Haiti - F*****g Nestle is at it already.

[foxytocin]

here now what can I do about it?

I'm glad you've explained that clearly Tiktok.

I was recently asked to give some old milk bottles and teats to someone working in Africa who knew a baby who's mother had died during child birth. I didn't have any decent bottles and teats so I didn't have anything to donate, but I did wonder what would have been the best thing to do, if I did have the bottles?

I decided that I would rather donate to a charity and let them decide these things.

"Grandmother to re-lactate? Seriously? If she's lucky enough to have been pulled out alive, now she needs to re-lactate because you don't like nestle?"

Nothing to so with the company donating

It is much safer for ladies who have previously breastfeed to re lactate than to feed local babies formula in the midst of a disaster.

I dont know why I have to continually explain this stuff - there are plenty of links for people who are interested and concerned enough about this to get angry about it.

SweetGrapes - (with apols for those who have read this already) This is very little to do with liking or not liking Nestle (except it's notable Nestle have been known to behave questionably in the past). It's to do with infant health. In a disaster or catastrophe situation, there are internationally-agreed protocols that enable the aid agencies and other NGOs to ensure formula is distributed in a way that does not increase the risk of infants dying of diarrhoea.

One option, in some instances of children being orphaned, would be to see if there is any possibility of another healthy and safe female relative feeding the baby. She would need to be available, willing and able,and if she is not currently lactating, she can be helped to relactate. I honestly do not see the objection to this - if a tidal wave engulfed London, it's not gonna work, for sure, but in poor countries, it is not at all unknown as a strategy when a mother dies or has to be away from home to work.

To be shocked at the very idea of supporting relactation is so West-centric...as if everyone in the world breastfeeds the same as we do, with the same expecations and cultural norms

You never know, a grandmother having her life saved may actually want to relactate, to enable the health and well-being of any surviving grandchildren.

NGOs and aid agencies are trained in supporting breastfeeding in these situations and know that unfettered distribution of formula leads to dead babies. That's why formula needs to be given, with care, to those who really need it. Where there is an alternative to formula, it should be supported and enabled.

Seeing this as 'not liking Nestle' is simplistic, closed-minded and very shallow.

belgo - it's almost always better to give money, I agree.

People working in agencies on the ground know what the priorities are.

I remember that story about the chinese policewoman wet nursing six or eight babies after the China earthquake. That has to be the best solution if possible.

Some basic facts about Haiti from before the earthquake

Mortality rate of under 5's - 132/1000
Avg life expectancy 54 yrs
Population with access to potable water 39%
Illiteracy in adult population 55%

The first and third points are why breastfeeding has to be protected in Haiti.

I think something like 75% of the population in Haiti lives on less than $2 US per day.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

Sorry I can't take part. Darn it.

Will comew back to thread but this is interesting: www.ilca.org/files/in_the_news/press_room/2010-01_PressRelease_HaitiEarthquake.pdf

I agree with Tiktok and others, but...

How long would it take to get someone to relactate? And what do you do with the starving baby while waiting? It might be difficult to find a wet nurse for every single baby before a relative will relactate?

What about babies from destroyed orphanages that presumably were on formula before the earthquake? Should they not get the food?

winnybella - if there is a starving baby, and no nearby/willing person who can bf straight away, and no human milk bank, this baby will get formula.

If there are babies in orphanages who had formula before the disaster, they will get formula.

It's all in the protocols.

The protocols also ensure continued supply of formula, and access to clean water, and education of how to prepare formula safety.

Tiktok, could you provide a link to any information about relactation? I'd like to know more, and trust information from you more than a Google search.

I'm off to make another donation of cash in the meantime....

There are links further down which include info about this, Cinnabar.

If you mean relacation for someone in the West who stopped bf a few days, weeks or months ago, try this:

www.llli.org/FAQ/relactation.html

Thank goodness for the donations for those babies then.

bloody hell, the arrogance of sitting in the UK. In a home which hasn't crumbled to the ground. With a clean doctor's surgery down the street. With enough food to feed your children. And then to sit there and get all high and mighty and pontificate about a company going in to try and help a country which was already one of the poorest in the world.

When you have no home, no food and no running water, you might feel differently about Big Bad Nestle coming in to help.

I am not a Nestle apologist but it is just possible, you know, that the company is staffed by people who want to help in a desperate situation.

Read the thread, stepaway.

And try to understand, just a bit, it is not about arrogance or pontificating.

I am a bit too tired of this to explain it again....

I am reading this document at the moment long but interesting on relactation

Tiktok, well, so in that case the Nestle donation might come in handy? As long as the protocols are being followed?

I understand how important it is to have as many babies as possible bfing, but surely there will be quite a lot of them ( in the cases I mentioned above) that will actually need the formula?

So...if there will be babies who will need it, then well, it's a good thing they will get it? Because if they won't, they will die.

Or are we worrying only about the dangers of the formula preparation as death toll from that would be higher than cases above who would die from lack of formula?

Thanks Tiktik - that's exactly what I needed.

The document I am reading does ...

"Seema et al (43) observed that the first breastmilk appeared between 2 and 6 days; partial
relactation was achieved in from 4 to 28 days, and complete relactation in 7 to 60 days.
Abejide et al (40) studying 6 cases of adoptive lactation, found that breastmilk appeared
on day 4 to 7, partial lactation was achieved in between 11 and 18 days and exclusive
breastfeeding was possible in 21 to 25 days."

Sorry. Tiktok. Tiktik is the name of my cat....

tiktok, i've read the thread. thanks.

it's quite a luxury to be able to sit at a computer outside Haiti and consider the actions of one multinational.

that's all i'm saying.

'When you have no home, no food and no running water, you might feel differently about Big Bad Nestle coming in to help.'

Precisely. They are vulnerable. That's why they need protection.

Stepaway - if you have no running water etc, you probably wouldn't be that appreciative of a powdered milk donation.

As others have said on this thread, there is a need for donations as long as there distribution is safe and controlled by the aid workers themselves.

The problem is in western Europe we see breastfeeding as a bonus; but in countries that lack clean running water etc, breastfeeding isn't a bonus, it's a necessity.