It's wonderful to see everyone here.
Okay, first things first... I think we need a set of defining principles. How would the formula lobby do it? Well, I guess they'd write some guidelines in place which would be to the benefit of all formula companies, so in the spirit of that (can't believe I'm taking the example of formula companies to do this
), let's define some guidelines for this lobby so that this lobby represents ALL lactivists.
A little bit about me:
My name is Mama Bear. I consider myself a lactivist, yet I am not your "typical" lactivist because I supplement with formula AND I exclusively pump. I think even if I didn't lactate at all, though, I would still be a lactivist, because at my core I firmly believe women should have every right to breastfeed their children wherever they are, in the same way women now have the right to bottle-feed their children wherever they are. So, if the public deems it appropriate that a child be fed with a bottle in X location, the public
should deem it appropriate that the same child (or same-aged child, anyway) be fed with the breast (this is a rule of thumb; there probably are exceptions, but I can't think of any at the moment). I think covering up should be at the discretion of the woman who is breastfeeding, not at the discretion of whoever may be offended by seeing her breastfeed. I believe every child deserves to be breastfed, and barring that (because of whatever reason), I believe every child deserves to be fed with human milk. However, if that is not possible (and in many many legitimate cases it is, like in mine), then artificial baby milk (formula) is an acceptable substitute of last recourse. It is really important to acknowledge that formula is food and not "garbage" or whatever other denigrating term you've heard said, and this is extremely important to remember because many mothers (lactivists and not)
do feed their babies formula, many of them not by choice but as a last resort. The lactivist lobby does not exist to alienate mothers who use formula, for whatever reason they do. The lactivist lobby exists to try and effect enough change in the law so that breastfeeding mothers are protected and so that breastfeeding rates increase to the point that the biological norm of breastfeeding is also perceived as the
societal norm. Right now the problem with getting legislation passed is that the
societal norm for infant feeding is unfortunately artificial baby milk in a bottle. If that perception were to change, and if people were to become accustomed to seeing women feeding their babies with their breasts (covered or not, just the act of a woman breastfeeding in public), getting legislation passed to protect breastfeeding mothers would be a walk in the park. The formula lobby wouldn't be allowed to hurt as many babies and moms as they do ("collateral damage" I suppose they'd call it, or "a coincidence" or even better "not provable"), better hospital policies would likely get implemented (or politicians would see the sense in getting them passed), and society as a whole would actually become more woman- and child-friendly.
That being said, I think the guidelines should include (feel free to modify or add any other guidelines you feel I may have missed, and we can all discuss it):
+No judgment toward individual mothers who use formula, for whatever reason (this can be very easy to do or very difficult given the situation, but we must be consistent about this)
+It is okay to judge institutions (like hospitals) that should know better for choosing to feed formula before trying to get lactation established (or before making a concerted effort to get breast milk to babies instead of formula, if the baby's own mother can't produce milk), depending on the situation (obviously in cases like that of severe galactosemia in the infant, there isn't much of a recourse other than soy formula, but we should look at each situation individually).
+I feel this is really super-necessary: the lactivist lobby should not condone or support any for-profit human milk banking scheme, as this would make getting breast milk in hospitals even more expensive for babies' families than it already is. It would make it at least TEN TIMES more expensive, and possibly more, depending on the product being bought.
+Furthermore, the lactivist lobby should support all HMBANA milk banks, the efforts they make to get breast milk to needy babies, and the efforts they've made for decades to make sure that babies who needed it got breast milk, even if the babies' families couldn't pay.
The Lactivist Lobby should:
*write letters to representatives to try to get baby-friendly hospital policies passed
*write letters to representatives to try to get breastfeeding-friendly policies passed for all women, but especially for working mothers who need to have access to a clean private area for pumping...
*get awareness out there for how formula marketing affects consumer opinion about breastfeeding
*increase awareness of how formula companies distort public perception of breastfeeding by influencing the media (with sponsorship)
* any other suggestions? They are all welcome...
(For the record, I am not affiliated in any way with any formula company, any for-profit milk banking scheme, nor any HMBANA milk bank or milk bank of any kind: I am an ordinary mom who happens to be a very strong lactivist, and I am writing these guidelines based on my observations and research.)
I know this is long, and if need be, we can form a group elsewhere to get it more "formalized." I'm hoping to be able to either create a website for this group or at least create a page on my
existing website for it. Suggestions? Questions? Disagreements? Changes that need to be made?
