A Mommy Story

Thanks to other bloggers, I was able to catch your segment on breastfeeding. Sad to say, I don’t think we’ll be having lunch out together anytime soon. Not that you and I would ever agree on a restaurant, anyway, since the only way you can tolerate breasts and eating in unison is at Hooters.

I understand you don’t have kids, and therefore, don’t understand the importance of breastfeeding. You probably don’t like eating near kids who are loud at the table, either. However, these kids are your future. They will be paying your social security, they will be serving as your nurses as they feed you your Ensure through a straw. So you might want to take some interest in their upbringing.

You, as a celebrity, are in a unique position for people to hear your message. I can rant and rave on my little blog here as much as I like, but I’m probably only reaching 200-300 people at most. You can reach millions. Yet you squandered your chance to educate and inform by choosing to belittle breastfeeding activists and speak out against breastfeeding openly in public.

All research points to breastfeeding being the optimal food for an infant. (Take moment and read the American Academy of Pediatrics official policy. It’s enlightening.) Millions of years of evolution (you do still believe in evolution, right?) have produced the perfect food for humans during one of their most critical periods of development. Cow milk is for baby cows, dog milk is for baby dogs, and human milk is for baby people. But even though we know this, and all medical associations promote and support breastmilk as the optimal food for infants for their first year of life, only 41.5% of infants in the U.S. are still being breastfed at six months. Less than 12% were breastfed exclusively past six months.

Why is this? Well, one reason is because of asshats like you. Remarks like those you made recently shame women into thinking their breasts are only indecent sexual objects, only to be brought out from under a shirt at home, Mardi Gras, or a good topless bar. You have reinforced the public belief that breasts are only meant for a man’s pleasure. But the primary function of the breast is for milk production.

What exactly do you have a problem with concerning breastfeeding in public? Are you really that concerned with seeing a little bit of tit flesh while you dine? Why are you looking, anyway? It’s pretty easy to tell when a woman is about to breastfeed – why not notice and then make the conscious choice to go back to your own meal and conversation with friends and not dwell on it. Or are you more upset that the baby is getting closer to a breast than you have lately?

Because of people like you, many women feel uncomfortable breastfeeding in public, leading them to bring a bottle if their baby is hungry. That bottle may be pumped milk, but more likely they’ll just grab some of the formula given to them in their promotional diaper bag from the hospital. I’ll bet many moms choose to give up breastfeeding entirely due to the fear they have developed of feeding their child in public. After all, who wants to stay cooped up in their house for a year? Good going there, Bill: take away an infant’s best source of food – providing antibodies, protection against diabetes, obesity, SIDS, and a possible increase in intelligence – all because you can’t control your ability to stop staring at a breast.

Were we to ever have that hypothetical lunch, Bill, there’s a good chance my daughter would need to eat during our time together. I can guarantee you that were you sitting right across the table from me, you’d see less breast than you would by walking across a college quad on a hot day.

You really screwed up, Bill. Now do the right thing, admit you’re wrong, and publicly support a woman’s right to breastfeed in public. I don’t have a soapbox big enough to get the message out, but you do.

Sincerely,
A mom

************

I also wanted to draw everyone’s attention to this documentary I found on YouTube, called Formula for Disaster. It’s put together by UNICEF and discusses the impact that formula marketing has had on the Philippines. In only a short amount of time, breastfeeding rates in the Philippines has dropped to a record low, mainly because of the media push for formula.

Many of these women actually believe that formula will make their kids into geniuses and grow faster, because that’s what the advertising tells them. Health professionals are wined and dined to promote formula, and women are told that their own milk is not good enough. Forget that many of the poorer women can’t afford this stuff, and that water supplies are often questionable.

Who makes this formula? American companies. (Primarily Nestle, the worst offender out there.) They’re raking in huge profits for a product that is of lower quality, using outrageous claims that you wouldn’t see here, but people there believe.

It’s an eye opening documentary that I think everyone needs to see. Here’s part one, and parts two, three, four and five can be viewed on You Tube. It’ll take about 20 minutes total.

And to clarify: as I’ve said before, I’m not against formula. I had to use it with Cordy. There are situations where it is necessary, and there are women who can’t breastfeed. When used properly, it can be lifesaving. But the marketing tactics used by these companies can be underhanded, and not enough support is given to women during the early days of breastfeeding, when it is difficult and painful, and easy to give up.