Anyone currently reading Politics Of Breastfeeding?

[hunkermunker]

I'd like to talk about bits of it with people who are reading it/have read it/are interested in reading it/aren't currently interested in reading it, but will be once they've read the thread. And likely some other people too, but I haven't thought of their categories yet.

I know what you mean about the shock of seeing it written. I think I was kind of aware in a fuzzy sort of way, or would have been if I'd thought about it. But yes, the thought of using precious fuel to try and make milk in conditions that you just can't get 'clean' enough is heartbreaking. I put clean in 's because I don't mean that people won't try to get stuff clean (as in germ free clean) but without the resources and education how can you? And they could have just bf'd And the powder's not sterile any way. I don't think everyone in this country realises that.

Also really interesting to read about bf as a method of family planning - child spacing, something that goes so much further than simple nutrition.

I have a horrible feeling that I may have caught the habbit of saying 'artificial feeding' and I hope I don't offend anyone. Much better term though!!

Not sure why I said 'simple nutrition' there! I wish it was simple but it has become very un-simple!

As i have mentioned before on MN, I was always aware of the politics surrounding breastfeeding as I grew up in Papua New Guinea, and thanks to the efforts of an incredible group called 'Susu Mama', bottles only became available on prescription.

Infant mortality rates nosedived.

Thanks for this thread. Been meaning to read this book for a while - this thread has inspired me to finally place an order with Amazon.

I wondered if someone was going to start this thread, I've reached the chapter on Wet Nursing.

I was particularly shocked by Chapter 7 on aid agencies and campaigns and the use of them by formula companies to sell more product.

Another bit which stood out for me personally was the bit on breast pumps in Chapter 6, though actually I think there's more to be said. The sales of breastpumps - twice as many a year in the US as women who start breastfeeding - is a really startling figure, and there's some mention of hand expression. Obviously breastpumps are very profitable - I recently noticed Mothercare selling a "breastfeeding starter kit" for £100 alongside the other feeding equipment.

Elkiedee, yes, I think there's a lot more to be said about breastpumps too - for instance, the manufacturers are often (always?) Code breakers. Mind you, Lansinoh is owned by a Code-breaking company too.

But yes, the "here is what you need in order to breastfeed" is one of the things that riled me so much about the Annabel Karmel thing - making bf sound overly complicated or like a specialist activity which is destined to fail if you don't eat a perfect diet and drink infused water(!).

So, yes, six million breastpumps sold annually when three million women initiate bf in the USA...

Why doesn't hand-expressing get more airtime? Because you don't need to buy hands, so there's nobody making money out of it? WHY do we allow ourselves to be marketed at so readily, why are we so anxious for the next device that will "solve" "problems" that we didn't even have until we were told they existed. The women who laughed when they were told that in Western countries, women read books about breastfeeding, like we might laugh at people who read books about blinking, or breathing - to think the West pities those women!

Oh, and the stuff about the composition of breastmilk not being the same when pumped as when fed directly - fascinating. There's already research that seems to demonstrate a link between obesity and bottlefeeding, whatever is in the bottle, after all.

I read this a couple of years back, but I might try to get a hold of the new version.

I was already aware of some of the issues after hanging about on MN for so long, but to read about it in greater detail really opened my eyes.

I saw this on my friends bookshelf today so I may have to steal borrow it next time. Am still bf despite ds seemingly wanting to give up last week- he rapidly changed his mind yesterday so I am now trying to get my supply back up.

Sorry to hear that Leonie.
It's outrageous.

I don't want to simply read this book and be shocked though. What can I do to make a difference?

That's what I want to work on PuzzleRocks, what to do?

I am boycotting Nestle, difficult after I became addicted to Milky Bars during my last trimester, but hardly earth-shattering in itself.

I've just ordered a copy from Amazon on the strength of this thread. I bf my DS until 7 months when (I thought) he gave up himself. He wouldn't take the breast at all (for 24 hours) but would take the bottle. I wish now I'd tried harder but we were on holiday at the time and he's always been quite slim so I was worried that he wasn't getting enough food.

I'm hoping this book will get me fired up for number 2. Also want to subtley lend to a friend who is pg and doesn't want to bf as she "doesn't like the idea of it"

MOAP, I think as you want to breastfeed this will certainly help motivate you for no 2. I never wanted to use formula but sadly ended up doing so with ds1 from 1 week and had to phase out top-ups forced on us by the hospital with ds2. This book certainly reinforced that feeling.

I'm not sure though that lending her this book is the best way to persuade your friend to give bf a try.

I don't think many people questioned their HV's back then. We are far more cynical now and rightly so.
Aah the 6 week thing. My mum's milk supposedly dried up at 6 weeks with her first four babies. By the her last pregnancy she had fantastic breastfeeding support and managed to feed my brother until he was a year old. It stills upsets her to this day.
And interestingly, though I may be over reaching here, my brother is significantly taller than the rest of us.

A stroke in utero. That must have been horrendous for your poor mother.

I almost finished with it.

It's great stuff.
My first big gasp was the thing about US Formula companies offering to cover the cost of an architect when a new hospital was being built so they could ensure hospital planning maximised mother/child separation and reduced likelihood of breastfeeding success e.g. baby nursery on different floors.

The formula company sponsored/designed hospital made me too - so so blatant!

Another way to help is to become a monitor for the WHO code. Abuses are still happening all over the place - not just in developing countries but in the UK right now. Just today I was looking at a magazine I bought in London (it was a US import but still) which contained advertising breaking a ton of rules. The Baby Milk Action folks need people on the ground to help them monitor what is going on especially people who have just been through maternity services and may have witnessed abuses.
And writing letters when messages are disappointing and copying it to mps, PCTS etc. For example, some registars are sending out materials with the birth certificate - envelopes with formula company logos on and vouchers.
www.babymilkaction.org/regs/viols.html

And if you feel really fired up and bfed for 6months why not consider training to be a breastfeeding counsellor or a peer supporter as a starting point?

I've got through the first 5 chapters and am loving this book. Not so much focusing on the outrageous facts about promotion of formula in third world, risks involved with soy-based formula etc. I'm feeling more saddened by the fact that somewhere along the line women have lost the desire, confidence or instincts to bring up our babies in a "primitive" way. As the book points out we are mammals - why do we find it necessary to challenge this? Why do we want it all (career, economic equality, expensive clothes etc) and at what cost to our children? Just look at the little KPC children highlighted in the book. Surely every little newborn deserves to be close to their mothers and fed from their mothers breast. I truely know that every mother wants to do what is best for their baby but I find it so hard to accept that some mothers put their babies in their own rooms from day one and ff without even trying to bf. I know plenty of healthy, happy, loved to bits children who were raised this way but it always makes me question the mothers who could bear to be parted from their babies when they are so tiny. How do you leave a baby that is soft, smells lovely and has strokeable angel hair? Does it feel right or is it only do-able because you have made a rational decision to parent in a certain way and this decision protects and shields your true feelings? I couldn't do it. I'm not saying I am a better mother but am I a more instinctual mother? A bit off topic maybe but these are my thoughts raised by the book so far....

Tamba - Thanks for the link.