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By admin
I'm pleased to share a guest post today from Maria Parlapiano RN, IBCLC of on the partnership between Nestle and the city of Newark, New Jersey.
On February 11th, Marilyn Knox, CEO of Nestlé Nutrition USA, presented a $100,000.00 check to Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, NJ, to sweeten the deal on a partnership to reduce childhood obesity.
In the US, Nestlé owns Gerber and Beechnut brand of baby food. With their recent purchase of Pfizer’s Infant Nutrition Division, they are now “the number one” purveyor of infant formula and baby food in the world. So for starters, can anyone say, “Conflict of Interest?”
Suddenly, it was clear to me that Mayor Booker and his poor Newark families (25% below the poverty level) were to be unknowingly used as a "front" for the largest coup in US formula industry history. Nestlé’s newest marketing scheme- cleverly disguised as a nutrition program targeted at the latest global concern, childhood obesity.
In an attempt to halt this hypocritical affiliation and Nestlé’s national branding of these programs, I created the petition, “Stop Newark /Nestlé Now!" on February 16.
I, and those who support this petition, believe that Nestlé sponsorship of this anti-obesity campaign is a ploy to appear “benevolent”, in order to divert attention from these very chilling facts:
- Nestlé has a well-deserved, notorious reputation for aggressive and unethical marketing placing them among the top four most boycotted companies on the planet!
- Gerber formula is milk from a cow, laden with addictive high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, oils and chemical additives, which are directly linked to obesity in infants. Formula-fed infants ingest 30,000 more calories/year than their breastfed counter parts.
- Nestlé’s baby foods are processed and packaged with cost in mind, not quality.
- Nestlé spends $4 million each year lobbying against regulation and taxation of unhealthy food
This manipulation enables them to continue manufacturing and marketing junk and confectionary foods that have resulted in increasing world obesity rates.
- Formula feeding is linked to diabetes as well as many other diseases resulting in increased healthcare costs, energy usage, production, transport, pollution and waste. Furthermore, it costs about $200 a month to formula feed one baby. That is 14% of the per capita income of the average Newark families. Some parents will over dilute the formula or substitute other fluids, such as coffee creamers, which lead to even further illness, poor development and death.
- The Surgeon General's 2011 Call to Action for Breastfeeding Report called for "all women to exclusively breastfeed their babies for the first 6 months" and states “full-term infants have a 32% excess risk of childhood obesity associated with not breastfeeding.” Action 6 (from her report) states: "ensure that the marketing of infant formula is conducted in a way that minimizes its negative impact on exclusive breastfeeding". (We have had no replies to our pleas for help from the Surgeon General)
- The First Lady, Michelle Obama breastfed her 2 daughters and is a staunch supporter of breastfeeding. Her campaign, "Let's Move" to target childhood obesity is being corrupted by Nestlé and Mayor Booker.
(We have as yet had no replies to our pleas for help from the First Lady.)
As of today, more than 2000 people have signed from more than 50 countries and close to a hundred people have left negative comments about Nestlé on the petition site. All International Organizations, under WHO and UNICEF's direction to protect breastfeeding from commercial pressures to artificially feed babies including IBFAN (International Baby Food Action Network), WABA, (World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action), BMA (Baby Milk Action, UK) and IBFAN Switzerland have signed and written letters asking the Mayor to cancel his partnership. Now it’s your turn.
Since you are now better informed and educated, hopefully you are compelled to act on behalf of those who have no voice- the children of our planet. Be a part of this world-wide outcry to “Stop Newark/Nestle Now!" Please take a moment to read, sign and share this important petition.
Thank you and feel free to contact me for further information.
Follow Motherwear on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog with email updates and RSS feeds. Subscribe to our podcasts on iTunes. *I was sent a review copy of this book.
http://breastfeeding.blog.motherwear.com/2012/05/guest-post-nestl%C3%A9-partnership-lets-move-turned-bad-move-for-newark.html
By admin
The Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition puts out great posters and educational materials about breastfeeding. I was able to help with one on "las dos" last year.
Below is the Coalition's latest poster, which will began appearing on buses in Springfield, Massachusetts yesterday. It focuses on employer support for breastfeeding, including the new federal law requiring employers to accommodate pumping employees.
You can buy this image in poster and post card form, as well as a lot of other great materials from the Coalition at their store.
Follow Motherwear on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog with email updates and RSS feeds. Subscribe to our podcasts on iTunes.
http://breastfeeding.blog.motherwear.com/2012/05/this-breastfeeding-works-campaign-starts-running-on-buses-in-my-area-this-week.html
By admin
Background:
Since breastfeeding is universally recognised as the ideal way to feed infants, it isunderstandable, and at times inevitable, that breastfeeding mothers will want, or be required,to take medication. To meet the information demands of breastfeeding mothers andhealthcare professionals, a UK charity, The Breastfeeding Network, established a freetelephone helpline to answer queries on medicines in breastmilk. This study reports on theenquiries received by the Drugs in Breastmilk Helpline and user opinion of the service.
Methods:
All enquirers to the Helpline between December 2010 and January 2011 were asked if theycould be contacted in 2 to 4 weeks to provide more information on their experience of usingthe service. A combination of telephone semi-structured interviews and email surveys wereused depending on whether the enquiry originated via telephone or email.
Results:
Information was gained from 101 participants; 77 women and 24 healthcare professionals.Women reported high levels of service satisfaction (94%, n = 72/77) and healthcareprofessionals found the information provided useful (92%, n = 22/24). Women used theservice for reassurance or because they had received conflicting information or distrustedhealthcare professional advice. Healthcare professionals often could not answer questions ortook a cautious approach to recommendation (i.e. advised avoidance of medicines whilstbreastfeeding); this was often at odds to advice given by staff from the Helpline. Healthcareprofessionals did not routinely access resources to answer questions, but when they did,showed a lack of confidence in data interpretation.
Conclusions:
The Breastfeeding Networks’ Drugs in Breastmilk Helpline provides an important service tobreastfeeding women and healthcare staff to make informed decisions on medicine takingwhilst breastfeeding. Healthcare professional uncertainty and incorrect advice given tobreastfeeding women suggests that healthcare professional education needs improving andthat greater use of specialist services should be encouraged.
http://www.internationalbreastfeedingjournal.com/content/7/1/6
By admin
For several years i've been writing about breastmilk research I help with at the University of Massachusetts.
I help Dr. Kathleen Arcaro find participants for her studies. Most recently we've been looking for African American moms to donate milk samples, and encouraging African American moms to sign up for the Love/Avon Army of Women (please select "breast milk study" when asked how you heard about it!).
We've recently redone the UMass Breastmlk Lab's Facebook page and will be posting some great information about breastmilk and breast cancer research there.
I recently posted this mock-up of some onesies we're hoping to get made as "thank you" gifts for study participants, inspired by a shirt I got for my daughter when I donated to the Mothers' Milk Bank of San Jose. Cute, huh? The Milk Bank recently started a Facebook page, as did Ban the Bags.
So we hope you'll friend the page and stay in touch! It'll help us spread the word about this research and find moms interesting in participating.
http://breastfeeding.blog.motherwear.com/2012/04/friend-the-umass-breastmilk-labs-facebook-page.html
By admin
When mom Chenniah Patrick was on maternity leave and nursing her baby, she wanted to communicate some things to her baby:
- breastfeeding is eating
- breastmilk is food that tastes good and is good for you
- "daddy's bottle milk" is mama's milk, too.
So she wrote, and her husband V. Kuroji Patrick illustrated, This Milk is Good: A Breastfeeding Nursery Rhyme.*
The text is a nursery rhyme about breastfeeding told from the perspective of a baby. The baby talks about what he thinks breastmilk tastes like, highlighting healthy foods. It's a bit of a play on the fact that the flavor of breastmilk changes depending up on what's in the mother's diet.
The family is shown nursing at home and and in public (image of nursing at the park is of baby nursing under a cover or blanket – see image right). The father is shown involved with the baby and supporting the nursing mom.
But what makes this book really special is that it's the first I know of to feature an African American family. It's about time.
I found this book to be sweet, funny, and illustrated in a way that will appeal to kids. I think you'll enjoy it, too! So I'm happy to offer a copy to a lucky winner. Here's how to enter:
Leave a comment below by May 8, 2012. Winner will be chosen using random.org and notified by email. Winner will also be listed in the comments section. Winner has three days from notification to reply with mailing addresses; alternate winner will be chosen if no reply is received in three days. U.S. addresses only, one entry per person.
Follow Motherwear on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog with email updates and RSS feeds. Subscribe to our podcasts on iTunes. *I was sent a review copy of this book.
http://breastfeeding.blog.motherwear.com/2012/05/book-review-and-giveaway-this-milk-tastes-good.html
By admin
April is Cesarean Awareness Month, and I have a new podcast up on the Motherlove Blog on VBAC. It's an interview with Desirre Andrews, president of the International Cesarean Awareness Network.
We talked about the history of VBAC, barriers and access to VBAC, and how to prepare for one. We also discussed ICAN’s research about hospital VBAC bans, and the 2010 National Institutes of Health statement on VBAC.
You can read about my own VBAC here.
You can listen to the podcast at the Motherlove Blog or by downloading it at Motherlove’s iTunes store.
Follow Motherwear on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog with email updates and RSS feeds. Subscribe to our podcasts on iTunes.
http://breastfeeding.blog.motherwear.com/2012/04/new-podcast-on-vbac.html
By admin
Gabrielle Palmer is the author of the definitive guide to the political economy of breastfeeding: The Politics of Breastfeeding: When Breasts are Bad for Business. That book investigates the marketing of breastmilk substitutes and the consequences for mothers and babies. I reviewed the revised edition in 2010.
Palmer has now turned her attention to the topic of complementary foods – what we often call solid foods. In Complementary Feeding: Nutrition, Culture, and Politics, Palmer examines the history, politics, and ethics of these first non-milk foods.
This book is a slim volume based on a paper Palmer wrote for International Baby Food Action. It's not a practical guide to starting solid foods, but a book about young children and nutrition in a political context.
Palmer says that, while the debate is pretty well developed when it comes to breastfeeding and the marketing of its substitutes, "when it comes to the food that a child eats when she needs more than milk, the whole world is in a muddle." This book is intended to stimulate discussion, ideas, and further investigation.
Much of this book is about the problems of malnutrition in poverty and malnutrition in affluence, starting at the earliest stage in our experience with non-milk foods.
So, to dig in, here are the topics I found most interesting in this book:
Ready-to-use supplemental foods in developing countries. Developed to provide immediate nutrition to children in famines, ready-to-use theraputic/supplemental foods may soon be commercially produced and marketed on a broad scale. Sound familiar? Infant formula was first developed to aid orphans left without mothers' milk and eventually made its way to the marketplace. And we know how that ended up. So, how do we balance the gut-wrenchingly painful reality of millions hungry children with the risks to local agriculture, traditional foodways, and the ethics of dependence on private corporations for the most basic of human needs? Palmer writes, "Most humans are poor and by 2050 eight of nine billion will live in 'developing' countries. If such emergency provision is 'brought up to scale,' it will lead to a world where most children are fed with an industrialized mass-produced food…We have to meet the root causes head on."
The commercialization of early solid foods in developed countries. While there have been benefits to the commercial production of food, Palmer notes that "Today, even many priveleged human beings seem to believe that they cannot prepare their own children's food, that it must be made in a factory and that they must consult a ahealth professional about how to feed their children."
What did prehistoric toddler eat?* Since during nearly all of our history as a species we've been hunter-gatherers, our toddlers probably ate a lot of small mammals, insects, molluscs, shellfish, and other sea creatures, says Palmer. These would be the sources of iron and zinc after birth stores were depleted and breastmilk did not provide sufficient amounts. One mini-chapter title: "Why don't we give our babies molluscs and insects?"
There is plenty more here – this is a wonderfully dense book for its 100 page length: cultural and religious beliefs, processes for change, feeding 'local.' This book lives up to Palmer's trademark style – it's rigorous, passionate, thought-provoking, and intruiguing. I thoroughly enjoyed it and think you will, too.
* I was provided a review copy of this book from the publisher.
**Wait, is that redundant? Sorry, have a toddler in my house now.
Follow Motherwear on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog with email updates and RSS feeds. Subscribe to our podcasts on iTunes.
http://breastfeeding.blog.motherwear.com/2012/04/review-complementary-foods-by-gabrielle-palmer.html
By admin
Background:
The practice of exclusive breastfeeding is still low despite the associated benefits. Improving the uptake and appropriating the benefits will require an understanding of breastfeeding as an embodied experience within a social context. This study investigates breastfeeding practices and experiences of nursing mothers and the roles of grandmothers, as well as the work-related constraints affecting nurses in providing quality support for breastfeeding mothers in Southwest Nigeria.
Methods:
Using a concurrent mixed method approach, a structured questionnaire was administered to 200 breastfeeding mothers. In-depth interviews were also held with breastfeeding mothers (11), nurses (10) and a focus group discussion session with grandmothers.
Results:
Breastfeeding was perceived as essential to baby’s health. It strengthens the physical and spiritual bond between mothers and their children. Exclusive breastfeeding was considered essential but demanding. Only a small proportion (19%) of the nursing mothers practiced exclusive breastfeeding. The survey showed the major constraints to exclusive breastfeeding to be: the perception that babies continued to be hungry after breastfeeding (29%); maternal health problems (26%); fear of babies becoming addicted to breast milk (26%); pressure from mother-in-law (25%); pains in the breast (25%); and the need to return to work (24%). In addition, the qualitative findings showed that significant others played dual roles with consequences on breastfeeding practices. The desire to practice exclusive breastfeeding was often compromised shortly after child delivery. Poor feeding, inadequate support from husband and conflicting positions from the significant others were dominant constraints. The nurses decried the effects of their workload on providing quality supports for nursing mothers.
Conclusion:
Breastfeeding mothers are faced with multiple challenges as they strive to practice exclusive breastfeeding. Thus, scaling up of exclusive breastfeeding among mothers requires concerted efforts at the macro, meso and micro levels of the Nigerian society.
http://www.internationalbreastfeedingjournal.com/content/7/1/5
By admin
What goes better with Oreos than milk? This Korean ad is pretty great, don't you think?
Thanks to Minh for pointing it out to me!
http://breastfeeding.blog.motherwear.com/2012/04/milk-and-cookies.html
By admin
I was recently contacted by a producer for a BBC 3 documentary called "We're Having a Baby."
They're looking for pregnant women, in the UK, aged 16-25, who are willing to film themselves (on phones, web cams, etc.) for a documentary. Participants can be having a first or subsequent baby.
I think that this could be a great opportunity to show breastfeeding in a positive light, so if you're interested, email the producers to find out more.
Follow Motherwear on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog with email updates and RSS feeds. Subscribe to our podcasts on iTunes.
http://breastfeeding.blog.motherwear.com/2012/04/any-expecting-moms-in-the-uk-who-want-to-be-part-of-a-bbc-documentary.html