I\'m Summer, a mouthy, sarcastic bitch. I\'m passionate about natural birth, long term breastfeeding, and living naturally. I curse too much, love tattoos, and will some day be crushed to death by my book collection. I homeschool, dream of gardening, and swing to the left. 
Dead children trumps personal choice
Commentary: Don’t Listen To Listen To What The Rich World’s Leaders Say – Look At What They Do
Look at what is happening, right now, in the Philippines. This country has many problems, but one stands out: just 16% of children between four and five months old are exclusively breastfed. This is one of the lowest documented rates on earth, and it has fallen by a third since 1998. As 70% of Filipinos have inadequate access to clean water, the result is a public health disaster. Every year, according to the World Health Organization, some 16,000 Filipino children die as a result of “inappropriate feeding practices”.
These are the deaths caused only by acute results of feeding children with substitutes for breastmilk. A summary of peer-reviewed studies compiled by the campaigning groups Infact and Ibfan suggests that breastfeeding also reduces the incidence of asthma, allergies, childhood cancers, diabetes, coeliac disease, Crohn’s, colitis, poor cognitive development, obesity, cardiovascular disease, ear infections and poor dentition. Switching from bottle to breast could prevent 13% of all childhood deaths – a greater impact than any other measure. Panaceas are rare in medicine, but the mammary gland is one.
Both the government of the Philippines and the United Nations blame the manufacturers of baby formula for much of the decline in breastfeeding. These companies spend over $100 million a year on advertising breastmilk substitutes in the Philippines, which equates to more than half the department of health’s annual budget. Those who appear most susceptible to this advertising are the poor, who are also the most likely to be using contaminated water to make up the feed. Some spend as much as one third of their household income on formula. Powdered milk now accounts for more sales than any other consumer product in the Philippines. Almost all of it is produced by companies based in the rich nations
Every dollar that you spend on formula ia a dollar used to fund the marketing campaigns that convinced the mothers to not breastfeed that caused their children to die. Every dollar you spent was another nail in the coffin of an innocent child, was another tear that a mother had to cry as her child died.
Am I making you feel guilty? GOOD
If you have a true medical need then by all means, I’m not saying your child should starve to death. But if you buy formula “just because’, or you just didn’t want to, or you only want to use your breasts for sex, or any other reason then you need to take a good hard look at your child. How would you feel if you were one of the mothers holding a dead baby because you believed the companies who told you that your milk wasn’t good enough? How would you feel to be that mother, crying over her dead child? A child that could have lived.
Every dollar you spend on formula goes to fund those marketing campaigns in countries where mothers do not have access to the information we have in America. Mothers who are poor, who trust the “professionals’, mothers who are only trying to do the best they can for their children. And every dollar you spend on your “choice’ not to breastfeed is another dollar spent on making formula companies richer at the expense of the lives of inoccent babies.
Next time you go to the store and buy a can of formula stop and think which child had to die in his mother’s arms for your “choice”.
breastfeeding, lactation, lactivism, Phillipines, children, babies, death, infant formula, formula
You make some good points, but I’d like to point out that in the end, it is a mother’s choice whether or not to breastfeed. I breast fed my own two (as well as supplemented with a formula while I worked, since I worked outside the home full-time), and did that at a time when breastfeeding wasn’t nearly as accepted as it is now. I would have breastfed exclusively if my milk supply had kept up with the demand….and yes, I pumped plenty, too. I made that decision, despite plenty of marketing for formula here in this country, weird looks, questions from family and friends, etc.
I realize that the mothers in the Phillipines may not have access to the information we have here, but I feel that placing blame for this situation on formula-feeding mothers is bit harsh, as well.
Still, a very well written post on something you are passionate about. I, too, would like to see more mothers breastfeeding.
Here via CHBM.
DSB, yes it is a mother’s choice. But it is a choice that affects more than just the mothers making it. Lets say tyere was a man selling coffee. He planned to use the money he made selling coffee to support his campain of giving drugs to children. Sure, its my choise to buy the coffee. But sooner or later you have to look past yourself and decide if that’s somdething you approve of. Because thats where your money is going.
Money talks. SWhen a mother choices to buy formula she is saying with her action that she approves of the death of those 16000 children. Afterall, she helped pay for it.
“Its my choice” is the defensiove way of saying “I’m too selfish to care about anyone except myself”.
And I’m not even getting into how bad it is for their own children.
I agree there should be limits on formula marketing, particularly sending unsolicited samples to pregnant women and having maternity wards distribute the samples. Health insurers should also cover the cost of breast pump rental for any mom who wants one (a practice that I’m certain would be cost-effective).
I do think you’re being overly harsh though on moms who use formula. In an ideal world, every mom would easily be able to exclusively breastfeed for the recommended 12+ mos. We live in the real world, however, and that’s not possible for some and not practical for many.
The formula-bashing by so-called “lactivists” can backfire when it creates an “all-or-nothing” mindset in moms. I know women who formula feed from birth because they know they’re going back to work when the baby is 6 weeks old & they figure why even bother starting to breastfeed? It’s really sad because the first few weeks are most of the health benefits to BF occur
My oldest was physically unable to BF and pumping alone wasn’t enough to keep my milk supply from drying up at 6 weeks post-partum despite everything that my lactation consultant had me try. I didn’t know about milk banks at the time but even if I had, we could not have afforded the steep price tag. I’m very glad that there was formula available or she would’ve starved!
I just want to make the point that I have been a full time working mama for both of my children and they did not have a drop of formula.
Is it hard work trying to pump, even pumping on weekends to make sure that you’ll have enough? Yes. But for me, it wasn’t an optional activity. It was imperative to me to make sure my babies had only breastmilk, from the tap or from the pump. I worked with lactation consultants, I educated myself, and more importantly, I made it a priority. It wasn’t easy, but it was more than worth it.
Anything, ANYTHING, to not give a single penny to those wicked formula companies that market to women at the expense of babies.