U.S. Food Policy: Breastfeeding promotion and formula marketing

U.S. Food Policy: Breastfeeding promotion and formula marketing

This is a great article. Take a minute to click on the link and read it.

There are so many possible issues to address when the topic is breastfeeding and most of them are real and important. This is the kind of topic that I could fill a book writing about, but for now, let me just say this:

Women - we can breastfeed. Nearly all of us. Nearly all of the time, for the amount of time a baby needs it.

But, like a lot of things related to women, we do it better when we have a community that supports it. Women are communal creatures. We learn by observing, by gosssip, by instructions, by practice. Almost by osmosis. If a girl is around women who breastfeed with contentment, with joy and satisfaction - that girl will breastfeed successfully when it's her turn.

But if she's left on her own, with a job to return to and no flexible schedules or community to help, and with the convenient packet of formula the hospital gave her - she's doomed. All of the little conflicts, all of the discomfort, all of the questions, will just pile up until she's overwhelmed and the baby is crying and the house is dirty and dinner is not ready and the boss wants that report...

We need to do better. As a community, we need to provide what women and babies need: time, emotional support, and someone to do the dishes. We need a society that accepts women and babies into all aspects of the culture, even the workplace.

After all, that's not just "her" baby lying there. That's a human being who will grow up to have a place in the neighborhood you live in. You have a stake in all of it.