Give me a soapbox and I’ll climb on
Well, didn’t Newsweek just give me the perfect article to rant about.? My fingers are just tingling in anticipation…..
It seems as though breastfeeding rates have declined, in the nation, for the last few years going from an initiation rate of 75% (2002) to 64% (2006). Although initiation rates are low, duration rates are the biggest challenge, so says our very own Dr Ruth Lawrence, from the UofR (breastfeeding guru, extraordinaire-she wrote “The Book”) :
A quarter century ago, one in four new moms tried breast-feeding, and only one in 20 stuck with it for a year. By 2002, almost three in four started breast-feeding in the hospital. But last year, the number had dropped to 64 percent, according to a long-running Mothers Survey by formula maker Abbott. At six months, the percentage of women who were still nursing was only 30 percent; at one year, it was only 19 percent. “Our real problem is duration,” says pediatrician Ruth Lawrence, chair of the AAP’s breast-feeding committee. The longer a woman nurses, the greater the benefits to her and her baby.
Well, that seems pretty obvious. So what are the reasons that women quit and babies are deprived of the natural nutrients which are so essential to their proper growth and development? Could it be social pressures? Could it be that in this culture breasts are considered the property of the adolescent adult male? Fine for selling alcohol, tobacco and firearms in public, bad for feeding babies in public ? What’s wrong with this picture?
Fortunately for us, Rochester is very progressive in this area, featuring Dr. Ruth Lawrence, a locally active La Leche League, a professional Breastfeeding organization (RRBN) and lactation services in all local hospitals. In addition to that, New York State has a very proactive law about breastfeeding in public which states that women have the right to breastfeed in public wherever they have a right to be, regardless of how much of the breast is exposed and if they are harassed, the perp can be fined.
It’s too bad that we have to have laws like this to protect the most important relationship in a child’s life, but so be it. So, the next time you see a mom feeding her baby at the breast somewhere in public-thank her for doing the right thing and making this world just a little better for everyone.
(And for anyone who thinks breastfeeding is not political, check out this book)
Sorry-I just had to get this off my chest 
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Interesting! I love diverse posts like this. I never knew about the politics of breastfeeding.
Interesting, too, that the rate of elective C-section keeps going up. The decline in breast feeding and the advance in elective-C are indicators of a major alienation from the nature of childbirth and nuturing, and it’s definitely a political issue. C-sections are more expensive - they raise the cost of health care for everyone, since their paid by either private or public (medicaid) insurers.
Barack Obama’s speech on poverty, which mentions a Nurse-family partnership program, is worth a read on this. That Nurse-family partnership saved an average of $28K of cost compared to current welfare programs. I’m sure that program encourages breastfeeding. WIC, which is a good program as far as it goes, doesn’t. Smart politicians like Obama want a solution that actually attacks the underlying issues in poverty, and doesn’t just hand out formula to moms whose babies would be better off nursing.
All of my kids were breastfed and they have never had formula, never used a bottle and rarely get sick. Breastfeeding helps the woman’s uterus heal faster and helps her lose the baby weight, plus the children have less bowel problems and studies have shown breastfed babies to be less likely to be obese later in life. My kids never have had an ear infection either.
Actually, WIC, especially in Monroe County, does encourage breastfeeding with an award winning peer counselor program and Lactina pumps for moms who receive no formula and just food for the mom. The peer counselors are women who have breastfed successfully, gone through a program and have become certified. Some have even become certified as Lactation Counselors. Moms who breastfeed also receive extra food from WIC. Each WIC program has it’s own Breastfeeding coordinator who runs the PC program and teaches the WIC moms about breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding also decreases risk of childhood leukemia and diabetes. Children who are breastfed have straighter teeth and fewer speech problems. Breastfeeding helps to prevent Multiple Sclerosis and Crohns disease later on in life. It protects against Necrotizing Enterocolitis, an often fatal disease of premature infants.
A breastfeeding mom is protecting herself against breast cancer, ovarian cancer and osteoporosis. The longer she breastfeeds, the more the risk goes down.
The list continues to grow, so you can see that breastfeeding actually is preventative medicine.
Great post and conversation in the comments. It amazes me how through the industrialization of everything we forgo the gifts and protections that nature has provided.
I’m simply amazed that there are coaches and an infrastructure to help make breast feeding easier.
That’s great - my experience with WIC is in a less-well-supervised program in the plains states, which was indifferent to whether moms breast or bottle fed their infants.
Very interesting post.
Thanks.
Again, my friend, it’s just like COMIDA-follow the money. Nobody gets rich when a mom breastfeeds. Formula companies only profit when a woman fails.
The infrastructure has been a long time coming, we have never known, as a species how to breastfeed and have always required the support and assistance of other women. But, if you want to empower a woman-teach her to breastfeed. (or teach her to blog :))
http://monkeyfist.com/articles/331 try this link
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