*Squeal!*
I am such a nerd. I love a good email Table of Contents alert.
One of the first things I did when I got accepted to medical school was access the library website and check out the journal access. EBSCO! Wheeeeee!
Well, I have been signed up to get free access articles from BioMed Central since before that. One open access journal that is one of my favorites is The International Breastfeeding Journal . This week they have several interesting articles, including:
Breastfeeding and feminism: A focus on reproductive health, rights and justice . Miriam H Labbok1, Paige Hall Smith, Emily C Taylor.
Women's liberation and the rhetoric of "choice" in infant feeding debates , Bernice L Hausman.
I am off to read them now. I just took my pharm test yesterday, got a migraine, threw up a bit (while driving! great!), slept for more than 12 hours, missed school today, passed the test (whee!), made breakfast for the family, finished a project for an MPH class, and now have some "spare" time to read "recreational" material.
The first article is just an announcement about the Breastfeeding and feminism symposia at the UNC Chapel Hill School of Public Health. Ooh, I wish I went to med school there! A trip to the 2009 meeting is what I want for my birthday.
The second article is divine. I love how Hausman compares the "choice" discussion to that of choice and reproductive rights.
"Another Enfamil web page discusses “It’s Your Family’s Decision”: “Only mom and dad know what will work best for their family. So, be confident in the choice that you make. The best way to deal with people who question your choice is to simply tell them, politely but firmly, that you have discussed how to feed your baby with your baby’s doctor. Feel good about your decision and be confident your baby is getting the essential nutrients he needs” [2]. Reading this I imagine what discussions of abortion would be like in the same register: “Look, I’ve discussed my decision to terminate this pregnancy with my doctor and she agrees it’s a good idea, healthy for me. It’s the right decision for my family as well. I’m confident in this decision, so you need to butt out.” To anyone familiar with the abortion debates, it’s clear that infant formula makers champion a rhetoric around “choice” that used to be a common approach to abortion rights but which is difficult to promote publicly today. "
Love it! She comes close to my argument, which is this decision (breastfeeding, and other birthing decisions) is a health decision, not a social decision. She writes:
"Any decision a woman makes about reproduction thus becomes vaguely connected to her “rights” as a consumer, rather than her rights as a human being [3]."
She also examines the defensiveness over choosing the "right" choice and being a "good" mother, and appealing to emotional topics like love rather than health advantages. Another great quote:
"In breastfeeding advocacy we see how much economic self-sufficiency makes breastfeeding a difficult practice to sustain for most women [5]. This is why, in my view, the structure of market work is one thing that must change in order to accommodate true maternal freedom, which would involve a relatively unconstrained ability to breastfeed one’s children."
Yes, breastfeeding and mothering are not and should not be seen as opposing women's economic freedom. In the way our employment paradigm is structured today, it is hard to breastfeed and work. I pumped at two jobs for more than a year, combined. I was able to bring S to work with me for six months, which was an incredible opportunity for both of us, and I worked from home 3 days a week with Zach. Most women do not have that kind of flexibility.
"Infant feeding choices—whether made by “heart” or “head”—are practiced in the context of the social, cultural, and economic forces that structure most people’s daily lives and intimate decisions. It is our responsibility, as feminists, to identify the constraints that reveal the “choice” itself to be not so much a choice but a class privilege, and then to figure out how to challenge the status quo that makes it so."
Hear, hear!
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I was super irritated by the fact that all of the literature I got from the doctors office and hospital was produced by formula companies. In some cases I had to trace it back through several "cover" organizations, but they were all funded by Nestle or Gerber or one of them. I was also irritated that the nurses in the hospital put so much pressure on me to use formula. My daughter was born 6 weeks early, but totally healthy. They wouldn't release her from the hospital until she got back up to 5 lbs (it took 4 days), and the nurses kept bringing bottles of formula to my room and telling me how formula makes them gain weight faster. Of course it does. Consuming anything that has corn syrup as it's main ingredient will fatten you up. That doesn't mean it's good for you. Especially if you have a history of diabetes in your family, as we do. My midwife (and lactation consultant) was out of town when I had my daughter, so I was on my own. Incidentally, my midwife doesn't hand out the standard infant feeding literature that I was referring to above, but the nurses at the clinic made sure I got them. She did give me a great book on breastfeeding, though.
I was also surprised by how little pediatricians know about the recent studies on breastmilk versus formula, especially the ones on asthma and diabetes. Then when you refer to these studies, which are large medical studies that have been published in reputable journals, they look at you like you’re some kind of nutcase. My daughter is only in the 5th percentile still, but her height/weight ratio is fine and she’s ahead of schedule developmentally (sitting/crawling at 7 months), so I refuse to allow them to make me feel guilty for refusing formula.
Yes, it's disappointing to me when any health care personnel would push formula as a good option except in the very rarest of cases. My pediatrician was wonderful, a member of La Leche League.
The evidence on breastfeeding is so extensive, it should not be a surprise to any self respecting pediatrician or NICU nurse.
One aspect of this that is ridiculous is when stores or public space managers try to stop or discourage breastfeeding (when this kind of restriction is against most human rights codes).
Ummmm... no, breasts are not obscene, and *most especially not* when used to feed babies... Hate to break it to ya but that's what those things are for, actually.
Someone should tell these people to look up the word "mammal" in the dictionary.