Breastfeeding Ads Thwarted by Formula Companies
I guess it shouldn’t come as a shock to me that the formula companies thwarted breastfeeding ads that aired a couple of years ago from the Ad Council and the Office of Women’s Health, but it still makes me angry. The Washington-Post did a really great article on the whole mess. I’m just disgusted.
Support Nursing Moms
From Momsrising.org:
Dear friends,
I just signed the Statement of Support for Breastfeeding Mothers, and I hope you will too. Why? Well, doctors agree that breastmilk is best for infants, but their own licensing board isn’t following doctor’s orders. Sophie Currier recently learned that when it comes to supporting breastfeeding, many of our leaders–whether they are in the medical establishment (as in Sophie’s case), business sector, or elsewhere–still don’t “walk the talk.” You see, Sophie was denied breast pumping breaks during her nine hour medical licensing exam. She’s not alone. Even in this day and age when the medical evidence is clear that breastfeeding is best for infants, women are regularly denied the time and location to pump. JOIN ME IN SUPPORTING THE BREASTFEEDING PROMOTION ACT! Sign the Statement of Support for breastfeeding moms everywhere now:
“Healthcare professionals inform us that breastfeeding is the best possible wayto ensure that babies thrive. In turn, we must ensure that breastfeeding mothers are able to breastfeed, and given the time and environment to pump at work or during other professional obligations.” Congress and the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) need to hear that breastfeeding must be supported for all moms, and that we support the Breastfeeding Promotion Act which is currently before Congress. *To sign the Statement of Support for breastfeeding moms, just go to:
Statement of Support
After you sign the Statement of Support, please forward this email to friendsand family so they can sign on as well! Your voice can make a difference: When a subsidiary of Delta Airlines kicked a woman off an airplane for breastfeeding, we sent them a petition with more than 20,000 MomsRising signatures, and shortly afterwards the airline apologized and instituted a new training program for their employees.
STAND WITH SOPHIE, JANEE, AND MOTHERS ACROSS THE NATION! Women like Janee McConnell could also use the Breastfeeding Promotion Act. Janee worked in a grocery store that had a health consciousness she admired. She was such a committed employee that she rose to a management job quickly and was called a “rock star” by the other employees. After her third child was born, she tried to pump at work but there was no private place to go other than a dirty, windowless electrical room.
When her milk supply dropped she spoke up but store management was unsympathetic. She resigned from her management position and eventually from the store all together. Frankly, we all lose when we don’t support mothers–businesses lose excellent employees, infants lose important nutrients, and women lose needed jobs. No mom should have to choose between keeping her job and feeding her baby and protecting her own health. SHARE YOUR STORY: Many of us mothers know personally what it’s like to juggle breastfeeding babies and work. Some of us have also experienced the pain of engorgement and the risk of mastitis when feeding or pumping doesn’t occur every few hours. Stories like this are common. You may even have experienced something similar yourself. *Share your story on our blog at:
http://www.momsrising.org/node/573
All too often women aren’t able to breastfeed their babies even though the American Academy of Pediatrics tells us it’s one of the most important things we can do for a child’s health. Let’s send a strong message together that it’s time to “walk the talk” for healthy infants and mothers. *Don’t forget to sign the Statement of Support to tell the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) and Congress that we want breastfeeding to be supported for all moms–and to forward this email to friends so they can sign on too. Just click here to sign on now:
Thank you!
For more information on breastfeeding see:
Baby Breastfeeding Labor and Birth Media Obstetricial Interventions
by Robin
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The Breast Crawl
When I first heard these words, I’ll admit that I thought it was a strange new swimming technique. Then I watched the video. It was so amazing to watch a newborn, unimpeded, crawling to the breast and nursing without the help of the “professionals” who normally assist the baby.
Teaching the Breast Crawl is a WHO and UNICEF initiative to help lower infant mortality. Basically it involves leaving a mother and baby alone, skin-to-skin so that the baby can nurse right away. Sure it tells those with mom to watch them both, cover them with a blanket if the baby is cold, but it totally leaves out all the routine stuff that can wait until this most miraculous and special time has happened.
What are your thoughts? Did your baby do the breast crawl? Would you do the breast crawl for a future baby? Anyone else see the video Delivery Self Attachment, same principle.
Activisim American College of Nurse Midwifery (ACNM) Midwifery
by Robin
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Time to Support Midwifery
If you have a moment, you might want to support midwifery. This is from The American College of Nurse Midwifery:
As many of you know, the ACNM has been working on making Medicare reimbursement equitable for Certified Nurse Midwives. They are currently reimbursed at only 65% of what physicians make. NPs and PAs currently receive 85%. The Medicare legislation raising the rates for CNMs may be introduced as early as next week, and they need to recruit as many cosponsors as possible this week.
Please take a few minutes to call your Representative in Congress and your two Senators and ask them to co-sponsor the Midwifery Care Access and Reimbursement Act of 2007 (HR 864 and S 507). If you speak to a staff person who wants more information to be forwarded to them, you can find talking points, the ACNM’s position paper, and the ACOG and ANA letter of support at: http://www.midwife.org/legislative.cfm?id=1090
You can find your Representative and Senators, along with their phone numbers, by entering your address at this link: http://www.congressmerge.com/onlinedb/index.htm
More information about the legislation is available at the ACNM web site at: http://capwiz.com/acnm/issues/bills/
Please make the call and ask friends, family and clients to call too!
Kate Harrod is coordinating this effort and would appreciate it if you would let her know what the staff at the office tells you so she can follow up: kate@the-harrods.com
Many thanks!
Breastmilk is Nothing Special?
From (August 2007) issue of Parent’s Magazine.
THE CLAIM Breast milk is best for babies.
THE TRUTH: Study after study has documented that breast milk can boost a baby’s immune system and IQ and lower his risk for diabetes, obesity, even ADHD. So it’s no wonder that the AAP recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 mo. after birth. But not everyone is convinced that mother’s milk is a panacea. “Most benefits associated with breastfeeding probably have as much to do with the child’s environment and the family’s socioeconomic status,” says Parents advisor Darshak Sanghavi, M.D., author of A Map of the Child: A Pediatrician’s Tour of the Body. “They’re not due to some magical substance in breast milk.”
THE BOTTOM LINE: Women who want to should certainly breastfeed, but don’t feel guilty if you can’t.
Gee, let’s just forget all the science behind breast milk and breastfeeding. Why don’t you go give Parents a piece of your mind…
Crisis Atmosphere
I read with great interest yesterday, the op-ed piece in the Boston Globe entitled “The Folly of the One Percent Policy” by Eugene Declercq and Judy Norsigian on the state of childbirth in America today. They talk about the creation of the crisis atmosphere in birth. This sounds like it would be unkind to do to women and their families, but it goes well beyond the talk and rhetoric of politicians and policy makers - it’s in the delivery room.
I see it every day as my childbirth education students and doula clients are threatened with disease and problems that are likely never to occur. I watch them struggle to figure out what is right for them in a sea of negativity and scare tactics. Luckily in my area we have a few really good practitioners who believe that trust and faith in each other (practitioner and client) and the process of birth are required. This makes for a less hostile environment to give birth in making it safer and less stressful than a crisis waiting to happen feeling. Do you have the relationship with your doctor or midwife to ask questions openly? If not, how can you work to build that relationship?
The Power of One - World Breastfeeding Week
I love the theme this year for world breastfeeding week. I mean seriously, how many times do we all fail to act because it’s all so overwhelming? People say, “Take breastfeeding one day at a time.” But all many nursing mothers can think is, “Ohmygoodness! I can’t do this for (insert quantity here)…” So let this be the year that you remember to take it one day at a time and remember that even one person can be a breastfeeding activist.
I challenge you this week to do one thing every day to spread the word about breastfeeding. Thank your pediatrician for being supportive, call a friend who has a new baby to bring her dinner so she can breastfeed without multitasking, donate a book about breastfeeding, donate time to a local breastfeeding group to help teach others about breastfeeding or even donate money… The possibilities are endless. Or maybe it’s your year to do something big. Are you thinking of becoming a lactation counselor? Or maybe becoming a La Leche League Leader? Find your support and make it happen - it’s all in the power of one.
