good for me and my family. I will put forth the same effort to breastfeed. I intend to do my damnedest to overcome any problems I have with nursing and seek professional help if I have problems from a International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). My baby and I will be healthier for it and maybe I’m stemming the obesity epidemic from this side of the nipple.