It's day three of World Breastfeeding Week and I awoke to news that homebirthing, breastfeeding, supermodel Gisele has told the media she believes there should be laws ensuring babies are breastfed for the first six months of life:"I think breastfeeding really helped (me keep me figure). Some people here (in the US) think they don't have to breastfeed, and I think 'Are you going to give chemical food to your child when they are so little?' I think there should be a worldwide law, in my opinion, that mothers should breastfeed their babies for six months."
It's a controversial statement and I have no doubt that online mothering forums, twitterverse and the blogosphere are a flurry with heated debate on the topic. I for one am glad that she has raised this issue and been willing to put forth an opinion that will most likely earn her a lot of criticism, because the realities are:
- Young children NEED breastmilk for their long term health and well-being
- The vast majority of women CAN breastfeed!!!!
- Very few women have a medical problem which prevents them from being able to breastfeed
- If all the women who could breastfeed, were breastfeeding, there would be no shortage of milk for milk banks to supply the very few women who need it
- Artificial milk poses significant health risks to children
Gisele's comment doesn't simply make her an advocate of breastfeeding, it makes her an advocate for babies and an advocate for human health. If there were laws protecting a child's right to breastmilk we would have a much healthier population. Health professionals would be obligated to know the facts about breastmilk and breastfeeding and then be able to provide patients with accurate information (which is a huge problem keeping breastfeeding rates low in The West). Not to mention we would have far few women living with the grief of not-breastfeeding.A law like this would help lead to generations of little girls growing up with the understanding that their breasts were made to feed babies, rather than them growing up believing their breasts are a source of sexual arousal for men. It would also help lead to generations of little girls growing up with the understanding that they will be able to breastfeed, rather than approaching motherhood with the myth that they probably won't.
It's important to point out that Gisele does not say that ABM should be banned, simply that there should be a law protecting and ensuring breastfeeding for the first six months of a child's life. ABM could still be made available to the very few babies could not survive on EBM through consultation with health professionals such as a lactation consultant and a general practitioner in order to gain a prescription for ABM.
Quite frankly, after all the misinformation on infant feeding, and breastfeeding bashing that goes on in the media, in local communities, and in families, Gisele's voice is a breath of fresh air.
For information about the importance of breastfeeding and dangers of artificial breast milk read:
Bottle Feeding
101 Reasons to Breastfeed Your Child
Artificial Feeding – Nothing To Do With Breastfeeding
Consumer Research on Infant Formual and Infant Feeding
Formula for Disaster
Genetic Engineering and Infant Foods
Hot Milk - The Unbottled Truth About Formula
IBFAN
International Breastfeeding Journal
Just One Bottle
Misinformation: Redefining Baby Feeding
Myths
Suck on This
Toxic Phthalates in Infant Formulas
The Case of The Virgin Gut
The Language of Breastfeeding
The Risks of Infant Formula Feeding
What Should I Know About Infant Formula
Yes! Just One Bottle Will Hurt!
Related Posts on Ilithyia Inspired
A Mother's Failure To Breastfeed Is Society's Failure To Support HerArtificial Infant Milk: The Voldermort Of Baby Feeding
Documentary Asks: "If Infant Feeding Is A Choice, Why Are We Not Making An Informed One?"
Those Not Breastfeeding Yet, Need Breastfeeding Support
Uncovering What Lies Behind Lactophobia
Why Is The Health Of Babies Less Important?
ETA: The following is a statement from Gisele posted on her blog on this issue:
My intention in making a comment about the importance of breastfeeding has nothing to do with the law. It comes from my passion and beliefs about children. Becoming a new mom has brought a lot of questions, I feel like I am in a constant search for answers on what might be the best for my child. It’s unfortunate that in an interview sometimes things can seem so black and white. I am sure if I would just be sitting talking about my experiences with other mothers, we would just be sharing opinions. I understand that everyone has their own experience and opinions and I am not here to judge. I believe that bringing a life into this world is the single most important thing a person can undertake and it can also be the most challenging. I think as mothers we are all just trying our best.
8 comments:
I totally agree with the sentiment and with everything you said. The only issue I have is that the statement seems to (although it probably doesn't, but was certainly received this way in the media) blame women that most babies currently aren't breastfed that long. When the statistics say that 90% of women intend to breastfeed but so many don't meet their own goals, it's clear that women are not getting the information and support that they need.
I wholeheartedly agree that breastmilk is EVERY babies birthright, but I would only support such a law if women were properly informed and supported and empowered to achieve that goal. Since our current system drugs the mums and babies, separates them from time to time, 'manages' the breastfeeding process and then sends women home to cope by themselves before their milk even comes in, HUGE changes need to occur before such flights of legislative fancy will have any basis in reality.
However, I am glad she put the topic out there too. :)
I agree with you, Lauren (should have asked you to write this blog post!). I think the most important/relevant related post to this one is the "A Mother's Failure To Breastfeed Is Society's Failure To Support Her" post, which explores the issue you've raised about the tendency for women to be blamed (and we see the same thing in the case of birth where women are blamed for "driving" the caesarean rates up).
What appealed to me about this slice of media was the idea that the powers-that-be need to exercise greater responsibility for improving breastfeeding rates and ensuring mothers have better support.
Some governments and international bodies have made a start. We have the WHO guidelines on infant feeding, we have international code on marketing infant formula. But these can only be so effective, and aren't "enforced". After decades of successful cultural brainwashing, ABM companies don't need to work so hard to sell their product/decrease breastfeeding rates, becaue they've got entire populations doing it for them through breastfeeding myths and social attitudes. The idea of a law holding someone accountable for that definitely appeals to me.
You're right in saying:
"HUGE changes need to occur before such flights of legislative fancy will have any basis in reality."
I really saw the idea of a law as something that could aid this process, in conjunction with other ideas.
But I support the basic principle that further regulation of breastfeeding promotion and the selling and marketing ABM is needed.
I don't know if this worked the first time I tried...errors popping up so trying again...
"I'm sorry madam, I see that your baby is losing weight and you have tried X number of galactagogues, but the law just doesn't allow you to stop. You will just have to do better or go to jail!"
Having the 'benefit' of actually being a mother who 'failed' to breastfeed, 'didn't try hard enough' to make it happen and actually knows how it feels to bottlefeed when I really aimed to breastfeed...the guilt, the shame, the embarrassment...the inner torture and the grief...I don't support such a law at all.
Of course I am defensive, and who the fuck wouldn't be?? Just WHO exactly gets to have the final say on whether or not a mother is 'trying hard enough' or had 'done enough' to justify ABM usage?
If we can't trust GP's for their knowledge on birth or immunisation, how all of a sudden are they trustworthy enough to gain breastfeeding advice and judgement from?
And lets not forget that in mainstream Australia the donation of EBM is unheard of really. My local ABA is one of the largest groups in Australia, and yet when I mention there having donated milk to another mother they all look at me like I have 2 heads...
Its not just breastfeeding that needs to be better supported, its mothers in general, the birth 'system' and mental health.
Sure it sounds good when you think about the fact that it would ensure babies are breastfed for longer, but at what cost? Another law telling women what they MUST do with their bodies!
I know for sure that if such a law existed when I 'fucked up' breastfeeding my first 2 children I would have been FORCED to continue on despite the issues I was having and despite the mental health problems I had and I probably would have killed myself because I couldn't handle being scrutinised and blamed like that.
(to be cont...I typed too much LOL)
I don't know if this worked the first time I tried...errors popping up so trying again...
I don't support having ABM available on prescription only either. Again coming from actual personal experience, knowing the difficulty my mother had getting my formula on prescription (I was the only one of her children that wasn't breastfed, something was 'not quite right' about me and I was put on soy formula), as well as living rurally with the difficulty of actually getting to a Dr (there's no public transport out here! Nor Drs that do housecalls, or even pharmacies), she also had to breastfeed on command for these 'professionals' to assess her 'abilities'.
She felt embarrassed and ashamed not being able to feed 'like a mother should be able to' and having to have such an intimate moment between her and her child monitored and scrutinised so closely felt awful.
What would such a law mean for mothers that lived even more remotely than my mother? Where presently they may able to buy ABM from the tiny general store in their town, but there isn't another major city with all the sorts of things one would need to get a prescription, for miles? I don't know what those people do presently if they do need a general practitioner but even just thinking about the lengths they would have to go to for general health needs sounds hellish enough without having to make arrangements to cart a baby along too!
And in my own experiences with bottlefeeding my first 2 children, having to go to such lengths to get ABM, being subjected to such scrutiny and judgement, being made to jump through hoops to prove that my case was 'bad enough', that would be horrid!
And my teenage sister, who persisted for over a week without any breastmilk OR colostrum, trying to feed her tiny baby while the stuff she was taking in an attempt to create a milk supply caused her to be so sleepy she slept through her baby's cries, who'd like to tell her she didn't try hard enough or that she SHOULD have continued?
At least at the moment people such as myself who feel shame, embarrassment, guilt, grief...can go about acquiring ABM discreetly without having their motives scrutinised by numerous people before they are 'allowed' to feed their baby.
Of course I realise that there are mothers that don't attempt to breastfeed at all, of course I wish they would, but I just don't support implementing something that places such judgement on mothers, where you would need to have some sort 'criteria' or 'guidelines' for what constitutes having 'done enough' or 'not trying hard enough'.
Is this really the sort of thing we want to wish upon other mothers, other women, our sisters and our friends? Or even ourselves if we ever happened to be unlucky enough to have serious breastfeeding difficulties?
All the comments worked, april, I've had that happen on blogger too, very annoying, feeling like a dork going back days later to see I've psoted the same comment like five times on someone's blog.
Like Lauren said, the problem with the law proposal is that it's putting the blame and responsibility and burden, really, on the mothers, who as you've pointed out really don't need more of any of those things!
I like the idea of laws that would make governments, health professionals and ABM manufacturers more accountable, take on more responsibility for seeing that mothers have access to better info, better support etc.
A law on it's own would be horrendous, as you pointed out re: someone else telling women what they can and can't do with their bodies. Initially the idea of a law appealed to me because it could have the potential to lead to better community education and changing social attitudes. I'm at a loss along the lines of which came first the chicken or the egg: how do we go about ensuring mothers get better info, better support, without judgment, without taking ownership of their bodies?
I'm sorry in my post I didn't consider that the process of attaining ABM and becoming an ABM feeding mother can be so hard. It doesn't look that way from the outside (and I'll admit I wasn't thinking beyond my own local community which is an ABM suburb), so I apologise.
I think it would be beneficial if I read more feeding stories that didn't end with estabslihing breastfeeding to get a better understanding of what life is like for those mothers. I know very little about it (except what I learn from talking to you or to another friend of mine who ABM fed her first).
Most of what I "hear" via cyberspace and conversations on the playground etc. are personal stories that include a lot of breastfeeding myths, poor advice from health professionals who should know better and lack of peer support, usually expressed in such a way as to suggest (or explicitly say) that they're glad they're not breastfeeding. Hardly a full picture of the experience.
Thanks for commenting, april, you've inspired a new avenue of research and learning for this lactivist with blinkers on! :)
Awesome discussion.
I think a better law would be that all babies up to the age of 12 months should have access to expressed breastmilk. Even this is mortifying for most people (see my facebook wall for that evidence!) This would ensure that the powers that be (and therefore the general public) start to take breastfeeding seriously, and start taking the harm of formula seriously.
I have witnessed first hand the devestation of not being able to continue breastfeeding. I have also seen tha ongoing effects of that on not only the mother but the entire family. The family I am talking about the baby is now 3 and the mother is only now beginning to let go of the guilt. I have no doubt it will be with her forever.
I also judged her. She tried for 6 weeks with her first but never sought the help I thought she should (not that I knew at the time). She never did the day stay programs, never followed up with the ABA.
Her subsequent children she 'tried' with as well. Though she bought ABM just in case before they were born and only tried for a few days both times. All of this is so multi layered. If she had have succesfully breastfed subsequent children, she would have felt huge guilt towards her first born. Every breastfeed she ever did after her horrendous experience with her first triggered massive trauma for her.
This has impacted on ever facet of her life.
On the other hand I know 3 people personally who literally chose not to breastfeed. Their babies never felt a nipple in their mouth.
It's a difficult, emotive topic that needs to be continually addressed and pushed.
No apology necessary and I don't necessarily think other ABM users put as much thought and feeling into why and how they are doing it as I do ;)
mmm but that's still making a law about women's bodies isn't it Jess...meaning that those women who can breastfeed would be expected (forced even to meet the demand?) to express to provide milk for not just their own babies but for others.
How is all this talk about law making any different to forcing women to birth in hospitals?
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