HAUNTING pic and story...but maybe it will come to some good

[Redlion]

http://www.*********/w/baby_milk2.html

I saw this story on another bf site I frequent; UNICEF of Pakistan (per the article) took the photo....it is a haunting photo & article, but one that I hope will educate many as to the benefits of bf.

***WARNING*** do not view without a kleenex!!!

[DreamsInDigital]

Wow. That picture is worth a million words.

[acannon]

Wow. That poor family. That mama is so brave for letting them use her picture and story. Hopefully it will save a lot of babies who would have otherwise died because of misinformation.

[Beating Earth]

I posted this to my facebook. My brothers fiancee is preg. and he is not pro bf
I hope he sees it

[honeybunch2k8]

Yikes!

[FREEmom1120]

I agree that the picture is horrible.

I am just wondering why she allowed her baby to get to that point. I guess she just had horrible information, cultural things, etc stacked against her. I just wonder if the other twin was male if the picture would look like that.

[aaronsmom]

[MaryJaneLouise]

Originally Posted by FREEmom1120

I just wonder if the other twin was male if the picture would look like that.

Probably not. This picture is often used as an example of anti-baby girl bias in some cultures.

[LeslieB]

So sad. Poor family.

[mommy2anthony]

wow thats so awful

[honeybunch2k8]

I wish I could say I was surprised that the emaciated baby was a girl.

[Meiri]

Before you all go too far off the deep end with this picture:

What is holding that bottle up?
What is holding that poor baby girl on the woman's lap?

Because there are no hands on that full bottle, not the baby's, not the mother's.

And the mother isn't even holding the baby on her lap, how is she staying up like that?

The picture makes an extremely sharp point, about both culture and breastfeeding or the lack thereof, but...
I now, after a discussion of this same picture some years ago at breastfeeding.com where those questions were asked, have to wonder whether it's real or not.

[annettemarie]

Originally Posted by Meiri

Before you all go too far off the deep end with this picture:

What is holding that bottle up?
What is holding that poor baby girl on the woman's lap?

Because there are no hands on that full bottle, not the baby's, not the mother's.

And the mother isn't even holding the baby on her lap, how is she staying up like that?

The picture makes an extremely sharp point, about both culture and breastfeeding or the lack thereof, but...
I now, after a discussion of this same picture some years ago at breastfeeding.com where those questions were asked, have to wonder whether it's real or not.

I've wondered the same thing. On the other hand, the picture has been around since 1991. Did they even have photoshop back then?

[julie128]

Thank you! I've been looking for that web page!

[pantufla]

There is a similar picture in Milk, Money, and Madness.

[amybw]

Originally Posted by Meiri

have to wonder whether it's real or not.

I agree. How can the babies be so different in size in just a few days? They just seems unrealistic.
I thought maybe the boy baby was a 1 yr old or so and the sickly baby was a newborn but it say twins. He is 4x bigger than her!

regardless, a very sad situation indeed.

[kaylee18]

Originally Posted by amybw

I agree. How can the babies be so different in size in just a few days?

It doesn't say they were only a few days old. The story is that the boy is so much larger than the girl because he has grown larger, over probably a couple months. His twin sister has not grown, but has rather become emaciated over time.

[kaylee18]

The baby's fist appears to be holding up the bottle. The baby's back does appear oddly unsupported, but it could be that she's supported only at the feet and head. Here's the same image in color and on a UN site:


http://www.unsystem.org/scn/archives/scnnewsextractsmay91/index.htm

The fact that this photo did appear in a UNICEF publication with the same story lends it credibility from my point of view.

[menomena]

The same picture is in The Politics of Breastfeeding. Though, I can't remember if there's a bottle in it or not. (Obviously, if there wasn't, then the bottle would be PSed into this one...) It's a real picture; the bottle element may or may not be real.

Still. I definitely cried the first time I saw it. Reading that book (Politics of BFing) made me so. effing. ANGRY. :

[EdnaMarie]

Oh my God. I think it's possible. The mother might have been told to take her hand off the baby for the picture. The fact that it's UNICEF doesn't really give it more credibility for me, but I do believe it. Sounds like a familiar story.