Or is it just a lack of common sense?
This week in the United Kingdom, powerful organizations like La Leche League, Unicef and the National Childbirth Trust in conjunction with the Department of Health are trying to get the message out that Breast is Best. But apparently not everyone thinks that this is such a good thing.
Enter Sarah Oliver, a new mom who nearly starved her baby because she felt like she was consistently ‘bullied’ into breastfeeding. Advised by midwives that even one bottle would permanently hamper the breastfeeding process. . .she continued to breastfeed and by the time she started to bottle feed, her baby had already lost nearly 25% of his birth weight.
Sharing her story, she blames the establishment that as she puts it, “spews propaganda” geared towards ‘bullying’ women into breastfeeding. She sites statistics about how this aggressive Breast is Best campaign may result in approximately 1,000 babies and mothers being re-hospitalized because of failure to thrive syndrome. But she fails to site statistics from WHO, that say a moderate increase in breastfeeding would significantly decrease infant morbidity!
Still a Lack of Support for Breastfeeding Moms
What happened to Sarah Oliver and her baby–shouldn’t happen. Especially where there is so much support for breastfeeding. I scratched my head reading the article wondering why no one caught the problem until after the baby had lost 23% of his birth weight in one week?
The problem seems to be not the lack of education but the focus on numbers. Militant campaigns like these demand an increase of 2% in breastfeeding mothers in order to retain ‘baby friendly’ status. Many breastfeeding education classes talk about the good ‘ole days before formula milk. . .but fail to mention that there were wet nurses for mothers who couldn’t breastfeed and that the infant mortality rate was much higher due to malnutrition.
The common sense factor here isn’t lacking in the mother, nor is it lacking in the education but rather in the application of the principle. Like childbirth, breastfeeding is an individual proposition. Mothers and babies need to be treated as individuals. . .not a set of statistics.
I fully support breastfeeding education. If you’ve read any of my blogs–you know that. I won’t even lie and say that formula is just as good as breastfeeding–it’s not. Breastfeeding is far healthier and numerous studies say so. What I will say though is that we need to strive not to bully people into one decision or the other but rather to educate thoroughly, and support new moms as individuals rather than lumping them into statistics.
Related Articles:
Should Formula Cans Contain Warning Labels?