breastmilk vs "formula" food(ecologist article)

[thisisyesterday]

apologies if this has been posted before, it's a fairly old article. I've just finished ready the politics of breastfeeding however, and sadly the facts in this article seem to remain the same

interesting article anyway, esp if you are undecided on how to feed your baby

article here

bump - coz everyone should read this!

excerpts...

?There can be no food more locally produced, more sustainable or more environmentally friendly than a mother?s breastmilk, the only food required by an infant for the first six months of life. It is a naturally renewable resource, which requires no packaging or transport, results in no wastage and is free. Breastfeeding can also help reduce family poverty, which is a major cause of malnutrition.?

'Women do not fail to breastfeed. Health professionals, health agencies and governments fail to educate and support women who want to breastfeed.'

'... governments all over the world must begin to take seriously the responsibility of ensuring the good health of future generations. To do this requires deep and profound social change. We must stop harassing mothers with simplistic ?breast is best? messages and put time, energy and money into re-educating health professionals and society at large.'

very interesting article i agree health professionals especially midwifes need to spend more time explaining the benefits rather than forcing breastfeeding on tired mum after child birth and insisting that u are not doing it right if it is sore i was very lucky to have my mum on hand to see me through the first few weeks encouraging me to continue and have now breast fed 2 dd and enjoyed every minute of it

this article ignited an epic bunfight years ago when it first came out. Or rather, the title of the thread which moondog came up with caused the bunfight.

fantastic article though. with references the whole way through for the points it makes.

Love that second quotation, TanteRose

Brilliant article. Shame it's so relevant!

isn't it just. and it's wrong that so many people jsut don't know the full facts about artificial feeding.
i didn't when i switched to formula feeding with my first baby, and i'm shocked at what i;ve read about it since.

this stuff ought to be common knowledge.how can mothers make an informed decision on how to feed their babies when they don't know all this???

Thanks for posting, this is a great article.

I am involved in a campaigning group and one of my actions was to find out the formula advertising budget vs nhs breastfeeding budget. Done!