Comments on Hobo Mama: Prepared for Life: Breastfeeding in local and glob...

I really enjoyed this. And thanks for posting the ...

2009-08-05T08:42:27.581-07:00

I really enjoyed this. And thanks for posting the story about the couple and their kids lost in the snow. It really brings everything home how an emergency doesn't have to be an earthquake, hurricane, war or famine. Anyone can fall into an emergency situation.

Jenny, I've never commented here before, but ...

2009-08-04T09:55:55.552-07:00

Jenny,

I've never commented here before, but your post really hit a chord with me.

We have a BIG job ahead of us to turn the North American culture around. More than 50 years of damage has brought us here - starting in the 50's when the medicalization of birth moved birthing into hospitals and the formula companies started marketing hard to dr's and nurses, and then of course, the public.

Oh, how I long for the day when breastfeeding, wet nursing and cross nursing are once again mainstreamed and normalized. And for the day when the formula companies get kicked out of the government bed. Oh and also, when the WHO Code is an actual LAW!

If you haven't heard of them already, you may want to check out the Best for Babes Foundation. www.bestforbabes.org. They are working hard on this exact issue and I support them with a $2/sale donation.

All the best,
Wendy Armbruster Bell
www.PumpEase.com

on elita's post that we are the only species t...

2009-08-04T08:00:21.412-07:00

on elita's post that we are the only species that drinks milk beyond the age of weaning, can i just add that here, we have formula for almost everyone! formula for 1-3 kids (toddlers); pre-school (up to 6); for pregnant moms - anmum; for lactating moms - anmum lacta; for the elderly, for women, etc. etc. :-O

I love this post! Most African-Americans are lacto...

2009-08-03T09:17:28.073-07:00

I love this post! Most African-Americans are lactose intolerant as well. Hell, most Americans are lactose intolerant! If that weren't the case, there wouldn't be such a huge market for soy products, lactose-free milk and ice cream by Lactaid and those pills you can take before you eat foods with lactose. We are the only species that drinks milk beyond the age of weaning and we are the only species that drinks the milk of another animal.
Anyway, this was a great read, so glad you are participating in the Carnivals again.

Fab post. I often think how superior we act in th...

2009-08-03T03:42:49.489-07:00

Fab post. I often think how superior we act in the west, shaking our heads at how formula companies managed to convince third world mothers to use artificial milk. But we should look at little more closely at ourselves: we, supposedly savvy westerners, have been tricked by them as well. Only we pretend it is a "choice", not that we have been duped by marketing.

If only more people knew the serious damage that formula feeding has done in countries with poorer healthcare and sanitation than in industrialized countries.

Jenny: Thanks for bringing marketing into t...

2009-08-03T00:04:10.990-07:00

Jenny: Thanks for bringing marketing into the conversation, and very interesting (sad) about Filipinos and lactose intolerance. I was afraid that my cultural influences thing was woefully underexplained and comes across as patronizingly simplistic. Not that I'm saying that's what you're saying — I'm accusing myself. I had in mind this whole long reminiscence about how I stopped eating meat for a number of years when I realized that Western meat-eating habits were really bad for the world but containable (sorta) if only the West were doing it — but as soon as it started spreading, and it was, things were getting out of hand. There wasn't a direct connection between my becoming vegetarian and "saving the world," but it was all I could think to do, you know? And of course, implicit in all that damage from meat eating is, e.g., McDonald's, which is everywhere globally now, with its big money and its message of eat cheap meat and don't ask where it came from or how we're going to sustain this. But, as you can tell from this comment, my thoughts got too rambly to bother putting them into the article. Just know that I acknowledge that nothing about this issue is simplistic, with some easy fix. I just truly am hoping there could be a glacial change toward the good in terms of breastfeeding being promoted again worldwide. I will have to see "Formula for Disaster," though I can tell now it's going to make me angry. ;) I've been really annoyed with Nestle and other formula marketers anyway, but when I was doing research for this article, I was surprised to find that there are so many women not even bothering with formula (because it is too expensive for so many) but also not using breastfeeding, instead using traditional supplemental feeding like gruels and other watered-down solids (with unclean water). And then of course there are all the orphans or abandoned children who don't have a mother to breastfeed them in any case. In some ways, formula in such situations would be a big step up! But I'd MUCH rather have breastfeeding promoted instead of Nestle moving in and telling the mothers who are available to go to formula. So, again, it's complicated. And there are so many places where people die from want of food, not because there's not food available, but because their governments selfishly limit their access to it, leaving donated shipments to rot. In those areas, too, breastfeeding would be invaluable at least for the very young. So many babies dying every day, and in some ways the solution is so simple. But not. I just hope things might change for the better this time. Ok, I'll stop now. Thanks for letting me write a bunch more!

Zen_Mommy: I love those photos! So different in tone, and yet both so beautiful. Yea for the internet. I thought it was really intriguing to read Florence Owens Thompson's annoyance about having her picture splashed everywhere as the Face of the Great Depression in that Wikipedia article I linked to in the photo credits. Didn't stop me, though, did it? :)

As usual, very well done. And the beautiful photo...

2009-08-02T21:48:09.740-07:00

As usual, very well done. And the beautiful photos--how touching! :-)

Actually, for the Western cultural influences, I h...

2009-08-02T17:47:37.512-07:00

Actually, for the Western cultural influences, I have to say that it's not really a cultural influence per se but more of Western companies shoving products our way. For instance, did you know that Filipinos are generally lactose intolerant? But with the American occupation, milk was introduced as a primary and the best source of calcium and since then, Filipinos have been incorporating milk in their diets (despite the intolerance). Not only that, despite knowing that a lot of Filipinos do not have access to clean water, Western formula milk companies (Nestle, Abbot, MeadJohnson, etc.) have been promoting the use of formula milk instead of breast milk, as shown in UNICEF's documentary, "Formula for Disaster". There had been moves to strictly regulate the formula milk industry but with the backing of these giant milk companies, the regulatory measures were weakened. Let's face it - formula milk companies have a lot of money for advertising, etc. and promotion/education takes a lot of funds which breastfeeding support groups lack and milk companies take advantage of.