good article about breastfeeding and society (x post)

I thought this was a good article in the Melbourne Age today... She doesnt
judge or deny anyone's rights, yet gets to the bottom of the problem i
think.

chris


Breast is best. But society doesn't make it easy
a..
Juliette Hughes
September 3, 2007


IT'S NOT hard to understand why Katie Price (better known as glamour model
Jordan) has decided not to breastfeed her new baby daughter. OK! magazine
has quoted her as saying that the idea of a baby "drinking from" her made
her "feel funny". Her surgically enhanced breasts, she said, were to be
touched by one person only, referring to her husband, Australian singer
Peter Andre.

Those breasts have been photographed and commodified for so long that it
would be hard for her to imagine them as anything beyond objects of sexual
attraction - no wonder she has difficulty making them available to her
child.

She has, and should always have, the right to decide how to use her body.
But the pictures of her daughter Princess at three weeks old, sucking from a
prominently branded disposable SMA bottle and on a series of brightly
coloured dummies were rather sad to those who knew what that undoubtedly
well-loved little baby was missing out on.

For an adult male and a child to be rivals for access to a woman's breasts
is sad indeed.

Price's OK! photoshoot sends a worrying message to the young women who
represent the magazine's main demographic. Breastfeeding may well be
problematic to some women, (and they need support and respect) but it is
actually very hard in our society to breastfeed and still work and move
openly in the community. How free a choice is it really when a mother
decides to artificially feed a very young baby?

Margaret Grove, National President of the Australian Breastfeeding
Association, says that the last thing the ABA would want to do is to
pressure women to breastfeed, adding "there are enough pressures on mothers
as it is". But bottle-feeding seems the norm because it's done publicly,
while breastfeeding is hidden away in a corner. "We designate rooms where
you can go to breastfeed," she says.

Many women have qualms about breastfeeding in public: this is Victoria,
after all, where state Labor MP Kirstie Marshall was forced to leave a
sitting in State Parliament when the serjeant-at-arms tapped her on the
shoulder as she breastfed her 11-day-old baby. The "stranger in the House"
ruling was applied, but would not be applied to a guide dog.

Melbourne has a long way to go before it is a breastfeeding-friendly place.

Such fake fastidiousness about the sight of babies being fed naturally is
creating a paradox: breasts are seen all over the place in our culture, but
only as objects for men's gaze. Breasts' primary function, to feed human
young, has become edgy, hidden, surrounded by inexplicable shame.

The Federal Government recently tabled The Best Start, a report into the
health benefits of breastfeeding. Its recommendations include toll-free,
24-hour helplines for mothers, breast-milk banks, a nationwide education
campaign and an expansion of the ABA's accreditation program for
breastfeeding-friendly workplaces.

The ABA is happy with the recommendations but wants the Government to
toughen legislation against unethical marketing by infant formula
manufacturers. Grove says that we need to adopt the full World Health
Organisation recommendations that severely restrict infant formula
advertising. The trouble is, there is so much money being made from it.

It looks as though such measures are long overdue to redress the balance
that works against many babies receiving the six months' exclusive
breastfeeding that WHO recommends. Grove says that Australia is well below
this target. Most babies - about 90 per cent - are started with
breastfeeding from birth, and that is a good thing. But by six months, only
a third receive any breast milk at all, and only 10 per cent are exclusively
breastfed at that age.

According to Grove, we have now reached several generations in the West that
have not fed babies naturally. It isn't that babies should never be fed
artificial formulas: it's just that artificial food is now far too close to
being a first rather than a last resort.

Some mothers struggle to feed their babies for medical and emotional reasons
and should never be made to feel guilty. But the mothers who want to
breastfeed are manifestly not getting enough support socially and
economically. We need to advocate for them until it becomes unremarkable to
see babies being fed on trams, at desks, in restaurants, schools, parks,
streets and shops. No more furtive boltholes next to the loos. No more shame
over this lovely, graceful natural gift. We shouldn't even be noticing it
except perhaps to smile encouragingly as it adds to the sum of public
happiness.

Juliette Hughes is a freelance writer.


--
Parenthood is like being pecked to death by small chickens

"Nina Pretty Ballerina" wrote in message
...
I thought this was a good article in the Melbourne Age today... She
doesnt
judge or deny anyone's rights, yet gets to the bottom of the problem i
think.

chris

I agree - it didn't read as judgemental at all to me, but did highlight the
problem wrt breastfeeding in public not being well accepted in our society.

I get so tired of comments (mostly in the local paper / or on forums like
these) from ignorant people about mothers needing to "go somewhere else" to
breastfeed rather than feeding a baby at the same table that she and her
family are eating from in any restaurant and cafe (I know she can't legally
be asked to move - its more the snide looks and ridiculous remarks from the
less well educated people who think its their right to ask her to leave the
cafe / restaurant .... and never think about the baby's right to be fed).
A friend of mine and her newborn recently starred in a segment on weight
gain in babies on a regular tv program that fills the 5:30 pm slot in
Brisbane. They got plenty of footage of her bf her bub, but the camera-man
sighed and made the comment that he'd have to be careful about the angle of
the shot so that it would be suitable for that timeslot. eyeroll - I'm
sure I've seen *that* Nandos chicken add during general viewing timeslots
but apparently that add isn't as offensive as seeing a tiny baby being
lovingly breastfed

I bf H til he was 3.5 years so I hope both he and K continue to regard it as
the "normal" way to feed babies .... but even so, I also am happy if they
get to see any bubs being bf in public to reaffirm just how normal it is.

Amanda
(and since I though the article was great I haven't snipped it - mind you I
still think Jordan is an imbecile but I thought that before I read the
article anyway)

Breast is best. But society doesn't make it easy
a..
Juliette Hughes
September 3, 2007


IT'S NOT hard to understand why Katie Price (better known as glamour model
Jordan) has decided not to breastfeed her new baby daughter. OK! magazine
has quoted her as saying that the idea of a baby "drinking from" her made
her "feel funny". Her surgically enhanced breasts, she said, were to be
touched by one person only, referring to her husband, Australian singer
Peter Andre.

Those breasts have been photographed and commodified for so long that it
would be hard for her to imagine them as anything beyond objects of sexual
attraction - no wonder she has difficulty making them available to her
child.

She has, and should always have, the right to decide how to use her body.
But the pictures of her daughter Princess at three weeks old, sucking from
a
prominently branded disposable SMA bottle and on a series of brightly
coloured dummies were rather sad to those who knew what that undoubtedly
well-loved little baby was missing out on.

For an adult male and a child to be rivals for access to a woman's breasts
is sad indeed.

Price's OK! photoshoot sends a worrying message to the young women who
represent the magazine's main demographic. Breastfeeding may well be
problematic to some women, (and they need support and respect) but it is
actually very hard in our society to breastfeed and still work and move
openly in the community. How free a choice is it really when a mother
decides to artificially feed a very young baby?

Margaret Grove, National President of the Australian Breastfeeding
Association, says that the last thing the ABA would want to do is to
pressure women to breastfeed, adding "there are enough pressures on
mothers
as it is". But bottle-feeding seems the norm because it's done publicly,
while breastfeeding is hidden away in a corner. "We designate rooms where
you can go to breastfeed," she says.

Many women have qualms about breastfeeding in public: this is Victoria,
after all, where state Labor MP Kirstie Marshall was forced to leave a
sitting in State Parliament when the serjeant-at-arms tapped her on the
shoulder as she breastfed her 11-day-old baby. The "stranger in the House"
ruling was applied, but would not be applied to a guide dog.

Melbourne has a long way to go before it is a breastfeeding-friendly
place.

Such fake fastidiousness about the sight of babies being fed naturally is
creating a paradox: breasts are seen all over the place in our culture,
but
only as objects for men's gaze. Breasts' primary function, to feed human
young, has become edgy, hidden, surrounded by inexplicable shame.

The Federal Government recently tabled The Best Start, a report into the
health benefits of breastfeeding. Its recommendations include toll-free,
24-hour helplines for mothers, breast-milk banks, a nationwide education
campaign and an expansion of the ABA's accreditation program for
breastfeeding-friendly workplaces.

The ABA is happy with the recommendations but wants the Government to
toughen legislation against unethical marketing by infant formula
manufacturers. Grove says that we need to adopt the full World Health
Organisation recommendations that severely restrict infant formula
advertising. The trouble is, there is so much money being made from it.

It looks as though such measures are long overdue to redress the balance
that works against many babies receiving the six months' exclusive
breastfeeding that WHO recommends. Grove says that Australia is well below
this target. Most babies - about 90 per cent - are started with
breastfeeding from birth, and that is a good thing. But by six months,
only
a third receive any breast milk at all, and only 10 per cent are
exclusively
breastfed at that age.

According to Grove, we have now reached several generations in the West
that
have not fed babies naturally. It isn't that babies should never be fed
artificial formulas: it's just that artificial food is now far too close
to
being a first rather than a last resort.

Some mothers struggle to feed their babies for medical and emotional
reasons
and should never be made to feel guilty. But the mothers who want to
breastfeed are manifestly not getting enough support socially and
economically. We need to advocate for them until it becomes unremarkable
to
see babies being fed on trams, at desks, in restaurants, schools, parks,
streets and shops. No more furtive boltholes next to the loos. No more
shame
over this lovely, graceful natural gift. We shouldn't even be noticing it
except perhaps to smile encouragingly as it adds to the sum of public
happiness.

Juliette Hughes is a freelance writer.


--
Parenthood is like being pecked to death by small chickens