Nothing in life is ever really 'FREE'
I am confused. And I don't want to add fuel to the fire of the ridiculous and never ending how you feed your baby Mommy Wars, but I am serious. I am really confused.
New Your City has a new initiative called "Latch On NYC". It is aimed at promoting breastfeeding in the city's many hospitals. In order to do this, the plan is to limit access to "free" formula samples and any advertising and marketing materials from the formula companies that are distributed to new mothers and their babies in the first few hours and days after birth.
And there is a lot of hulabaloo about it all over the interwebs this week. Especially because it is World Breastfeeding Week.
A lot of people are quite upset about it and like in this article from Cafe Mom think that this is removing a woman's choice in how she feeds her baby (it is NOT). Some media outlets are sensationalizing their headlines and falsely interpreting it as a BAN on formula in hospitals (again, it is NOT). Some are using all those ugly words again, like bullying, breastapo, etc.... to describe the initiative and the counselling that mothers will (and should always) receive about breastfeeding while still in hospital.
The source of my confusion in all of this goes back to my first paragraph. You see those airquotes around the word FREE?
Yeah, that.
You know that old saying that if it something seems to good to be true, it usually is? I think this applies here.
Because in the long run, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING "free" about the formula samples that are given to new moms in hospital. NOT. ONE. DAMN. THING.
Here is just a short list of what is the COST of these freebies:
1. The average cost to formula feed an infant for the first year of life is in the range of $1350.00 to $2160.00 and can be as high as $5000.00 if the child needs a specialty formula. NOT FREE.
2. Research PROVES that giving formula in the first few hours and days after birth can significantly compromise the breastfeeding relationship between mom and baby. No more breastfeeding = more formula = NOT FREE.
3. On most cities Food Bank MOST NEEDED ITEMS List you will ALWAYS see Baby Formula. And this one really gets to me. So often it is the lower income families that seem to get the least amount of support and information about breastfeeding. They leave the hospital with samples of the most expensive brands of formula and then can't afford it on their own! DEFINITELY NOT FREE.
4. The public health and economic savings that could be had with more breastfeeding versus formula feeding are well documented as well. For most working parents (especially in countries with no paid maternity leave), babies who are sick more = parents who have to take time off of work = lost wages = NOT FREE.
5. The only thing that IS free here is the free advertising and marketing that the formula companies are getting from hospitals and health care workers. This is a quote from Dr. Laura Sinai, from the American Association of Pediatrics 2012 Leadership Forum taken from the ammendment to divest from formula marketing in pediatric care.
"There is no “gift” in a “gift bag” except that from the healthcare system applying a seal of approval to the formula manufacturer without compensation. Research reveals that when a health care provider distributes a formula manufacturer’s goods, the recipient interprets that action to indicate that formula feeding is superior to breastfeeding and that the brand distributed is superior to the alternatives."
So Mamas, here is my request.
Before you believe all the hype and crying foul about New York's new breasfeeding initiative, lets really examine who is getting what for FREE here and see this initiative for what it has the potential to be. A really good step in the right direction for moms and babies everywhere!
OK?
Thanks,
Natasha~
P.S. If you would like a bit more perspective on this issue, I highly recommend that you read AskMoxie's post and also Dr. Jay Gordon's guest post from Susan Berger, IBCLC on the Huffington Post.
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This is the Day 4 post for the Summer Blog Challenge {31 posts in 31 Days}.
Check out these great posts from our other participants too!
Zita at The Dulock Diaries.
Meaghan at MagzD Life
April at This Mom's Got Something to Say
and Aramelle at One Wheeler's World
too much
Remember that time when I wanted to be all smart and political and help inform my fellow mamas about the upcoming election? AND I was moving into the Natural Urban Home that very same weekend? Yeah...
I did that. And now I have completely overextended myself.
This move has been tough. I have been physically and emotionally exhausted every day this week and there is still so much to do to get us completely settled in the house. AND there are still a fair amount of outstanding projects that need completing in and around the house that I have to either supervise or be on hand for as well this coming week.
So I must apologize to all of you for promising more than I can deliver right now. I just can't research and write the posts about the parties and their platforms. If we had another month and not just a week before the Alberta provincial election, it would be doable, but I just can't deliver the caliber of post and information that I would want to (and that you deserve) given the time frame and my state of physical and mental ability!
It is now 10:41 PM on a Friday night and all I want to do is crawl to my bedroom and into my bed and sleep away the pain in my back (a trip to the lovely Dr. Josline at Bearspaw Chiropractic tomorrow will help with that too) and the headache that has been harassing me all day.
On a happier note, my awesome dining room table (the Dakota from Crate and Barrel) arrived yesterday and it is PERFECT!
See...
My sincerest apologies everyone.
Goodnight,
Natasha~
Alberta votes. What are the issues that affect you and your family?
Last year during the Canadian federal election I really wanted to explore the different political parties and their platforms and find out where I stood, you know... politically speaking. This is often a tough thing to do during an election with 'propaganda' and agendas coming at you from all angles.
And then a Canadian blogger that I hold in very high regard did something wonderful. She took a good hard look at all the parties, read their platforms extensively and posted a synopsis of each on her blog. I can honestly say that I ended up making my decision based a lot on the information that Annie at Phd in Parenting posted on her site about the parties and their platforms as they related to families, parenting and women's issues.
And so, in an effort to suss out again where I stand at a provincial political level, I am going to attempt to do something that is way out of my comfort zone, but that I think is vitally important right now. I am going to try to be 'Annie' for the 2012 Alberta Elections and for all of you!
As you know, on March 26th, the provincial election was called in Alberta and we are now less than three weeks away from the April 23rd Election Day.
If you have been keeping up with some of the election coverage then you will no doubt be aware that so far, this election campaign has been quite a contentious one. And I don't know about you, but all of it is leaving me feeling confused, disillusioned and at this point rather indecisive.
For the next two weeks I am going to be scouring through the platforms of each political party (and probably dropping in to a few of my local campaign offices too) and like Annie did, I will be reporting here on the parenting and family related policies and promises that each of them are making.
So as you follow the #abvote Twitter stream or read and watch the news and try to decide which party to support, what questions do you have? What are the things that are most important for you and your family and what would you like to see me address in these posts?
Diving into the {political} deep end!
Natasha~
(photo credit: Elections Alberta)