www.techcentralstation.com/051205G.html
Best for Mothers, Best for Babies
By Sandy Szwarc         Published         05/12/2005
New mothers are besieged by people telling them what is "best" for their babies -- and pressures to breastfeed have become among the fiercest of all. Ardent breastfeeding advocates once just made mothers feel guilty if they didn't breastfeed, accusing them of laziness or being unloving. Now, they've resorted to frightening vulnerable new moms with unsound scares about formula. They are pushing to restrict the capacity of women in developing countries to decide for themselves whether to breast or bottle feed. It's an agenda that jeopardizes the welfare of millions of mothers and babies.
While breast milk is universally recognized as the natural, ideal food for babies which offers some immunological protection, its promotion has gone far beyond proven benefits. Conversely, formula offers a nutritious option that has benefited millions of women and babies. While unsafe preparation in regions without sanitary water imposes risks, claims of formula's dangers have gone beyond science.
UNICEF and the World Health Organization have made "reinforcement of a 'breastfeeding culture' and its vigorous defense against incursions of a 'bottle-feeding culture'" official policy through a 1990 document called the Innocenti Declaration. While our modern American culture might not be perfectly conducive to breastfeeding, the other side of the coin is that it has been good for women and given us more options to better our lives and those of our children. Feeding a newborn on demand every one to three hours isn't a viable option for most women who must work to support of their families, especially those in lower paying jobs, or who are in school. Today's fathers increasingly share in parenting. And orphans in our country are fed, rather than left to starve.
As countries develop economically and women are employed, infant health and nutrition improves and the use of formula increases. But women in developing countries are not only being denied information, they are increasingly being forbidden any choice to use formula.
In response to pressures from special interest groups, in 1981 the World Health Organization approved the "International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes" and subsequent amendments. As a global health initiative, it urges member countries to enact government regulations to promote and support exclusive breastfeeding (no other food or drink can be given) for all babies the first six months. "Thereafter, infants should receive nutritionally adequate and safe complementary foods while breastfeeding continues for up to two years of age or beyond."
The Code also gives governments control over all information about infant feeding and restricts access to any information about formula except from a government health worker. No information, advertising or promotion for formula can be made to the general public or educational materials be donated unless requested by government authority. All information given to women must say breastfeeding is superior and note its benefits, while stating the "health hazards of unnecessary use of infant formula and other breast milk substitutes." Formula cannot be said to be nutritionally comparable to breastfeeding or be depicted in a positive way on labels.
Intensifying the global breastfeeding agenda, WHO and UNICEF developed the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding in 2003. It declares that "exclusive breastfeeding from birth is possible except for few medical conditions" and lack of exclusive breastfeeding is a critical factor in infant and child deaths and illnesses, "poor school performance, reduced productivity, and impaired intellectual and social development." It also makes giving formula to a baby an offense that must be reported to government authorities. "Infants who are not breastfed, for whatever reason, must receive special attention from the health and social welfare system, since they constitute a risk group."
To get a sense of how far the health police have gone, consider the following from a UNICEF report:
"In Iran, the Government has taken control of the import and sale of breastmilk substitutes. Formula is available only by prescription, and the tins must carry a generic label - no brand names, pictures or promotional messages are allowed. In Papua New Guinea, the sale of feeding bottles, cups, [nipples and pacifiers] is strictly controlled, and there is a ban on advertising these products as well as breastmilk substitutes."
Women in developing countries who can't breastfeed and who are without access to or the ability to purchase formula can only feed their babies substitutes like cow's milk, rice water, cornstarch and water, which are nutritionally inferior. Such supplements also increase risks for diseases in areas where sanitary water is unavailable, a problem affecting one in five children. Yet the Code bans donations of free or subsidized formula, even in prepared form, in any part of the health care system. Women want safe alternatives for their babies, so a thriving and risky black market for substitutes has emerged as the promotion and use of formula becomes increasingly restricted.
On May 16th, the UN will vote on a resolution that will place warning labels on infant powdered formula, saying it contains pathogens that can result in death. This is a blatant attempt to frighten mothers about formula. Powdered formulas are not sterile and if mixed and left to stand at room temperatures, bacteria can grow. Premature babies in intensive care units have developed rare infections from E. sakazii bacteria. But the FDA states it is not aware of any such infections among healthy term babies in home settings and the European Food Safety Authority stated in February that present exposures do not lead to illness in healthy babies.
Needlessly frightening women about formula and stigmatizing those who feed it to their babies is an agenda that endangers many women and babies. Formula can be life-saving for babies whose mothers are struggling to survive, need to work and are trying to pursue educations to improve opportunities for themselves and their children. In developing countries children's livelihoods most depend upon their mothers and helping women out of poverty is the highest imperative, said Dr. Ann Tinker with Save the Children. A 2005 report by the Pan American Health Association stated women's ability to make decisions and control the necessary resources to ensure their own livelihoods is urgently needed as it directly corresponds to child mortality. Women deserve the freedom to choose what is best for them and their families, and sound information to make that choice.
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This strikes me as an inherently wrong step for women's rights. I think we all agree that breastmilk is best, but the choice to breastfeed or not is a personal one, not governmental.
Jimro
On May 16th, the UN will vote on a resolution that will place warning labels on infant powdered formula, saying it contains pathogens that can result in death.
Let me repeat this again for the sake of emphasis.
On May 16th, the UN will vote on a resolution that will place warning labels on infant powdered formula, saying it contains pathogens that can result in death.
This means that the UN as a whole is not unified on this issue, and in fact, one cannot demonstrate that even a small majority of the UN is in favour of this, until such time as the vote is completed. That's like saying the US is bringing back the draft simply because the bill was introduced.
I agree with Cycle. It's a contested issue. I think the title, in relation to the article, is a bit of a slippery slope.
I have to add that my feeling on the matter is that all women are unfairly criticized in every aspect of child rearing. Whether it's natural birth or epidural, breast or bottle, spanking or not, or even in deciding whether or not baby should be out on a cold day many people in society feel it's their duty to tell women "what they would have done" as though women, while "innately predispositioned" for mothering, ultimately have no idea what is "right" for their children. There was an article in US weekly a few months ago about the overwhelming pressures women face to be "perfect mothers" and the intense competition between mothers within communities, day care groups and after school sports.
I just felt like adding that point because a friend of mine hsa a young baby and breastfeeds him modestly (with a blanket over him and her breasts for courtesy) in public. When I'm out with her I can normally bet that at least 3 other women will approach her and tell her how they feel about her breastfeeding. It's rarely positive.
That stuff IS quite a personal choice. Hell, I and my siblings were all raised on formula and we're not dead or sickly. I hope that the UN vote fails and women get to keep their choice between breastfeeding and formula without having to feel the guilt of having that label glaring out at them each time they go for the formula.
Cycle,
"Infants who are not breastfed, for whatever reason, must receive special attention from the health and social welfare system, since they constitute a risk group."
The WHO and UNICEF may not be the voting body of the UN, but they are the bureaucracy which acts out the orders. Just like politicians come and go, bureaucrats stay the same, pushing the same agenda year after year.
The UN is not united on any given issue, but that is just a cop out saying that not all Americans are for the war in Iraq. Both are true statements, but that doesn't stop the UN from pushing an anti women's rights agenda or soldiers from deploying.
Jimro
Now I don't blame people for saying 'breast is best'. In most cases, it is. But it's almost the same as saying 'Mothers, we won't let you have abortions because it's not good for the unborn baby'.
The freedom to choose is best.
Now, giving your baby formula milk is being compared to giving them a cigarette. That's just a lie.
Some women can't breastfeed. Some women may not want to. I bet it's not a jury of women who decide on whether formula milk is some sort of poison.
Both are true statements, but that doesn't stop the UN from pushing an anti women's rights agenda or soldiers from deploying.
I think you're blowing this out of proportion so you can have an excuse to demonize the UN. Demanding that there be a warning label on baby food, and suggesting that infants who aren't breastfed are at risk, isn't exacly a women's rights violation. They're not forcing anyone to do anything.
Besides which, statistics don't lie -- it has been proven that infants are more likely to get sick if they're not breastfed.
No one is disagreeing that breast milk is best.
I do disagree with the official UN policy that casts formula in a bad light and seeks to shame women into breastfeeding.
Are you saying that it is ok to force women to breastfeed, regardless of their feelings or thoughts on the matter based solely on "statistics" of infant health?
Jimro
Are you saying that it is ok to force women to breastfeed, regardless of their feelings or thoughts on the matter based solely on "statistics" of infant health?
No, I'm saying it's okay to encourage women to breastfeed, which is what they're doing.
well if that's what you call "encouragement" then you'll have an excellent career in organized crime.
"Your Honor, all we did was apply a little 'persuasion'". he said in a bad Italian accent....
Real encouragement is giving people the facts and letting them make their own choices, not advising governments deny options to their populace.
Jimro
well if that's what you call "encouragement" then you'll have an excellent career in organized crime.
"Your Honor, all we did was apply a little 'persuasion'". he said in a bad Italian accent....
Again, a warning label isn't the same thing as physical harm or legal action.
I do disagree with the official UN policy that casts formula in a bad light and seeks to shame women into breastfeeding.
Are you saying that it is ok to force women to breastfeed, regardless of their feelings or thoughts on the matter based solely on "statistics" of infant health?
Formula really is not as good for a baby as breastfeeding is. Death aside, there have been plenty of studies that show that breastfed babies simply develop better than formulated babies.
And besides, I always thought it was the other way around in American society....that women are shamed to formula feeding because exposing a breast is sinful and scandalous. Which is....foolish, IMO. Breastfeeding isn't a sexual act by any means.
On May 16th, the UN will vote on a resolution that will place warning labels on infant powdered formula, saying it contains pathogens that can result in death.
pathogen n.
An agent that causes disease, especially a living microorganism such as a bacterium or fungus.
Which makes perfect sense for a product designed to be as nourishing as possible right?
Jimro
An agent that causes disease, especially a living microorganism such as a bacterium or fungus.
Which makes perfect sense for a product designed to be as nourishing as possible right?
The thing is, there are infantile protein deficiencies and allergies that formulas can trigger, and they can result in death if the infant has an allergic reaction or has any adverse reaction at all to the formula.
Yes, formulas can cause death.
Thank you Cooki, in all my years of studying biochemisty I had no idea that foods could cause allergies, and that allergic reactions could lead to death.
Did you also know that there is no safety inspection for human breast milk? That it can contain unsafe levels of mercury, arsenic, and lead? As well as PBDE's? Especially if the mother eats fish or has furniture.
There is nothing that is 100% "safe", and the death rate from infant formula is below accidents as cause of death.
www.naturalfamilyonline.c...eport2.htm
The the math and logic in this report is faulty, but you'll get the idea even tho the author tries to paint infant formula as rat poison. Her follow up article is much less biased, but I still think it is funny that the biggest opponent of formula is a doctor of chiropractic, degree in human biology duly noted.
www.naturalfamilyonline.c...ormula.htm
Jimro
