A rare ramble

And here is a blog I've just added to my feeds, because it is well worth reading and keeping up with.

On a side note... I rarely speak my own mind here, and tend to keep my babbling on my personal blog, and journal. I feel that I am still so much a student, and very often in the blogosphere people are assumed to be 'experts' in their field, right or wrong, and this is not a role I have been comfortable taking on in this particular media, where so much can be misinterpreted or taken out of contaxt. I have very much taken the 'research-based evidence' admonition to heart; I hope to become an IBCLC one day, and strive to follow that code of ethics now in anticipation of that time. So I tend to stick to the facts here rather than bore everyone with my opinions.

I find that I must say something, however brief, about the recent flurry of articles on the national breastfeeding campaign.

I think that many of the women who are saying, "But I wanted to breastfeed! And I couldn't!" have every right to be angry and upset when they are told how important breastfeeding really is. I cry foul, however, when that guilt card starts popping up.

BE angry. Be upset. Your government tells you all about the benefits of breastfeeding your child, but makes it incredibly difficult for you to do so, because we have horrific maternity leave policies and our healthcare system is a joke, and you are denied the access to the tools you need in order to succeed.

BE angry. Be outraged. The ad campaign is honest and tells you that you put your child at risk by formula feeding, but if you dare to put your child to the breast in public you will be chastised and harrassed and there is no federal legislation that will protect you.

BE angry. Be furious. There is an overwhelming body of evidence which demonstrates that formula-fed babies are sicklier and at higher risks for serious diseases through their lives, but your doctor doesn't have the training to help you and and so he tells you to go ahead and give up and that your child will turn out just fine.

BE angry. Be incensed. You can submit expenses for reimbursement to your flex plans for contact lens solution, cough syrup and band aids, but you can't submit the cost of a breastpump because your government doesn't consider it a necessary expense.

Go ahead, be angry. You really ought to be. But don't feel guilty - because you're not the one responsible for this failure. Don't take on that burden for them - you're not the one whose feet should be in the fire. You are guilty of nothing. You are doing the best you can with what you've been handed. Don't let them hand you this load of bull, too.