HAUNTING pic and story...but maybe it will come to some good - Page 2

[natural_mama89]

That is so sad. that poor mama and baby.

[Meiri]

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

Not Photoshop as such, but there were ways to doctor photographs, probably from about the time photography was invented there have been ways.

I first saw it in Milk, Money, and Madness: the Politics of Breastfeeding. Need to go look at the UNICEF site---which Safari cannot open.:

[eepster]

Originally Posted by 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.

Possibly by the time she realized her baby girl was doing so poorly the baby had lost her abilty to latch. Basically extreme nipple confussion.

[dalerose]

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


I have worked in health care in a similar country. Women hold their babies differently than we do. Roughly and by the shoulder and so forth. Sometimes, when the child is close to death the mother appears even more detached, at least to my foreign eyes, they do.

I have also sadly seen babies who have looked like that even at over six months. On one occasion, a baby that was 2 and 1/2 kilos at 9 - 12 months. In that case the (wealthy) mother had been advised by "second best doctor in H----" to bottle feed and to supplement that with Iranian choclate!



:

Happily, the poor woman's abusive husban had been killed in the war, and she was now free to come to us for some advice!

Her child was still living when I left that location some time later.

[prettymom]

Originally Posted by MaryJaneLouise

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

That's the angle that was given to me on it in my college nutrition class.

[gilamama]

the bottle seems pretty obviously to be resting on the baby's arm and a pile of fabric from the mother's clothing. don't make it worse than it already is.

[newmama8824]

Why wouldn't she just breastfeed and bottlefeed both? I mean, if she could just breastfeed one baby, why not just switch which baby? IDK... Kinda weird.

[ashesofyou]

Originally Posted by newmama8824

Why wouldn't she just breastfeed and bottlefeed both? I mean, if she could just breastfeed one baby, why not just switch which baby? IDK... Kinda weird.

The article says that the mother was told by her mother-in-law that she only had enough milk for one baby, not that she could only feed one baby at a time.

Sad.

[Meiri]

The article says that the mother was told by her mother-in-law that she only had enough milk for one baby, not that she could only feed one baby at a time.

And in Milk, Money, and Madness, the story is that the doctor told her she only had enough milk for one.

I am not making it worse than it is, I am asking questions that are raised by the photo itself and the two different stories that appear with it in different sources.

Granted it could have been both UA violation doctor and UA violation MIL telling a young mother in a culture in which both the woman's MIL and male doctors have inordinate power over her life.

The photo does make a very powerful point about a very real situation, but if it itself was shopped or set up, that takes away from the lesson IMO. Truths don't need to be supported by lies. I know that different cultures have different ways of expressing grief and responding to illness, but I still find that photo to be iffy.

I guess what I'm "arguing" against is blind acceptance and not critically thinking.

[columbusmomma]

i've seen this photo before. It reminds me of a book I read called The Politics of Breastfeeding. Amazing book but I can't remember the author. It talked a lot about circumstances like this woman's. Really eye opening and just an amazing book about breastfeeding, formula, the 3rd world and government, etc.

[Tinker]

Originally Posted by 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.

I wondered the same thing. Why wouldn't she at least alternate breast and bottle feeding between the two?


Sweet pic in you siggy BTW.

[Meiri]

I am just wondering why she allowed her baby to get to that point.

Because in cultures such as that one, young wives basically have no power over their own lives and decisions, unless they are in the rare family that chooses otherwise. They move in with their husband's family and go from being under their parents' (read father's) control to being under their MIL's control. Becoming a MIL may be the first time a woman has control over another person who is not a child.

[FREEmom1120]

Originally Posted by Meiri

Because in cultures such as that one, young wives basically have no power over their own lives and decisions, unless they are in the rare family that chooses otherwise. They move in with their husband's family and go from being under their parents' (read father's) control to being under their MIL's control. Becoming a MIL may be the first time a woman has control over another person who is not a child.

That's what I figured. In which case the picture is about soooo much more than breast vs. bottle. Either way, it's horribly sad.

[LifeIsBeautiful]

Hmm I have to wonder if this picture is real...

[guestmama9904]

i first saw this pic in the Complete Mother magazine- is that still around, produced in canada?

anyways, it's very upsetting. and whether or not this particular photo was embelished to me is not the point. the point is people say formula is fine and it is not, it is especially not fine in countries with unsanitary water supplies. even breastfed babies there risk deadly diahreah if fed solids that are mized with bad water to soon. has anyone read Monique and the Mango rains? it's about a young mother and midwife is mali and in that book many children died upon weaning at age 1.

[cancat]

Hmm, I used to photoshop/touch up pictures for a living, and I am pretty convinced that that one is not real...they did not have photoshop per se back then, but they have been doctoring photos since photography began. I'm thinking that that "composition" was created to make a point (a valid one, for sure!), or perhaps illustrate an true story.

It seems like a fairly unlikely way to hold a child, and the lighting on the bottle/child/woman is all different. Not to mention a child that weak holding a bottle by itself...No, someone would have to prove to me that it was real before I'd believe that was a real picture. Not saying its impossible, but unlikely....