Just in case you need another reason to support breastfeeding

I know this is sort of old news, but the more I think about it the more and more upset I get!

Babies getting kidney stones and infections! That makes me want to cry. Right after Asher was born I had a kidney infection and kidney stone that put me in the hospital twice. It hurt SO bad (in my opinion MUCH worse than labor) and I can't even begin to imagine a baby having to go through it.

Tian Yaowen, who is 15 months old and has kidney stones, cries in a ward of the Tongji Hospital in Wuhan. From CNN.com

All because they drank formula that had been PURPOSELY tainted with Melanine, a chemical they use to make plastic. The formula company was trying to cut corners and make it look like the formula had more protein in it that it really did. They KNEW that BABIES would be drinking their product and they DIDN'T CARE! Oh man, it make me SO angry I could kick something! (pause... envision Heather kicking the leg of the desk)

I realize that formula isn't all bad. When I was in the hospital for my kidney infection, and on nasty antibiotics, Asher had to have formula for a little while. I have to admit that I was grateful for it. So, I'm not totally against formula. I believe that how a woman chooses to feed her baby is personal decision and should be respected. But with that said, I think that the tactics that formula companies use to get women to bottle feed instead of breastfeed are down right unethical.

For example, in some 3rd world countries formula companies (cough... Nestle--makers of Good Start and Gerber) provide women with samples of formula while they are in the hospital. Telling them that is a better way to feed their baby. This interferes with a woman's breastfeeding, decreasing her milk supply and making her baby dependent upon the infant formula. For most 3rd world women formula is much too expensive and so they water it down. Often the water they have access to is unclean, and so not only are the babies malnourished but also get diarrhea. UNICEF (The United Nations Children's Fund) predicts that one and half million lives could be saved each year by reversing the decline in breastfeeding.

Now for the classic shock effect picture.

If you haven't seen this picture before it is of a mother at the Children's Hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan, taken by UNICEF. The babies are twins, a boy on the left and a girl on the right. The mother was told she wouldn't have enough milk to feed both and chose to breastfeed the boy and bottle feed the girl. The girl died not long after this picture was taken. UNICEF says that the mother said "Use my picture if it will help."

Formula companies make me SO angry! The WHO (World Health Organization), in order to protect mothers and babies, has passed a code that formula makers are suppose to follow when marketing their products. Here are the guidelines. See how many of them don't seem to apply in the US (am I the only one who got 2 free cases of formula in the mail-- that I didn't ask for?).

Code for the Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes

1. No advertising of any of these products to the public.
2. No free samples to mothers.
3. No promotion of products in health care facilities, including the distribution of free or low-cost supplies.
4. No company sales representatives to advise mothers.
5. No gifts or personal samples to health workers.
6. No words or pictures idealizing artificial feeding, or pictures of infants on labels of infant milk containers.
7. Information to health workers should be scientific and factual.
8. All information on artificial infant feeding, including that on labels, should explain the benefits of breastfeeding, and the costs and hazards associated with artificial feeding.
9. Unsuitable products, such as sweetened condensed milk, should not be promoted for babies.
10. Manufacturers and distributors should comply with the Code's provisions even if countries have not adopted laws or other measures.