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First off, Happy World Breastfeeding Week!
Secondly, I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about. If EVER there was an armchair quarterback about global issues of health, and poverty, it would be me, and probably you too dear reader, but I don’t have to tell you that.
But, this is what I do know, there has been for many many years a boycott against Nestle. For giving away, advertising, and selling formula products to people in impoverished countries. Here’s a good link: Baby Milk Action (now might be a good time to reaffirm your commitment to the boycott, check that ice cream, and especially those bottles of water).
“Marketing practices that undermine breastfeeding are potentially hazardous wherever they are pursued: in the developing world, WHO estimates that some 1.5 million children die each year because they are not adequately breastfed. These facts are not in dispute.” -Unicef
And when I read that “breastfeeding is a leading cause of AIDS transmission” I thought, huh? Did a quick google search and found this:
Exclusive breastfeeding lowers risk
The first study exploring the impact of exclusive breastfeeding on postnatal mother-to-child transmission of HIV was published in August 1999 . It found that those mothers who exclusively breastfed their infants had no higher rate of transmission than infants who were artificially fed. A higher rate of transmission was witnessed among those who had received mixed feeding (i.e. some breast-milk and other liquids like formula, water or other foods).
In which case, the disposable one-time-use formula-filled bottle would actually be pretty dangerous, huh?
Ref 2. Coutsoudis A, Pillay K, Kuhn L, Spooner E, Tsai W-Y, Coovadia HM. Method of feeding and transmission of HIV-1 from mothers to children by 15 months of age: a prospective cohort study from Durban, South Africa. AIDS 2001, 15: 379-387
Unregulated distribution of free or subsidised formula leads to widespread use by mothers whose infants would benefit from breastfeeding. After voluntary testing and counselling, some mothers may choose not to breastfeed. They should be supported in their choice. Governments that decide to provide HIV-positive mothers with breastmilk substitutes should do so in a manner that:
is sustainable
does not create dependency on donated or low-cost supplies
does not undermine breastfeeding for the majority of infants
does not have the effect of promoting artificial feeding
assures individual infants sufficient quantities for as long as they need them (six months)
Breastmilk magic
Some of the very same companies which are trying to promote their products as the solution to HIV transmission are also those which have taken out a patent on certain components of breastmilk, such as lactoferrin, because it is known to have anti-viral properties which denature HIV. It may well turn up as a magic new component of formula. In recent years, more discoveries have been made about the rich composition of breastmilk. For example, it is now known that breastmilk comprises proteins called lysozymes which are said to destroy HIV.
Exclusive is key because previous studies used a vaguer definition of breastfeeding as meaning mainly breastmilk but also other milks, teas and water which may have been contaminated. In February 2001, a follow-up study (Ref 2) was published which confirmed that ‘infants exclusively breastfed for three months or more had no excess risk of HIV infection over six months than those never breastfed’. By 15 months exclusive breastfeeders still had the lowest risk of all three groups. Additional independent research may well point to evidence that exclusive breastfeeding can offer as much protection as artificial feeding, and possibly more.
Meanwhile, governments and agencies trying to control and treat HIV/AIDS, seek ways to make alternative feeding options available to mothers who have been diagnosed positive for HIV and decided not to breastfeed. In a number of countries this has led to companies offering free or low-cost supplies. UNICEF has refused such offers pointing to their promotional effect, the likelihood of abuse and of “spillover” of artificial feeding to infants of mothers who are HIV-negative or whose HIV status is unknown. It has also insisted that purchased formula for its pilot projects carry a generic label rather than a brand name.
also, this:
The International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN)The new Consensus Statement of the WHO/UNICEF on HIV and infant feeding (January 2007) has clearly related findings that pose a difficulty in implementing the current policy (WHO, 2000) as it is. The statement has stated that:
1. Exclusive breastfeeding for up to six months is associated with up to 3 or 4 times decrease in risk of HIV transmission from the mother to the child compared to mixed feeding.
2.New evidence on morbidity suggest that early breastfeeding cessation (at 4 months) was associated with reduced HIV transmission but also with increased child mortality from 4-24 months and that breastfeeding of HIV infected infants beyond six months improved survival of children compared to artificial feeding.
3.Programme data clearly indicated that adherence to exclusive breastfeeding to six months can be achieved through effective quality (consistent messages, constant support) counselling.
4.These findings have led the WHO/UNICEF to come up with a CONSENSUS STATEMENT that makes some modifications to their formal guidelines on HIV and infant feeding of 2000. The statement in summary reads:
5.Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended for HIV –infected women for the first 6 months of the baby’s life unless replacement feeding is acceptable, feasible, affordable, sustainable and safe.
6.After 6 months if replacement feeding still does not meet the AFASS criteria, continued breastfeeding with complementary feeding is recommended while the baby is continually assessed.
7.Governments and other stakeholders should revitalise breastfeeding protection, promotion and support in the general population, and of HIV positive mothers who decide to breastfeed.
8.Governments should ensure that the full package of interventions for PMTCT as well as the conditions stated in the current guidelines is available before consideration is made for distribution of free infant formula.
So, let’s go back to an agreement on this blog at least, that breastfeeding is the norm, it’s safe, and it’s good.
I also wanted to mention, since there was a bit of disagreement about whether the disposable bottle is ‘useful’ or not. I could see the bottle being useful in an extreme emergency, I’m headed to the hospital and baby is home with daddy, for instance. I don’t pump, so in an emergency we’d need something like that. But it is not ‘useful’ to help the mother get sleep. Mothers should sleep when their babies sleep, and most babies sleep between 16-20 hours a day in the first few months. That’s plenty of sleep. If you have support people in your home that are telling you they’ll take your baby away to the store, on a walk, etc. So you can have some sleep, these people are not ‘supporting’ you. And they should be fired. Take the baby to bed, get some sleep. Support people should be making you food and doing your laundry. If this is a difficult situation, tell them that I said so.
Also, fathers don’t need to feed infants, they need to support mothers feeding infants. My husband hands the baby over at the slightest fuss, and rightly so, babies shouldn’t have their needs put on hold to meet a grown-up’s needs. My husband will also, with little ceremony, take the baby out of visitors arms and bring him directly to me at the slightest fuss. He knows what a baby is like that has it’s needs met promptly, and that’s the kind of baby we want and have.
Anyway, Happy World Breastfeeding Week, again. And let’s get back to pro-breastfeeding conversations!
I love you all, every one, thanks for ALL of the comments,
xox,
Heather
[...] This comic is related to this musing: Thoughts on Humanitarian Efforts and formula-feeding [...]
Love the post – another reminder that our world/and especially our society is so messed up when it comes to breastfeeding. I was watching an MTV series recently (yes, yes, I know – sometimes after keeping up with two very high energy little folks you need a few moments like that) where they followed pregnant 16 year olds.
It was at the finale or something when someone asked the six girls about why they didn’t breastfeed. Their responses plus the ones by the pin-headed host show how very far we have to go. It still makes me irritated just thinking about it. (And yes, I do get that there are challenges and some may choose formula, btdt)
Reminds me, I was Visiting the U.S. over the Holidays last winter. I was taking the bus (as usual) & my 18 month-er was fussy. So I fed her, I was in the back, sounds so simple right? Anyway 2 ghetto boys get on (bear with me, I’ll get to that) and DISMISSING the Queen Latifah sized lady in front of me wearing slightly MORE then a bikini, they LOUDLY attack ME for the “unholy things” I was “doing” to my child in the back. Well the DRIVER, a lovely Gent straight from the Caribbean Isles,(see I told ya) told THEM I was “doing” MY JOB so he could do HIS!. They could shut up & sit down or get OFF! They sat down, it was 90 degrees out, no one wants to walk, lol! The lovely lady then chatted with me a great deal, the “teeth” question amongst other ideas. (why is that the biggest thing I meet with?) See all would have been missed if I’d driven in a car!
Or why does my Mom blame nursing when my baby is made to cry for 60 miles because she won’t pull over because of the “gators”? DUH she was WET! (then cloth diapering got a rag, not granny getting started 2 hours behind schedule, oh no)
AS for necessary formula feeding I only know of a few that count. BUT having been diagnosed with mental illness in the past, you feel like you have to do EVERYTHING the “Establishment” says to keep your child. THAT becomes most important. The medical establishment in the U.S. must be TRUELY more supportive for those types of moms to get a REAL shot at parenting THEIR way! Then government will get in line to follow. ok mentally ill soapboxing done, sorry. and yes humanitarianism for profit sucks. I like the XO laptop christmas campaigns better, buy 1 give 1, lol!
Yay on Mama’s supportive hubby taking baby from “helpful” others and giving him (or her in the past) to Mama. I have to say my hubby was very good about that also. He has also been daytime parent to both the boys most of their lives and was very responsive to their baby needs.
nice… so they want to maybe give away enough that the milk dries up and then charge these moms more then they make in a year? so maybe they sell their bodies in the street? or their daughters? it is sickening that we even are ok with this at any level.
the company is evil. it is not ok, ever! i am sick to death of having to give a side bar of how “breast is best… but maybe you can’t do it.” jesus. I am tired of coming to a place that supports breastfeeding only to have to defend it. breast isn’t best… it is normal. it is what we are suppose to do. it is the food we make to feed our babies, like cows, cats, whales, dogs, etc. formula was made by man it is full of chemicals, it is a substandard food, and made with cast of milk industry crap. it is there, that doesn’t mean it is good. disposible is bad! it is! those prefilled bottles wouldn’t have helped during the hurrican, because they wouldn’t have given them away… you can’t make money giving away millions of bottles.
heather in maine
but, Heather! You are going to end up with spoiled children raising them like that!!!! Are you mad!? /sarcasm.
we get that all of the time because my husband is much like yours. The only time baby fusses and isn’t handed off to me promptly is the one night a week I go to teach bellydance for 2 hours. he is old enough though that he tends not to fuss until I get home.
I have three children and none of them are spoiled.
I was actually told by my grandmother that if I loved him “like you should” (her actual words) that it would make it harder for him if he encountered a babysitter who wouldn’t feed him my pumped milk, change him promptly or hold him when he fusses or cries. I told her that any child care professional that wouldn’t do that would not be hired by me.
Will you write my lit review for me?
i tell people this comparison:
would you like to go to your favorite fancy restaurant and eat for free for as long as you want, with no waiting?
OR
would you like to be charged $20 for a cheeseburger at a busy, dirty, fast food joint?
Heather H., yeah but you forget baby COWS don’t nurse either, dairy farmers wouldn’t make money by selling milk if they did!
I agree with the “Attitude” that breast is best BU that the goal is so lofty it’s OK to not bother trying nonsense. Meaning I see your point! Maybe it wasn’t “good enough” & that’s why our world HAS so many problems. WE KNEW children could be potty trained early but our ancestors rushed the process by using soap (not pg rated btw) so that when it WAS realized this practice was wrong it was FORGOTTEN by the masses how to naturally train a baby. The timeline got more & more stretched out until you have TODAY’S report of kindergartner’s (& not special needs btw) going to school in diapers & the schools being THREATENED with ADA type pressure (this is actually England) because they INSISTED the child be diaper free unless there was a good reason. Most of the reasons weren’t good to my ears. And TRUE infant toilet teaching is being BURNED at the same time!!!
Oh as for Dad my hubby helped my little one get through the morning rush. He may have used a bottle but I decided to give fruit/veggie juices (watered down) as opposed to the sugar water the Cardio doc gave her during exams. Eventually she got the idea Dad didn’t make milk & I’d be back soon & it didn’t last long, pretty soon she was eating anything & everything! Also learned to sleep in the car & WE learned to judge the best times to leave so she wouldn’t cry on the trip home. But it was hard learning to let go. It took til child #3 to really get going. So again maybe there was harm done.
Thanks for looking up the references Heather! After reading the article the other day, I meant to do that, I was kinda surprised about the increased AIDS transmission comments…
I felt like you were taking the thoughts right out of my head before I had the chance to say them in response to this whole matter. Right on mama!
Eva, that’s an excellent comparison! I will be using that one! I also enjoyed reading your recent blog entry about your 3-day hospital stay for nothing.
Anastasia, you are absolutely right about milk/dairy farmers/baby cows. There is a slogan which reads “Milk comes from grieving mothers” & it’s true. They snatch those babies away from the mother cow & raise it in a box to be eaten while it’s still a baby. And the mother & baby call for each other for days. Awful. I’m so glad I gave up dairy.
Um – how would a disposable 1 time use bottle help in an emergency? You can get premixed stuff in reusable bottles.
The one good thing to come out of the evil ped. forcing us to give 1 bottle of glucose water or face down CPS (for a bilirubin of 13.9!) was that it came in a reusable glass bottle. So we didn’t have to buy a bottle for when I pumped.
But once you’ve used the bottle, it must be cleaned for another use- and in a situation where clean water isn’t accessible, that’s not possible. I’m thinking that the sort of emergencies that would benefit from this would be of the war/natural disaster type deals, not the mom needs to be away type. But even then, babies would be in even greater need of the protection that human milk provides in a spot where germs, toxins, etc. run amok.
All this reminds me of the Chinese policewoman story from last year! THERE she was a hero AND an example the government loved! (best for babies) In the U.S……Wow we could have a whole OTHER thread on what could have happened, but not a commendation, oh no, exactly the opposite! At the very least a reprimand. and the mother THANKED her, here she would have been sued!
funny that just today i looked up the Aussie Breastfeeding Assoc, for advice once i have my first bub, and they had a link on their title page for this…
http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/media/090801.pdf
Advocating the importance of breastfeeding in environmental disasters.
“Also, fathers don’t need to feed infants, they need to support mothers feeding infants. My husband hands the baby over at the slightest fuss, and rightly so, babies shouldn’t have their needs put on hold to meet a grown-up’s needs.”
Amen! That last part especially. You put into words right there something that I knew but couldn’t quite manage to say when dealing with that whole “we use a bottle so daddy can feed baby” thing. Thank you. I really enjoy reading your comics.
Yeah, I’ve gotten various offers for someone to take Zak for a CIO session so I can do whatever parents who CIO do when not shopping for earplugs. I still don’t know what that is, but my requests to have someone hold Zak while I pop a load in the laundry or take something out of the oven don’t get much of a response. Uh, if my kid is going to be ignored, why should I get someone else to do it?
Hi Heather!
I visit your site often, but I don’t think I have ever said hello. Your site keeps me from going crazy with all the other mainstream information out there! What a breath of fresh air it is to read about this kind of peaceful, loving family life. Thank you for sharing the things that you do!
I also really liked your comment on those who are supposedly supporting you with your new baby.
ummzak, the only time my last baby ever cried it out was When I was frying something in oil for dinner or most often when she had colic! We were so traumatized by the level 3 NICU’s treatment of her (but she MAY be having a seizure, wait & see, ugh) that we couldn’t stand to hear her cry. Also our older children followed their instincts more and prompted us to do the same. WE had to learn to get over it, she is now a happy curious toddler! I often wonder if parents that complain about AP parenting “did it” because their needy child demanded it, not the parents choosing it, lol!