Friday, August 31, 2007

Good gravy...

Found this in the Post. Speechless. Not at all surprised, but still speechless.
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7 comments:

Mrs. Coulter said...

Damn. Still, I wish they'd spend their BF support dollars on support for actual BFing moms (particularly in low income areas where rates are lower--low income kids have higher rates of asthma, and, of course, their families receive a higher marginal benefit from not having to buy formula), as well as legal protection for workplace pumping (particularly for women who lack a private office). Judging by reaction I have seen, shock ads do seem to generate mostly guilt and defensiveness. They seem hectoring and lecturing.

7:17 AM
Liz Miller said...

I wish that too. I'm disappointed both in the initial ad and the caving.

7:44 AM
Yankee T said...

oy.

12:06 PM
ccw said...

I've breastfed all 3 of my kids but those ads turn me off. Breastfeeding may be best but using guilt to get women to breastfeed is ridiculous. Every mother and child cannot breastfeed for various reasons and those mothers should not be made to feel as if they are intentionally harming their babies.

mrs. coulter is right, the money would be better spent on programs that actively support breastfeeding and ensuring that working mothers feel comfortable pumping at work.

12:51 PM
Anonymous said...

Here (NM) they are running a really nice ad about how fathers should support mothers breastfeeding efforts because it is healhty for the baby and for the mom as well. It shows the family playing together at a park and then they all sit on a bench while the mom prepares to nurse the kid. There are a couple things I like about the ads: that nursing is seen as healthy and normal within the family as a whole, that dads are being given this message, that the son in the ad is at least a year old, that the mom comfortably breast-feeds in public (it shows her pulling up her shirt while holding her son)...There is no guilt...just positive encouragement.

4:45 PM
Anonymous said...

Sarah, those ads sound great.

I had a long discussion in the car with DH about this article -- it ticks me off tremendously that formula lobbyists got the original ads changed, but I agreed with them (sigh) that the original ads took the wrong approach.

I've read too many blogs of moms who ended up being unable to breastfeed, and I came too close to being one of those myself (my lactation consultant gave up on me and told me it was time to "begin the grieving process" about nursing, but my pediatrician stuck by me and it ended up working). Instead of guilt, they should work on actual support.

11:51 AM
Antropóloga said...

I know, right?

8:10 PM

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