book read

[flea]

Or rather, skimmed. Milk, Money and Madness, The Culture and Politics of Breastfeeding, Naomi Baumslag and Dia Michels (Bergin & Garvey, 1995). Pretty straightforward pro-breastfeeding proganda for large sections of it. [Insert minor rant about how many of the pro-breastfeeding propaganda tactics currently in use in the US do not, in fact, work, and may, in fact, turn many women off breastfeeding.] The interesting parts were about international issues - the Nestle boycott and national and international (UNICEF) campaigns to promote breastfeeding - largely through hospitals and primary caregivers. Because when you are a poor person living in the third world with an unsafe water supply and poor sanitation, feeding your baby formula has a decent chance of killing him or her. Tragic photo of a woman with her twins, the male of whom she breastfed (large, healthy infant, maybe 4 months old) and the female bottle-fed, because her doctor told her she wouldn't have enough milk for both. The female looks like a newborn still, except emaciated. The picture was taken at childrne's hospital - the girl died.