one-of-those-women

I Could See It In Her Eyes...

2012-01-07T20:23:00.000-08:00

One of this things I detested, and still detest, about raising a child, is when other people state "I could see it in his eyes." The first time this was actually used about my child, was when he'd been jumping on a couch, age 3. A family member had asked him not to jump on the couch. He'd never been asked not to jump on the couch before. He was 3. He carried on jumping on the couch. When I came in, I took him aside and explained clearly that the rule in the house we were in, was that you didn't jump on the couch. He looked at me and nodded, and didn't jump on the couch.

At home, I let him jump on the couch. So he had been really confused by the request not to.

The family member who observed me discuss this with him, then lambasted me for being too soft. When I explained to her that he hadn't actually understood what she meant, she laughed. "He's much smarter than you think. He understood everything I said. He just knew he could ignore me. I saw it in his eyes... "

This phrase "I saw it in her/his eyes..." haunted my childhood. I well remember adults - parents, teachers, family members - berating me for something and seeing my response, in my eyes. I was rebellious, cheeky, conniving, manipulative, lying... all could be discerned by the look in my eyes. Confused, was never a feature.

I spent a lot of my childhood confused. About arbitrary rules and dictates, unreliable rules and guidance and completely confusing messages. My confusion was never mirrored by the adults, however. They always knew what I was really thinking and feeling. They would regularly inform me, they could "see it in my eyes..."

It's such a catch 22. You can't defend against it, as you are saying the person looking at you is wrong. And as you are rarely in a pleasant and easy place when this pronouncement has been made. People rarely say "You are a lovely person, who understands what's going on so clearly, I can see it in your eyes... " Such statements are usually reserved for the tense, awkward, accusatory silences. For the moments of mis-communication between people.

For the moment when the other person, is imposing on us, their world view.

For when they speak, they speak what they fear you are thinking. It's very, very rarely, what's actually going on. It's that the face you are showing without speech... is being written upon by the other person. They are writing out their own feelings,. and thoughts, and fear, on you. Every school child knows this, when they are told to "wipe the smile off your face..." It's a natural human instinct to smile in certain situations of fear and tension: to try and look innocent and nonthreatening. How many times were you told to wipe the smile off your face, and to stop smirking, when you were shaking in your boots? Me too.

The human propensity for reading meaning into an expressionless face has been well known for some time. In the 1920s, Lev Kuleshov, a Soviet film maker, did a series of experiments that proved insight into this phenomenon. He filmed human faces, in a bland, non-meaningful stance. He then inter-cut the same image, on a montage, a sequence, of other objects. A bowl of soup, a funeral casket etc. Without exception, the audience raved about the emotional power of the actor. The same face, inter-cut with different images, was applauded as the face that portrayed hunger, sadness, grief, anger, fear... the face image had not changed. All that had changed, was the context that face was put in, by the images then put around the face.

The audience would take the clues, and read into the face, what they wanted to see.

The audience would do the work. All the while, saying how wonderfully the actor had portrayed the emotions.

Truth, is in the eye of the beholder. Especially when nothing is actually said. Give a face, even a blank face, and do not speak... and the person looking at you, will say "I knew what that face was saying... I saw it in the eyes...."

Which brings us to this:

I see the breastfeeding mothers watching me as I rummage in my changing bag for the ready-made carton of formula. Those looks speak a thousand words, most of which boil down to, "How could you? We're doing the best for our baby, why aren't you?"

I feel as if they're judging me, looking at me as a lesser mother than they are just because I'm giving my baby formula. Do they feel superior to me? Certainly I feel that I have to defend my decision to bottle-feed, justify my choices so they'll accept me.

They sit at the postnatal groups with their beady eyes peeking over their breastfeeding aprons as my son gulps down his 5fl oz. But I can't help noticing how their looks change – a bit of envy maybe? – when I start to bottle-feed. My guess is they're thinking,"That looks a lot more efficient than breastfeeding." You're right, I want to tell them.

I can almost hear the deafening mental processing in those staid church halls: "She won't have cracked nipples, mastitis, thrush or leaking milk. And her partner probably helps with the night feeds."

But I don't want to fall into the trap of judging them too harshly, either. I'd like to have tried breastfeeding, but medical complications took the choice out of my hands. Now that I bottle-feed, I see the advantages. I'd even choose it again next time. It's really not so bad, I want to tell them, you should try it some time.

Anonymous
guardian.co.uk, Friday 6 January 2012 22.59 GMT
Article history

It's even anonymous! How perfect. A painful and self-contained rant about how those nasty breast-feeders condemn you with their eyes.

Not their mouths. Not their words. Not in their actions. But by their eyes...

In a world where bottle feeding is the norm - the breast-feeder is condemning you. In a world where breastfeeding support services are abysmal, the breast-feeder is automatically assuming you are a selfish cow, who didn't have any problems. In a world where bottle feeding is normal, the breast-feeder is outraged you didn't do the thing the least amount of people do...

You know the thing that really drives me wild about this? It's not the assumption that a woman who breastfeeds has never had any problems. That they had a free pass on those leaking nipples, the mastitis and the night feeds. (Note how breastfeeding is so much more work than bottle feeding.) It's not that the breastfeeding mothers are looking over their aprons.. wtf?

It's not even the silence, as not one person has said one thing to this person.

What REALLY drives me wild about this.... is that the reality of a mother breast-feeding in a room with another mother who is bottle feeding... is far more likely to be...

"OMG, She's bottle feeding. She's gonna call me a NAZI!"

Because in this world, we go on action, on words, on deeds, as opposed to silent thoughts that are written on faces... in the world of looking at actions/words/doing... we are not in a world where the breastfeeding mother is the oppressor.

She's the invader. The abnormal one. The freak.

And by goodness, do we let her know about it. After all, we know what's she thinking... it's written in her eyes.

Those looks of absolute blankness do speak a thousand words. They say "Don't hate me because I'm breastfeeding."

And, usually, the next thought is "Oh my gosh, I wonder if she had crap help at the hospital, and she's really upset about it all...."

And the third thought is usually "Oh gosh, I better look over to the door, and not look or smile at her, in case she has a go at me, and thinks I'm condemning her..."

Not to mention that for most of us, the thought would be "Thank goodness she knows to use ready made when out and about, that's fabulous."

And very often it's ... "Gosh, what a pretty baby, and isn't that a lovely top, wonder where she got it..?"

And quite often it's "I wonder if I paid the gas bill on time..."

Prejudice comes from words, actions, deeds. Not telepathic reading of the eyes. Of knowing 'what that look means'.

No matter how insecure you are feeling: you need to actually check out the reality you are in, without your fears at play. And you certainly can't condemn everyone around you for the LOOK you are seeing in their eyes.

And I'm fed up apologising for breast-feeding. I suspect you are too. :-)

ps Don't let the 3 year old jump on the couch. The 6 year old will destroy it. :-)

The Last Taboo

2011-12-17T16:01:00.000-08:00

The Last Taboo...

Freda Kahlo

...is not nursing somone else's baby...

Salma Hayek

...it's talking about nursing someone else's baby...

Benetton

Which Is Daft.

Peaceful Parenting

And Un-Realistic.

The Wet Nurse

... and denies our biology...

Nefertiti's Wet Nurse

...as well as our history...

The Milk From Hera's Breast

... and everyday actuality...

...and Present Day Reality.

Human Milk... for Human Babies.

It's not Rocket Science.

Go Mamas!

2011-12-15T14:03:00.000-08:00

Nursing Matters & Breastfeeding Picnic

2011-08-23T05:38:00.000-07:00

Due to some significant personal issues that are affecting my family, I've had to resign from any involvement with Breastfeeding Picnic and Nursing Matters.

Nursing Matters is therefore closed for referrals. Some sort of info will go up at some point, on the web pages but everything else will be shut down.

Breastfeeding Picnic has a pretty universal life of its own anyway. :-)

We always had very informal structures, that reflected we were Just Mums on the end of the phone, or the internet connection... so there is no great 'thing' to hand over. Just that of the bunch of intelligent, motivated and loud mouthed Mums (and Dads, and other adults with heart and conscience) could advocate and support on behalf of Mums and kids.

All those wonderful women are still out there, and I imagine there will be no real change in help and support.

I, however, am not capable of keeping up with it at the moment, and so have to concentrate on my family.

As I said in my last post, I rarely post here anyway now! You're all out there doing it.

Carry on Lactavating!

We're Winning

2011-06-21T03:36:00.000-07:00

"Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed.

You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read.

You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride.

You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.

We have seen the future, and the future is ours."

~Cesar Chavez

The above picture appears today in the Daily Mail. Yes, that's right, the DAILY MAIL. The blurb mentions nothing negative about breastfeeding. In fact, the article is a very positive one.

This is such an important moment. Such.

The culture is slowly turning. Slowly, sometimes backwards after a few steps forward, but slowly, step by step, inching forward. This photograph would have been impossible 5 years ago. A mainstream junky news paper, carrying this image? Ten years ago, there would have been outrage? Even two years ago, the editor might have hesitated. Yes, they have used it deliberately. Yes, they are expecting a little bit of a frisson. Yes, their job is to sell newspapers.

But the text... the text reveals nothing but solid, excellent and positive reporting on the flashmob event.

A breastfeeding flashmob! Who'dv'thunk? :-)

This picture in the Daily Mail? Who'dv'thunk?

I don't post very often anymore. The reason is, I don't need to. As I've always said, the internet is changing the world, one mother to another. One woman to another. We can connect, reach out, activate: change. Change ourselves, change the culture. One breastfeed at a time. :-)

The above picture fills me with such hope. Combined with the remarkable events of the past week or so, as the entire lacvavist world has taken arms in support of Alma and Habiba... well, I just smile. Smile at the fact that we just do it, now. We just stand up and shout for our babies' rights... and it's wonderful

W.O.N.D.E.R.F.U.L

It's not to say it's getting easier. In fact, it's getting a lot harder in the corporate and political world. Massive inroads are being made into protection for babies in terms of commercial attack. The World Health Organisation and the United Nations is being invaded by corporate interests, offering corporate sponsorship to 'help' health funds. Misguided entrepreneurs are pouring billions of dollars into buying pea nut sachets and diarrhea vaccines, rather than in making sure clean water and full breasts are available on demand. People who are concerned and loving and compassionate, are pouring efforts into dealing with symptoms, not addressing the underlying causes.

Corporate interests mask their need to make money, by handing out money to 'help' in ways that may kill more than it saves. At home, formula advertising is now so skilled at showing formula feeding on tv despite the ban, most of us can't watch the adverts without screaming any more. The NHS is undelivering breastfeeding support at an alarming rate. Formula companies are deftly fighting to have unsubstantiated health claims put on their packaging, and they are winning.

It's not a good time to be fighting for babies, in the boardrooms. In the closed and smoky rooms. In the committee meetings and in the halls of power. In fact, it's probably the darkest it has been for a very long long time, for the real political work.

Which just shows you how much effect we're all having. :-)

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

~ Mohandas Ghandi

They are not laughing anymore. They are, indeed, fighting back very very hard. But they are losing the culture battle. The poltical one they may be making inroads in, but the above photo in today's Daily Mail, combined with this quote...

A stunned onlooker said: 'It's not every day you see that many breasts while out doing your shopping. I suppose it's a good way of getting people to listen to the message. I fully support them.'

... shows just how much we are winning the battle for the daily live. The being a breastfeeding dyad, in public, and not being oppressed. Not being laughed at, ridiculed, thrown off the plane, thrown of the bus, sacked, moved job, sent to the bathroom, denied access to our babies... the list goes on.

As does the battle. :-)

When you read this post, and rejoice in the photo, and what it says... also remember that when you start to win, they really start to fight back. We're winning: they are fighting back. Big time. As well as all the other work you are doing, the flashmobs, the picnics, the simple being with your baby and having fun outside in public spaces. The facebook groups, the internet forums in support... as well as doing all this, you should also do something else. Something real and tangible to fight those who are seriously fighting back. You should help the ones walking in the corridors of power, trying to stop the corporate inroads.

Send these people some money.

If we weren't' winning, they wouldn't be fighting so hard.

Help the fight: DONATE

Mother to Mother. Baby to Baby. Woman to Woman.

We are all Habiba.

And goodness, ain't we wonderful?

Breastfeeding Picnics 2011

2011-06-13T17:42:00.000-07:00

A little late this year. Letting you know. A combination of circumstances - changing the admin structure, my moving to rural Scotland, a very long turnaround on the permissions from Westminster, due to massive changes brought by the new Gov. And, of course, we moved it forward a month. Some of us haven't realised it's June yet. :-)

DO NOTE THAT EACH PICNIC HAS ITS OWN DATE!

People wanted flexibility. So do check the DATE of your local one. :-)

Breastfeeding Picnics are first and foremost about turning up, having fun with other parents, and going home. During this fun time, breastfeeding will take place as a normal part of human activity. That's actually the most important bit. Breastfeeding in public is about hungry babies, requiring milk. That's all. Hungry babies get milk. Simples!

In Scotland, it is that simple. There is a law protecting any caregiver, giving any milk, to a child anywhere the child has a right to be. The caregiver can not be threatened or asked to stop the feed. To do so, is an offence, liable to a hefty fine.

In England and Wales, there is no such protection. For a detailed understanding of this, read the posts here with the Breastfeeding Picnic tag, and the Equalities Act tag.

Breastfeeding Picnics are run by mothers, for mothers. All parents welcome. All mothers, fathers, grans and grandads. All babies, all feeding methods. Hungry babies need milk: don't matter if it's from breast or bottle, Mama or Otherwise. Hungry babies get fed. End of.

All are run by volunteers, all take control of their own event. There is no uber organisation. Just Mums. :-)

Go along, show your support, feed your babies. And invite your local MP too!

o0o

Westminster Breastfeeding Picnic
Victoria Tower Gardens

next to Parliament

Noon till 3pm

Sunday 19th June
Facebook Group

contact Elaine

o0o

Cambridge Dolally-Doula Breastfeeding Picnic
Lammas Land, Newnham, Cambridge
Noon onwards
Sunday 26th June
contact Maddie

o0o

Brighton Bosom Buddies Breastfeeding Picnic
Pavilion Gardens
lawn in front of cafe
1pm to 3pm
Facebook Group
contact Bosom Buddies

o0o

Upfront Torpoint Breastfeeding Picnic
Torpoint, Cornwall
Thanckes Park
The Lawns
Monday 20th June
1pm to 3pm
Facebook Group
contact Upfront Torpoint Breastfeeding Group

o0o

Stroud Breastfeeding Picnic
Stratford Park
near the bandstand
Saturday June 18th
11am to 2 ish
contact Kirstie

o0o

Couple more to be added - check back! :-)

Were You Breastfeeding on May 12th?

2011-05-13T11:04:00.000-07:00

If you were, and you were in Britain, you might like to take part in the May 12th Mass Observation diary.

Mass Observation has been running in Britain for decades, and records daily life and activities for posterity. Everyday people record what they are doing, doing everyday things. The records are then open to historians and researchers, and can be used to gain an insight about what was going on with the 'masses' at any given time.

Yesterday was a Mass Observation day, for recording a journal entry from you, about your every day life. E-mail only, and it goes into a database to be used in the future.

Why should it be important that you were breastfeeding yesterday?

I'm glad you asked. It's important, as you were doing an everyday thing. It's also important if you were doing other everyday things, like baby wearing, bed sharing and cuddling your baby if it was distressed. And it's important because... well, imagine it's the year 2111. Researchers are trying to gain an idea about parenting techniques in Britain one hundred years ago. So they look at old television programmes, adverts, newspaper article and movies from 2011, to see how it was done then.

And what do they find?

They find Gina Ford, Jo Frost and advice on how to Cry It Out. They find that mothers adored the new follow-on milk, and it was advertised heavily. They read that mothers were told how to train and control their children and how to ignore their baby tyrants from day one.

That's the impression you'd get from us, from the major media sources around us today. Is that how you parent?

Let's make sure the future knows how we are parenting, today. Write a journal for yesterday, and post it to Mass Observation. Email only.

Speak now, on how you do things, and let history record it. Mamas in the future may need the support! :-)

A Personal Indulgence

2011-04-12T15:10:00.000-07:00

People, I have a wonderful joke to share with you, and to ask you to take part in.

Forgive me bringing a totally personal post to this space, but you'll see why, oh you'll laugh! :)

I published a fiction novel on Sunday past. I have been talking about it in my Facebook space, and a lot of you on this subscribe list, will know of it. Some of you will not. I keep the two blogs, and identities, separate.

Or that was the plan!

Completely spontaneously, a fellow writer just declared war on me, about milking cows! Now, this is so sweet. It's sweet for a couple of reasons. One, I think it's very clever of Alan to whip up some publicity for an interview I'm giving on his blog tomorrow, by doing this. He didn't warn me, didn't bring me in on the plan, he just launched off the cliff. Which I take as a huge compliment. And I've responded in kind.

However.

Oh Great Milk Of Lake, however... he has NO IDEA! He genuinely does not have a clue,why I picked up on the fact in a review of his novel, that he'd made a substantial error, by not having his milking cows milked. He'd had them left in a field, un-milked, for a couple of days, and didn't mention the cows again.

Now, obviously, that's a mistake a lot of men would make! And that I picked up on it, when I reviewed the book, he was genuinely grateful about. But I think it's so sweet he's called war on me, as a joke, and HE DOESN'T KNOW a thing about my lactation profile.

I can hear you smiling.

So pretty please peeps, let's have some fun with this. Please bombard Alan's blog comments, about how he's such a fool to call me out about milking! About how he really shouldn't have picked on me, to have a fight about lactation. Pretty please?

It's just a bit of fun. It is all in good humour, and it will all fade and die in the next day or so. It's just a cute little publicity stunt, and I'd like to do this for him. Let's try for a good 20 to 30 comments, about how he shouldn't have picked on this Mama, to argue about milk. Please?

And keep it nice and light. This is all in good humour, and I only want to make him smile. If you are on Twitter, you can tweet him on @AlanRyker and you can comment on his blog post here.

I'm @DreyfussTrilogy, and my responding blog post is here.

Come on, have some fun. I promise I'll not do this again. :-)

Breastfeeding Picnics 2011 - June 18th & 19th

2011-03-18T08:22:00.000-07:00

Freedom, Fairness and .... Equality

As we announced last year, we're changing the time of the Breastfeeding Picnics, from a weekday to the weekend. We had run them, concentrating on Westminster, during the last week of Parliament before the Summer Recess. This was to allow members of both the Commons, and the Lords, to attend.

However, we found that most MPs reported they'd be more likely to make a local picnic, in their area, over the weekend. And that many Mums felt they couldn't attend mid-week.

So we moved the dates. :-)

This year's Picnics will run over the Weekend on June 18th and 19th. It is up to the local organiser, if they go for the Saturday or the Sunday. Most will run for 3 or 4 hours, with a very fluid drop by between x and y, times.

Breastfeeding picnics, are just that: a picnic, usually in the park. You choose a spot, tell everyone to turn up, and go have fun in the sun. You also invite your local MP, and tell the local media. The point of the picnic is to raise awareness of the need for proper protection in England & Wales, for breastfeeding (and bottle feeding) babies. Scotland has excellent protection, and we want that protection extended to the whole of the UK. Despite comments that England & Wales, Northern Ireland, The Isle of Man etc, cannot possibly bring in legal protection as civilisation as we know it will end... Scotland doesn't seem to have experienced any problems at all. Everyone know babies and infant get fed, when they are hungry: end of. Any baby, any milk, any caregiver. Simples.

So, keep out for a list here, on the picnics running in June, and ask yourself if you want to run one. Running one couldn't be easier. Just decide the place, and let us know. We'll send you a couple of information sheets, giving tips on what to do.

All you really have to do, is join Yahoo, so you can join in the Yahoo group. It's very low maintenance, with just some discussion around setting up one a year. You can also download the So You Want To Hold A Breastfeeding Picnic and tip sheet, from there. It's moderated, so just give your name and where you want to hold one, and you'll be let in: http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/Breastfeeding_Picnic/

You can also join the Facebook Page, and hold your own 'even't page from there: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=18703668386 but the help to set up comes from the yahoo space.

It doesn't matter how big, or small, a Breastfeeding Picnic is. All that matter if that Mums and Kids get together in the sun,and have fun, and raise the awareness that breastfeeding is a perfectly normal OUTDOOR activity. We'd especially like some more in Scotland, as it is about everyone having the same rights.

So you there! :-)

Irresistible

2011-01-25T06:56:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry, all I can say, is that I couldn't stop myself.

Eco nursing pillow

Versus....

You know, it was bad enough when we were being told we had to bring a shower curtain out with us...

Now we have to bring the bed too?

So discreet, who would notice you?

*facepalm*

If You Have Been Affected By Eastenders...

2011-01-03T19:51:00.000-08:00

Da..da..da.da..da. DA...DAAAAAAAHHHH..

"If you have been affected by anything in tonight's Eastenders, please phone....."

"Hello, how can I help...."
*sobbing*
"We do understand tonight's episode has upset a great many people. How can we help, caller?"
*more sobbing*
"Please take your time. We're here to listen. I have a list of advice lines, and I can pass you on when I know what aspect you most need help with. I'll just sit and listen for a moment, okay?"
*broken cries calm down* "Thank you for being there, I just didn't know where to start. I'm not sure what's upset me most. Is it okay if I just babble for a bit?"
"Certainly caller. There were many issues raised tonight, and my job is to find you the right support. In your own time."
"Okay, thank you. I'll just think a bit, about the bit that got me most upset. Do you have a helpline for people who've had bad breastfeeding experiences?"
"You found that part, when she wasn't able to breastfeed Tommy, distressing?"
"Oh yes, yes. The same thing happened to me, and I wasn't able to feed my baby, and I saw Ronnie tonight, and I thought... I thought, if only someone would tell her, what no one ever told me!"
"And what was that caller?"
"That you need to take your bra and dress off first. If only I'd known!" *sobs*
"I quite understand caller. Did you feel bullied by those who did breastfeed, I have a line here to a wonderful helpline paid for by an international baby food company, who understand the issues you were going through...?"
"No, no, I'm fine now, Jack was so helpful, going straight out and buying the formula, that calmed me down.... *begins wailing once more...*"
"In your own time, caller."
"Okay, I was wondering if you had a helpline about eating disorders?"
"We do... although...."
"... because clearly, with both babies being anorexic..."
"Pardon..?"
"Well, you know, with both babies not needing food. Just lying there, silent, and awake, for hours and hours and hours on end, and not once crying for food. It was just so obvious that they had an unnaturally suppressed appetite. It doesn't make sense otherwise. I mean no one even checked a nappy!"
"ehmmm....."
"Although, of course, that wasn't the most obvious trauma, as a viewer. Programmes just don't take their responsibility to the viewers, and their real lives, seriously... *sob*"
"That's why we are here... do you..."
"Do you have a helpline number for early signs of dementia?"
"Uhm, yes, ..."
"Oh good, that got me really upset, Roxy's memory loss."
"I'm sorry...?"
"When she was told that baby Tommy had died, and she completely forget the 5 minutes it took to get past Ronnie, as she was sure Ronnie was telling her baby James was dead, and then she stood there crying, and couldn't bear the pain. To forget that overnight... will her storyline develop about her early onset memory loss do you know..?"

"Ehm,.. no, sorry, we don't have those details."
"Pity. *cries again* This is really helping you know, talking it out. do you have a helpline for those unable to process sizes?"
"I'm sorry, I don't understand..?"
"You know, market stall holders who sell one size baby grow for a preemie, and an 8lb whopper term, and they both fit and no one can see the difference..?"
"Ehmm,, no.... "
"Pity. I suppose that's just a silly one though.... *hysterical tears*"
"There are no silly ones, caller, all our feelings are valid...."
"That's so nice for you to say. I feel better now. I think I can actually talk about the really upsetting bits now."
"I'm listening...."
"For instance... do you have a helpline for Lochia Anonymous?"
"Pardon...?"
"Oh, I know it's silly, but I look at those two wonderful women, Kat & Ronnie, and I feel ashamed about my own experience. I mean there they are, in the same clothes, for over 14 hours, and they've slept in them, or run through the streets of London with a hospital gown on.. and they've not had to change their bleeding pads once."
"I'm sorry caller, we ask you not to swear, or use abusive language on calls."
"Sorry..?"
"Please don't talk about *bleep* pads. Did you mean iPads?"
"No, I was talking about how ashamed I was, that I leaked after childbirth. It's obviously not normal."
"Do you want a childbirth support line...?"
"No. I'd rather just talk it through a bit longer, if that's all right with you?"
"You're in charge of the call, caller."

"Oh good. I was wondering 'tho... "
"Yes, caller...?"
"Do you have a helpline for those with sight impairment..?"
"Yes, but, again, I'm not sure..."
"Nothing, I suppose I'm being silly again. Maybe I need to step back from the events and look at it as TV?"
"If you think that will help you..."
"Well, it does. Do you have any helplines about TV?
"About TV...?"
"Yes, you know, maybe a Todorov Syndrome one?"
"I'm sorry caller...? "
"Well, Narrative Structure Failure then? You know, beginnings, middles, ends, not knowing what way they should go, not knowing when to actually move onto the next scene and stop looking at the same character for too long. Emotional Pornography and Soaps Helpline..? Have you got one of those?"
*frantic key pressing* "Ehm, sorry caller, not quite sure ... just give me a moment...."
"Or maybe something to do with Cause & Effect? Logic and rational thought abuse?"
*ping* "Ah, we do have something here... the Spock's Smile Society.. they help you deal with plot twists that break inner logic for a cheap shot ending, would that help?"
"Maybe.... "
*clicking of keys" "Mmm... not sure that's your best bet actually, another file is opening up.. never found this part of the system before... We do have a few on Delayed Ejaculation... how long can you overshoot the shot...?"
"That sounds like we're in the right area.... "
*excited*"Caller, I think I know which helpline you need!"
"Really? Oh Good, which one?"
"We have one named Support For Pig Shit Ignorant BBC Programme Makers. It's internal, so I can put you through directly."
"Oh, that sounds the right one, please put me through."
"Certainly. Good Luck, I hope we've helped this evening. Transferring now."

"Welcome to the BBC Support for Pig Shit Ignorance Helpline. Please listen carefully to the following options.
If you are a middle class professional, who wishes to write drama about subjects you have no research in, and no interest in, please press No 1, and leave your contact details. We will contact you shortly.
If you are a female middle class professional, willing to defend in print, all BBC storylines about how hard it is to be a career women and be taken seriously as a mother, and I formula fed, CIOd, naughty stepped and left my baby with a Nanny 18 hours a day... and all my children are just fine and we have a wonderful relationship when they come back from boarding school... press 2 and leave your husband's contact details. We will check with him if the 90 hour a week workload we'll expect of you, is fine with him. Unless you are divorced, in which case hang up.
If you are not middle class, and you are phoning to complain about a factual accuracy contained in any BBC programme, please press 3 and leave your contact details. We will get an adult literacy scheme to contact you, and they can teach you to read and write. Then you can understand our programmes betterer.
If you are a person who has experienced, directly, a situation portrayed in a BBC programme, and wish to complain about our accuracy or ridiculous attempts to shoe horn plot into any shape we desire... please hang up and eff off. We don't make programmes just for you. Try to think of the rest of the nation. You are not qualified to understand Good Drama, dickhead.
Thank you for calling the BBC. A thought before you go: have you paid your licence fee?"

all images copyright the BBC 2011 and are used for satirical purposes only

Silk Purse from a Sow's Ear

2010-12-07T03:51:00.000-08:00

Well, who'd'v'thunk it? Something useful has come from the Equalities Act debacle!

For newer readers, we have been campaigning for years, to get at least equivalent protection for breastfeeding in public spaces in England & Wales, and Northern Ireland, as exist in very fortunate Scotland.

The last Labour Government put together a huge Equalities Act, with lots of decent legislation. But the breastfeeding protection was a joke - nothing at all in public spaces, and mothers had to sue privately if it was goods and services. Loads of confusion about ages and pathways to sue.

HOWEVER.

And it's such a nice however... UK Gov has published this handy dandy gorgeous little leaflet. It's a business handy guide to the Equalities Act. As such, it is very condensed, and contains bullet points, not long detail.

So it contains, on page 4, this LOVELY detail:

Breastfeeding mothers

The Act has specifically clarified that it is unlawful to discriminate against a woman because she is breastfeeding.

Ensure that women to whom you are providing goods, facilities and services are able to breastfeed should they so wish.

Example

Saul, a bus driver, tells Kate, who is breastfeeding on the bus, that if she does not either stop or get off the bus she could be arrested for indecency. This is not only inaccurate, but is unlawful direct discrimination, and the company will be liable under the Equality Act 2010 unless it can show that it has taken all reasonable steps to stop the driver from acting in this way. Saul will be liable whether or not his employer is.

So there you go mothers. Go to the website, print off this nice little leaflet, and fold it into your bag, pocket or changing stuff. Print off several, Highlight the correct bit. Hand them out!

Yes, it is missing essential detail. But it does so in a way that is so very very very useful. For scaring the arrogance out of people in shops and cafes!

Crown copyright leaflet, July 2010 JN40172 What an amazing little resource you are! :-)

PDF: Here

Damoclean Dilemmas

2010-11-29T15:05:00.000-08:00

The Sword of Damocles, by ikaa

I've been asked to repost here, in an open forum, two comments I made about the informed milk sharing, in the past 24 hours. You can see by the context, I'm discussing attitudes to milk sharing, and the female body. You can also tell by the picture, and the title, my thoughts on the position we put mothers into, when discussing this. :-) The comments stand alone, but I'll ask permission for the post I'm responding to on number one, to be published here - when the poster wakes up on the other side of the planet!

EDIT: permission given. And can I just thank Karleen Gribble and award her the Nobel No Prize, for "peer to peer milk sharing" and the apt and accurate comparison between bed, and milk, sharing. Go Karleen!

-o0o-

So my prophecy came to pass

A milk banking person saying how dirty and dangerous informal milk sharing is.... sigh... Jack Newman is quoted with similar sentiments in the same article. Very unhelpful and fits right in with the pervasive viewpoint that breastfeeding and breastmilk is icky, dangerous stuff that should be kept hidden- part of the reason why breastfeeding in public is so unacceptable and why working mums get such grief about their expressed breastmilk from their colleagues and from the carers of their infants. Shame! Shame!

Karleen Gribble
Australia

http://www.thestar.com/living/article/898077--breast-milk-banks-latch-on-to-social-media

However, the society does not endorse informal milk sharing. "I think it's dangerous," says Dr. Sharon Unger, a neonatologist at Mount Sinai Hospital. "I completely understand why women do it, but you really don't know what you're getting . . . it's very unsafe."

Unger is spearheading an initiative to set up a Toronto milk bank, but says it's still a few years away - pending more research and funding - and will initially make sick babies its priority

-o0o-

Just to add my tuppence worth here to Karleen's prescience, and with respect to Diane, ask people to Watch Their Language.

Those of us in the lactation community who disagree with mothers taking control of their own milk supply, are using very specific language..

The Risks of Informal Milk Sharing.. casual milk sharing... unprocessed milk sharing... all of which are misnomers.

What is being discussed by the mothers taking control, is the difference between Informed, and Uninformed, Milk Sharing.

"Informal" milk sharing is being used to suggest no discipline, methodology or information about milk sharing. It conjures up the Hoary Old Spectre of the slack alice mother, going on ebay to buy a shed load of human milk, from the woman keeping her breast pump in the dog basket. The crack whore is also selling her milk, when discussing "Informal Milk Sharing." said crack whore has just come from her HIV treatment centre (which is [not] a problem actually, as she'll be on ARVs, but let's not muddy the analogy with science!) That woman down the end of the street with a fur coat and no knickers is involved in informal milk sharing, and she's giving it to the daft woman at No 6, who buys stuff from Internet channels as well.

However, when discussing Informed Milk Sharing, mothers are engaged in a discourse with each other, and the science and research, on which is the greater risk to their baby - donated human milk, or formula. They are discussing screening options, and processing options. They are scrutinising blood readouts and health check information. They are deciding how to mitigate risks, so they are less than those of feeding formula.
The removal of this aspect of the discussion, on various forums and posts, is very troubling to me. The various milk sharing sites make information known to all women, of the spectra of risks that can exist in milk sharing. And most provide resources on how to mediate, or mitigate, them.

To deny that element to the discussions, is to do a great disservice to everyone.

So please, can we stop with the 'Informal Milk Sharing' and be specific. You may as well just go straight to Icky Milk Sharing.

You may disagree with mothers making informed decisions on milk. You may think it's a terrible idea. You may genuinely believe that no mother can mitigate the risks. But to present the concept as having no discussion at all of the risks, is disingenuous at best, and dishonest at worst.

Mothers can undertake discussions about risk: let's not rob them of that, no matter how we feel about Informed versus Uninformed, milk sharing.

Informed Milk Sharing is the activity under discussion.

-o0o-

The discussion about "peer-to-peer" milk sharing

Do you like that terminology better Morgan??

I think that the discussion about peer to peer milk sharing has much in common with discussion of bedsharing with infants- in that it's something that one cannot outright recommend because it depends on the situation. I've given many interviews over the years to journalists about bedsharing and many have wanted me to say that it's safe and parents should do it. I won't.

Why?? Because we know that there are situations in which bed sharing is not safe. What I do do is state that there are good reasons why mothers share sleep surfaces with their infants, that they should be given information about how to manage the risks of bed sharing and then that it is up to parents to look at their individual circumstances and make their decision about where their baby sleeps and what that environment looks like. It's much the same with milk sharing. Mothers have good reasons why they might want to use donor human milk from a peer. They should be given information about how to manage the risks of sharing milk and then it's up to them to decide what to do. No professional needs to endorse milk sharing, nor do they need to condemn it. It is entirely possible for professionals asked to provide comment to recognised why women might want to obtain human milk via peers (banked donor milk unavailable, infant formula deficient), how they might manage the risks associated with peer to peer milk sharing (recognising that the risks are manageable) and that it's up to parents to decide what to do.

Karleen Gribble

Australia

No one is minimising risks, or invalidating actual risks.

But the construction that women are inherently diseased, and must be tested and tested and tested, to maintain their purity, is one we cannot allow to stand.

That we live in a society where women are healthier, better fed, more intelligent and have more power to make informed decisions, than has ever occurred on the planet before... that is what needs to be the opening statement. In that context, other women are a resource to help keep our babies alive.. a resource that has to be looked at where the majority of women are perfectly acceptable donors, with some work done to ensure risk has been minimised... is the one we should be aiming for.

That wonderful Chinese police officer, who breastfed, and kept alive safely, 5 babies, in an emergency, would, in terms of this discussion, being told to let them die, rather than infect them with whatever she couldn't prove she didn't have? She was breastfeeding her own baby, so what? She's AUTOMATICALLY too dangerous to feed another without a battery of testing?

The irony here, is that we're asking for a level of purity that is nigh on impossible, from the cleanest, safest, healthiest nations on earth.

And this notion that we must assume disease, rather than work with each individual circumstance, is going to do so much harm, and harm so many babies, if we let this myth be constructed around us.

The vast majority of mothers in the countries considering milk sharing (which requires a huge amount of hygiene and money rich resources) have all been tested during their own pregnancy, just prior to their lactation. Certainly, in the USA, where litigation is a more everyday fact of life, then more caution would have to be used. but that's about context.

The spectrum of mothers available for donation, starts with the VAST majority being perfectly safe to donate, and all of whom, just about, have the blood work to prove it. Only when you get into tiny percentages of overall population, do you run into the TINY percentage of the population, that should not donate.

Whilst we continue to discuss the entire spectrum as only the TINY minority, babies will be harmed.

Already, in the USA, double the newborns on formula, die as on breastmilk. Seeing every mother who may give life giving milk to a baby without enough, as Typhoid Mary, is simply obscene. And ignores the science, and the general population's actual behaviour and health.

Again, that heart warming story of the baby being breastfed by 5 young mothers, on a rota, as the baby's mother died in childbirth... gone. That baby is now on formula.

The double standard here is that you are asking more of a woman, than you are of a cow. Even when we know the cow's milk has potentially lethal contamination in up to 14% of the product. Yes, there is merit in the cross-species argument, versus same species, but that's part of the balance of risks for that individual baby - not a huge banner statement that infection and disease is running rife through our mothers and babies.

And we know that far LESS than 14% of the lactating population, is a risk. And that's before we get to the fact that most women are looking at both screening, and home flash heating with donated milk.

I can see a doctor's office, in the not to distant future, where a Dr is telling a mother not to breastfeed her own baby, until she can prove her milk is safe.

And the seeds of that horrible vision, are being sown in here, right now.

I grew up in a world where doctors and scientists had told mothers not to breastfeed, as their milk was not good enough. I cannot comprehend that returning via well meaning intentions on fear based philosophies. And you will see it rise, I can assure you, in the wake of these discussions on the automatic dangers of diseased women, and their polluting bodily fluids, that must be sanctified as 'safe'... by science and technology.

The risks are relatively small, the base population immensely healthy. The way to mitigate the risks, quite easy and manageable. The decision, the mother's. She should be supported in her decision, in either direction. That's the baseline.

I've stood by women who are HIV positive, who were being told needlessly, that their babies would be removed at birth, and they would never see them again, if they breastfed. I've listened to their anger, and their fury, and their fear. I've heard them cry. I've had to inform them of the dangers of the drugs they were being forced to take, to dry their milk. When there is no reason for this AT ALL.

Stand by the women I've stood by, and listen to their pain. You may find yourself reflecting on how healthy our society is, rather than how diseased it is. And how 'choice' is a dangerous, and load bearing, responsibility, that neither assumes, nor negates, hope.

The Sword of Damocles, by Paul Hudson

ManHood Health Warns Of Contamination Fears

2010-11-25T15:16:00.000-08:00

An urgent health alert has been widely circulated today, by ManHood Health, the world's largest health agency. In a dramatic and quite clumsy fashion, ManHood Health made the following statement:

"It has come to our attention at ManHood Health, that women are gossiping on the internet. Usually, we're fine about this, as the internet can be an excellent source of recipe ideas and general household support. In fact, my wife got a stain out of my ManHood Science White Coat, just last week. However, things took a serious turn, when my wife pointed out that a fellow woman, had posted about not using cow's milk to feed babies, but using human milk. We looked at the site, and discovered it was true. So we just had to act, by making this worldwide statement:

DON'T GO NEAR ICKY FEMALE BODY FLUIDS!!!!!

Not unless the female in question is a cow, anyhows."

ManHood Health went on to explain...

"What all those Pretty Young Things on the 'net don't seem to understand is that women are pretty diseased creatures. They do that bleeding thing once a month, and all that hysterical jazz about you not putting the toilet seat back down. Honestly, you just can't reason with them when their womb is all travelling round their body like. Would you like to drink milk that's been near a womb?"

When it was pointed out that cows have wombs, Dr Testy Rone of ManHood Health, retorted "That's just like a woman - not understanding the deeper issues. Of course cows have wombs, but they are scientific cows, and their milk is processed scientifically. It's all perfect and sterile and not involved in sex games with human males. Well, not usually anyhows. But the point is we at ManHood Health, sanctify cow's milk as safe and free from bugs and dog hairs, and deadly sex diseases that eat your brain and get your insurance refused. You can't say that about women's milk, can you?"

When faced with the mountain of scientific evidence that breast milk sharing can be safe and even HIV can be removed with a simple at home in the kitchen treatment, Dr Testy Rone exploded..

"Will you stop trying to read books! Honestly, do you have a science degree? I can assure you, that no matter what some other WOMAN has told you on THE INTERNET, it's just not true. Please don't feed diseased and flawed human female milk to your babies, unless a man has stated it's been scientifically processed to be as safe as formula."

We did mention to Dr Testy, the report that had been written by a man, earlier this month, about beetle parts and eggs in dried cow's milk being fed to babies, but he put the phone down on us.

So there you are ladies... please follow the advice of ManHood Health, and stop twittering about mother to mother support. You're just not qualified to make these decisions, and cannot be trusted to do any such dangerous thing on your own. Please refer to a ManHood Health specialist near you. Or your husband. Or your father. Or your younger brother, maybe.

Next week, we look at Patriarchy, Hegemony and Toilet Seats... does the toilet seat always have to be down?

Facebook Obscenity Strike Again!

2010-09-30T07:37:00.000-07:00

This photograph is so obscene, the mother's entire Facebook account has been deleted. Yes, it's Emma Kwasnica's account. Or was. Again.

Can you see aureole? Can you see a nipple? And I've enlarged it!

Protest Group Here.

*sigh*

Record of all photos deleted by Facebook as obscene, here.

EDIT: And on the same day, they took out Kate Hanson. For her obscene artwork:

Protest group: here.

Edit Oct 2: Kate Hansen in back. Emma is not. This one will be interesting. Kate is Art. Emma is Photographs... obviously, photographs of real mothers and babies, not the same as painted ones... ;-)

Edit: October 2. Emma is BACK!!!! :-)

Her status update:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”
~Margaret Mead

Cow & Gate Target New Midwives

2010-09-03T09:27:00.000-07:00

Cow and Gate have started a campaign to target newly qualified midwives, to 'help' them in their day to day practice.

The In Practice website is full of useful information, resources and services for the exclusive use of registered HCPs.

The site offers leaflets, study days and training days, And All You Ever Needed To Know About Cow & Gate Formula. Including downloadable patient information sheets, on such things as the benefits of all that chemical junk they put in formula, to fool Mums into buying the top brand with all the untested ingredients.

Sickeningly, on top of all that, they also offer free podcasts downloads of Formula sponsored 'nutritional synposiums' on baby nutrition... including info on the pre-term baby and nutrition.

All targeted directly at a newly qualified midwife near you.

All of which directly contravenes Code:

7.2 Information provided by manufacturers and distributors to health professionals regarding products within the scope of this Code should be restricted to scientific and factual matters, and such information should not imply or create a belief that bottle feeding is equivalent or superior to breastfeeding. It should also include the information specified in Article 4.2.

4.2 Informational and educational materials, whether written, audio, or visual, dealing with the feeding of infants and intended to reach pregnant women and mothers of infants and young children, should include
clear information on all the following points:

1. the benefits and superiority of breastfeeding;
2. maternal nutrition, and the preparation for and maintenance of breastfeeding;
3. the negative effect on breastfeeding of introducing partial bottle feeding;
4. the difficulty of reversing the decision not to breastfeed; and
5. where needed, the proper use of infant formula, whether manufactured industrially or home prepared.

When such materials contain information about the use of infant formula, they should include the social and financial implications of its use; the health hazards of inappropriate foods or feeding methods; and, in particular, the health hazards of unnecessary or improper use of infant formula and other breastmilk substitutes. Such materials should not use any pictures or text which may idealise the use of breastmilk substitutes.

Go on, search their 'helpful' site, and find all that info on the social and economic cost of not breastfeeding, and in particular the research on the many problems on using soil bacteria to mimic mother's milk.

I'm sure you'll find it all there.

Cow & Gate: because the best person to tell you about your baby, nutrition and formula, is the company making a profit from selling it to you. Oh, silly me... the best person to tell your midwife about your baby, nutrition and formula is.... the company making a profit from selling it to you....

Breast: Why Settle For Less?

2010-07-25T10:22:00.000-07:00

This is my idea of a breastfeeding support and protection poster. I was wondering what yours was? I thought of "Breast: Why Settle For Less?" as I was doing the housework this afternoon. Ooops, better get back to it. But I'd really like to see some positive, phrased appropriately, and home made poster ideas, from you all. Really good ones, I'll publish on the blog. Leave your feedback on whether or not you think (above) and the others, work for you, or you think they might work for others.

Slogan ideas, you can simply post in comments below. Actual mock ups, comment with your eddress (email address) below, and I'll send you mine, for sending on the file. No worries - your eddress won't be seen, or published. :-)

Let's See What You've Got!

Have Fun Tomorrow!!!!

2010-07-18T08:05:00.000-07:00

This is Elaine Scully, and her son, Robin. Due to my son coming down with a high fever and being Quite Poorly, Elaine will be the main presence at Westminster tomorrow. Which is only fitting, as she is in London, and is heavily involved in supporting mothers. :-)

Just look out for her bright red hair, If All Else Fails.

All the directions and instructions you need for the Westminster event, are here. We meet in the large semi-circle of grass, with the small tree (for shade) in it, behind the Rodin Statue. Last year there was a toddler group there as well, with toddler trucks and push along and toys. That's not us!

Elaine is very nervous about dealing with the MPs who are coming along. Help her out ladies! It's just nerves. :-)

The regional picnics are here, although there are informal ones in Durham and Leeds as well. I'll update all that link info, as I go along today.

Next Year's Picnic is all set - for the weekend of June 18th and 19th, 2011. Explanation on why the changes, here.

If you want to organise a local picnic for next year, join this yahoo group. You will be sent a pending message, and full instructions.

If you want to attend a picnic, either keep an eye on this blog, or join this Facebook Group.

Have fun everyone! It's the UK, don't forget sun screen, woolly jumper and an umbrella! ;-)

Write And Praise BBC Birmingham

2010-07-16T09:11:00.000-07:00

... for this fabulous radio interview. Shane O'Connor does what all journalists and presenters should do... have a perfectly normal conversation, about something, without setting it into all the myths and misinformation, or acting like it's not normal.

In terms of affecting our culture, writing and praising for positive approaches, does more than writing and complaining. If you've ever written a complaint about shoddy journalism, sensationalism and bias in reporting breastfeeding issues, PLEASE write and praise this interviewer, and this production team. They were even accurate on the law in England & Wales! (Which won't please some!)

And do note, pressure to breastfeed etc, was covered without any problem, as it CAN BE. You don't need a divisive agenda when discussing this issue. Mothers are mothers, babies are babies: hungry babies get fed.

Articulate, intelligent and open handed interviewing on this subject, is possible. PLEASE reward this team!

Write to BBC Birmingham itself: click the 'contact us' button. Or email here.

Also copy your comments to BBC Head Office: scroll the comments box to 'appreciation'.

And weren't Kat and Claire, just wonderful? *rounds of applause*

(Interview is the first 45 minutes of the show.)

Breastfeeding Picnics 2010

2010-07-13T13:25:00.000-07:00

First of all, an apology for the lateness of these updates. More about that on the longer spiel at the bottom.

Second of all, this list will be updated further, between now and Sunday: part and parcel of why everything got so late this year! See below.

Third of all, several of the picnics, may be linked live by ITV news, this year, and I will, again, update that, here, as the week goes on. I think so far we are looking at Westminster, Birmingham, and Nottingham.

-o0o-

Westminster Breastfeeding Picnic

Victoria Tower Gardens

next to Parliament

Monday July 19th

noon - 3pm
Facebook Group

Birmingham Breastfeeding Picnic

St Philip's Catherdral

Colmore Row

Monday July 19th

noon - 3pm
Facebook Group

Nottingham Breastfeeding Picnic

Arboretum Park

Waverly Street

Nottingham

Monday July 19th

noon- 3pm

Facebook Group

Warrington Breastfeeding Picnic

Bank Park

next to Town Hall

Monday July 19th

noon - 2pm
Facebook Group

Dorset Breastfeeding Picnic
Bournemouth Gardens
opposite big balloon

Monday July 19th

noon - 3pm
Facebook Group

Wrecsam Breastfeeding Picnic

Llwyn Isaf

behind the Guidlhall, Queen's Square

Monday July 19th

noon - 3pm
Facebook Group

Stroud Breastfeeding Picnic

Stratford Park
near the bandstand
11am - 2pm

Monday July 19th

Facebook Group

-o0o-

Changes To The Breastfeeding Picnic 2011

I said above, that the picnics got squeezed out on organisation this year. The primary reason for this, was the General Election. Recess dates for Westminster aren't published that far ahead, and the delay on the forming of the new Government, which took, if you recall, weeks rather than a day or two, really put pressure on us organising Westminster. In fact, we finally announced the date, before the Westminster recess dates were published, and crossed our fingers.

Realistically, we also had to wait until the Coalition Government, had set its own agenda for the Parliament ahead. Not only could they have announced a Breastfeeding Bill, there was also the matter of waiting to see the tone and mood of their agenda: to speak effectively to them, in their own terms.

All this pushed the planning waaay down the line. Combined with my moving house several hundred miles, and Emily Pulling, the picnic's founder, juggling family employment issues, meant there just hasn't been space to slowly build up, as we usually do. After all, we are Just Mums With Attitude. :-)

The huge upheaval of the political situation, has also meant there has been discussion of two of the thorny issues about organising the picnics. Many picnic organisers, know they would get more turn out, at the weekend. The entire point, however, was to highlight the issue to Westminster, which does not sit on the Weekend. Our picnic organisers in Scotland, have also pointed out that when it's held in late July, Holyrood, the Scottish Parliament, is already in recess. And as Scotland has this law, then allowing for MSP attendance, makes good political sense.

Emily and I had resisted changing the set-up,. as we felt a central MP presence at Westminster, was more important: we need at law for outside Scotland! However, it's been pointed out, that feedback from MPs has often said, they would attend a weekend event in their constituency, but they are too busy at Westminster, at the end of the session, to attend the central one.

Therefore, from 2011, we are changing the structure of the National Breastfeeding Picnic. It will take place over a weekend, late in June or early in July.

EDIT: June18/19th, 2011

Local organisers will be free to hold their picnic on either the Saturday, or the Sunday, of that weekend. This enables family and religious observations commitments, to be accommodated for the main organiser. There will always be a Westminster Picnic, but it will be equal to the other picnics, not the central event. So organisers can invite their MP first and foremost to their own constituency, and if they are in Westminster that weekend, they can attend the Westminster one.

Whilst I will be hosting the final "central" Westminster Picnic on Monday, from 2011 I will be hosting the "No Borders" Breastfeeding Picnic on the A1 at the Scottish/England Border! Just to show the inanity, and inequality. (Okay, a photoshoot will be done at the Border, but the actual Picnic will be in beautiful Berwick-Upon-Tweed.)

Over the four years since Emily's original Breastfeeding Picnic at Parliament Square, we've learned a lot about how to go about this, as a mother-to-mother thing, done on the cheap and with minimum work. So we've also developed a clearer pathway on how to take part.

If you want to organise a Breastfeeding Picnic, then join the National Breastfeeding Picnic group on yahoo groups. It's moderated entry, to stop spam, just say in your message where you want to organise one. Then you'll have access to the "How too.." sheets. (Very simple, very clearly laid out.)

If you want to attend a Breastfeeding Picnic, join the Facebook group, and then each event is listed as an event. Or read this blog.

Simples.

See you on Monday!

Dear Friends..... WABA

2010-07-06T01:03:00.000-07:00

Date: 2 July 2010 08:32:56 GMT+01:00

Subject: Breastfeeding Advocate thrown off the BBC World Service

Dear friends,

We have just received news via LACTNET (Lactation Information and Discussion) that Morgan Gallagher, Chairperson of Nursing Matters, a non-profit making, voluntary organisation that advocates for breastfeeding babies was thrown off a BBC World Service programme for saying that unsafe formula feeding kills babies in Africa.

Portions of her posting on LACTNET - reproduced with permission from Morgan.

" Just a quick note to let you know, I've just been thrown off a BBC World Service programme, for saying that unsafe formula feeding kills babies in Africa.The programme went out live at 6pm, BST time, here, and I was booked, at the last minutes, to do an hour of the whole world programme, and then the 30 minutes afterwards, on Africa only.

When I asked the discussion about breastfeeding be 'creepy' be about women being put in impossible position, and maybe we should look at why an intelligent, articulate, well educated woman in the UK would be so creeped out by a baby touching her breast... the mic was closed. When I said we needed to address the pressure to formula feed, not the pressure to breastfeed... the mic was closed. When I stated that 4000 babies die everyday from unsafe formula feeding... the mic was closed.

When I was then taken off air, and roundly shouted at by the producer. I challenged her, and stated that we could not have global context discussion on breastfeeding, without discussing formula feeding, and how on earth could she ask a women in Nairobi if she'd support a woman to formula feed if she wanted to? That ignoring the situation in Africa with formula, and acting if we were all in the UK, was precisely the bias they were showing. She said the World Service was for everyone, and I asked how a women in the slums in Kenya, tonight, would feel, listening to us prattling on about formula feeding as a supported choice. Did she have any idea who many babies would die tonight, in Kenya, from formula feeding? She blew up, said I'd said formula feeding kills babies, and that was making her very angry, and I was out of the programme. A taxi would be called to take me away right away, and good bye."

Morgan has blogged about her experience in detail and you can view it here:

http://one-of-those-women.blogspot.com/2010/07/tale-of-two-worlds.html

To listen to the entire podcast (about 50 minutes long) please click on the link below.

WHYS 30 June 2010: Is breastfeeding 'creepy'? Wed, 30 Jun 10

Kathryn Blundell is the deputy editor of a leading parenting magazine here in the UK and she's got women all over the the world talking. She didn't breastfeed her children - she says that her breasts are for sex not for feeding.

If you've had children, did you feel a pressure to breast-feed?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/whys

We hope that you will share this news with your network especially for those who have experience in living or working in resource poor settings to write to the BBC that as a worldwide broadcast - they must carry a world view perspective and understand they have a responsibility to ensure that it is made clear that while the "choice" to formula feed in the UK or Western Europe might be one that can be made with limited negative impact on child and mother that this is simply not the case in much of the world- that that formula feeding commonly results in death in much of the world.

Regards,

Julianna Lim Abdullah, IBCLC
Senior Coordinator
Information, Communications and Networking
WABA

Dear BBC World Service.... KG

2010-07-03T08:53:00.000-07:00

From: Karleen Gribble
Sent: Friday, 2 July 2010 12:10 AM
To: 'worldhaveyoursay@bbc.com'
Subject: formula feeding in resource poor settings

Hello,

I listening to your program on whether breastfeeding is “creepy.” I thought that it was a very interesting program and that the exploration of the issues surrounding why women in a country like the UK might choose not to breastfeed was valuable. However, I thought that because the BBC World Service is broadcast worldwide that there was a responsibility to ensure that it is made clear that while the “choice” to formula feed in the UK or Western Europe might be one that can be made with limited negative impact on child and mother that this is simply not the case in much of the world- that (as Morgan Gallagher tried to communicate) that formula feeding commonly results in death in much of the world. This is a message that MUST be broadcast.

In two months I will be conducting training at a meeting convened by UNICEF in the Philippines on infant feeding in emergencies. One of the things I will be talking about is how whenever there is a natural emergency, media reporting drives the literal flooding of emergency areas with donations of infant formula- usually sent by well meaning individuals and organisations that are simply unaware of the risks associated with formula feeding in resource poor contexts. Programs like yours, that presented formula feeding as a simple, legitimate and costless choice add to this problem. They cause harm. Increased infant morbidity and mortality results directly from media reports that present infant formula as something that will help infants, ignoring the risks. Health ministers and aid orgs like UNICEF and Save the children working in countries affected by emergencies tear their hair out trying to stop the container and truck loads of formula arriving in emergency aid arriving and being distributed.

Please, could you consider actually having a world view in your programs and understand that what might be OK in the UK may not be OK in India or in Botswana or Peru. Could you please consider having interviewees who know what they are talking about- are experts on infant feeding, on the marketing of infant formula, on the support needed by women to breastfeed, on the relative importance of infant feeding decisions in developed vs underdeveloped contexts?? The cultural blinkers of living in a privileged environment with good sanitation and health care were evident in your interviewer.

If you did consider doing something on this I could certainly put you in touch with a variety of such experts and would be happy to be interviewed myself.

Regards

Karleen Gribble

Dr Karleen D Gribble BRurSc PhD

Adjunct Research Fellow

School of Nursing and Midwifery

University of Western Sydney

An Unpalatable Truth

2010-07-02T09:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not getting this post done until now. I started it in my head last night, after some criticisms emerged on some pro-breast sites. But a broken fridge door, has actually taken most of my time today! (It's now fixed.)

Comments have been made that I wasn't speaking appropriately, for a discussion programme, and others have asked what I was told before I went on. I thought I'd just make a few points.

I was asked to take part in a programme discussing an anti-breastfeeding article. An article that denigrated breastfeeding, and upheld formula feeding, explicitly. As part of that, in my interview by the journalist who booked me to appear, I was asked how I would respond to several questions, if they came up. I was probed on how I would respond to the points raised in the the article, about both breastfeeding, and formula feeding.

Again, this is memory. I didn't record the conversation! (Although guess what I will be doing from now on...?)

What was my reaction to Ms Blundell saying it was 'creepy' to breastfeed?

I answered that I wouldn't comment on Ms Blundell, as I didn't know her, but that in general, my reaction would be that someone expressing those thoughts, had a problem with their own body image and self-esteem, perhaps their sexuality. Which was hardly surprising, given how confused and contradictory our society is about women and their bodies. That some women did feel this, and it wasn't surprising, but really, working on it, for themselves, is the best thing.

What about a woman who had five children and needed to work, and she HAD to formula feed, what would I say to her, would I not have sympathy with that?

I replied that I'd tell the woman with the five children how lucky she was to be able to afford to formula feed her five kids. That millions of women live with five kids, on under a dollar a day. And if they don't breastfeed their kids, the kids might die. How lucky of the Mum to live in a world where she can afford to buy formula, and have clean water to make it up. And, if she really did want to breastfeed, she could. She could get help and support. That was the point, if she really wanted to, she could get support to make it happen. Working was not a barrier, and she should get the help she needed, and others would help her do so. But again, how lucky she was to live in a nice clean world where she COULD choose to formula feed, was what I'd say to her.

I expanded this point to say that's there is nothing wrong with formula feeding, as long as it was informed choice. If a baby was hungry, it needed fed, and the WHO recognised that if nothing else was there, then formula was the fourth choice to feed a baby. But it was fourth in line. The issue was informed choice, and not enough women knew that formula feeding carries risks.

I then expanded that point, by stating that when my husband has his heart attack, and I sent my up till then exclusively breast fed three month old baby, out to my family to be formula fed, I had had no idea I was putting my baby at risk. That when I needed help and information most, I was unaware that I was putting my beloved baby at risk, by sending him to a loving, caring family, who all had formula fed, but that they didn't know about formula safety. That my own family made up batches of formula in the morning, put them in the fridge, and put them in the microwave to heat them up all through the day. And I'd sent my baby out to that, not knowing that it was dangerous.

That that was the issue. Women knowing all the information, and making informed choices.

Edit: knew I forgot a bit.

There was a moment in the discussion, when we talked about risk, when I stated that the risk was not limited to poorer countries. That modern countries also had a problem. In the USA, for instance, twice as many formula fed babies dies as breastfed ones, in the first six weeks. It's a tiny tiny number, 2 per thousand, rather than 1 per thousand, but if you are the mother of that one baby in a thousand, it's a terrible thing. So I said that CLEARLY to the very nice and very coherent person interviewing me. Who was, in fact, as I've said, was lovely: very professional and extremely coherent and intelligent. Just to clarify on those figures 'tho, I did say it wrong, on the phone. It's 2 more babies per thousand, that die for formula feeding, in the first few weeks of life, than ones breastfed. It's 2 per thousand for breastfed, and 4 per thousand for formula fed. Reference end edit

She also asked if I could not understand the problem of women being confused about breasts for sex, or for babies.

I replied yes, I could, that was very valid, and support needed to be done there. When women are told their breasts are sexual playthings, it can be difficult. It is difficult being female in our society, and women needed support.

She then asked my husband if my breastfeeding had caused problems in our sex life. He burst out laughing. :-)

I was then told how well I'd answered, and how good it was that I could speak well, and pepper facts in, without it all becoming to 'fact' heavy. That I had a good way of talking about things, and putting facts in as I went. Would I please come and do an hour and a half? We did, as I have recorded prior, discuss thoroughly that it was a free discussion programme between the women, and the male presenter would introduce, then back away and let us communicate with each other, like we would at a dinner party, chatting.

I was then asked how I would like to be introduced. After a few minutes discussion, - mother, breastfeeding supporter, lactavist etc I said I'd like to be introduced as a 'feminist' as this made the most sense to me.

I was, of course, introduced as Chair of Nursing Matters. (Which I had given permission for, so that was okay, but my point is I was introduced for that formal role.)

So, this is the discussion that led to me being invited to speak. Then not being allowed to speak. :-)

PS If you don't think I was speaking as I would at a dinner party, best not come round to dinner!

A Tale of Two Worlds...

2010-07-01T06:13:00.000-07:00

or... How I Was Thrown Off The BBC World Service, For Saying That Unsafe Formula Feeding Kills Babies In Africa...

Disclaimer: exact sequence may be out of synch. This is memory, not documentary. Lots of conversations, in a very short time. Some of them may have been one phonecall, and not the other, etc. But it's the essence of the event. Sequences of the actual radio discussions, are in my memory as the bits I was reacting too - I may report them in a different sequence. Also, forgive the epic storytelling. I've learned this sort of detail is IMPORTANT in being heard. You can skip down to half way through, if you want to, for the actual throwing off air bit.

So, it's a perfectly normal Wednesday afternoon. I've decided that I'll go swimming with my 5 year old, for a session with us both, before his swimming lesson at 3.30pm. I've not sorted out dinner, and I'm in the middle of sifting through how to layer the rest of the day, and get some work done, go swimming, and get some sort of dinner on the table. I need to get some yeast going, to get tomorrow's bread going. I've been making our own spelt bread now for 4 days, and need to keep the momentum going, or it's back to bought. I sit down with 5 year old, and talk through that we will both be going swimming soon, he's excited!

I just check my email. A new one is in my inbox. It's from the BBC World Service: they've been phoning my old phone number, can I contact them? It was sent at 13.52. Would I be interested in taking part in a global conservation about breastfeeding, in light of That Article, this evening? At 14.08, I send them my new phone number. I then entice 5 year old out of the living room, so I can talk without interruption. I phone the BBC World Service and have a lovely chat with the lovely journalist. She does the usual, and both flatters and pushes, to see how I perform under pressure. We cover a wide ranging series of reactions to the fuss. She is delighted. Of course, her FIRST question was "Are you still breastfeeding your 5 year old?"

So I knew where we were.

But it was a really good conversation. Can I come on and be a main guest on the discussion at 6pm? The male presenter, Ros, will introduce the various women from around the world who have been booked to speak, and then back out. It's a conversation like we would be sitting around chatting after dinner. Not too many facts and figures, short points, casual conversation, if that okay? Totally, I say. She emphasises the shortness of answers required. "You want soundbites?" I say. No, she says, not sound bites, your own words, just in brief. When the other women are talking, if you want to respond, just say your name and then jump in. Let everyone speak. "Fine", I say. I have to bring my five year old. "No problem" she says.

How does my husband feel about my breastfeeding, has it affected how he sees me sexually? "Ask him yourself." I say, and hand over the phone to David. She chats with him for several moments, and then asks him to take part in the programme. He can't come up, as he's in a wheelchair, but they'll phone him on the landline. "Fine" says David.

How to get me to a studio? She had no idea where I was, so I suggest Edinburgh, about an hour's drive away. She goes and sorts out a radio studio booking in Edinburgh, phones me back, and confirms the booking. The programme will be going out world wide, between 18.00 and 19.00. However, there is a run on programme, for Africa only. It's usually 19.00 to 20.00, but because of the World Cup it's only running to 19.30. Can I stay and do the Africa only programme? Of course, that's fine, I say. But start to worry about Hugh. Mummy in the glass box for an hour and a half is going to be hard on him. But no choice, with this late a run in.

She books the taxis, and we decide times. Hugh has his swimming lesson between 15.30 and 16.00. It's now 14.40. I suggest taxi gets here at 16.15, as you never know with rush hour traffic in Edinburgh. She sends me an email confirming my booking from 18.00 to 19.30, and that taxis have been booked. I reply to her, stating I will need help at the other end, to help me carry in the Child Car Seat, and it will need to be kept safe whilst I'm on air.

I've been here before, I know BBC reception staff do nothing to help anyone: "They're not allowed to."

My afternoon dissolves into epic rush. My swimming session with Hugh is cancelled. I literally pull my coolest dress off the washing line, and put it on wet. Swimming for Hugh is rushed around packing enough things to keep him occupied, i go shopping for drinks and good quality snacks for him whilst he's in the pool, and literally rushing him back into the car in his wet swimming costume, and driving back home. Taxi turns up at 16.20, and we load myself, Hugh, car seat and bags and supplies, into it, and drive off.

Driver is from Berwick-Upon Tweed. He has no idea where the BBC studios are. He's just been given a postcode and we know how good that is, in a city, right?. BBC phones me to check I'm on my way. I confirm we are, and ask if there will be someone at other end to help with child and car seat? She phones back. No, reception can't leave, but the taxi can park "right up outside".

I have a pretty clear idea what is happening at this point, and resign myself to doing all the work.

I phone David, and he looks on the map. Taxi driver and me and David, work out roughly where we are going. We get there, and stop a lady leaving the hairdressers, with expensive shopping bags. Does she know where the BBC studios are around here? Yes, she gives us direction. Hugh falls asleep in car seat, 3 minutes before we get there. *sigh*

We find the hole in the wall studio. It's a good 100 feet, downhill, from where we can get the taxi to. I leave asleep Hugh in car with taxi driver, cautioning him not to run off with my child :-), and carry the three bags of gear down to the BBC Alba, two room studio, under a shopping centre. I look wistfully at the Pizza Express next door.

Reception man lets me in, and I dump the bags and explain I have to return for child, and car seat. A total of 3 other people are in the very small studios. I ask who is going to look after Hugh when I am on air? They say I'm booked to take the child, and the car seat, into the studio with me. Female journo working on shared computers, says she's leaving in 5 minutes. Of course, this is what I really feared. I'd just been drop kicked into any free studio they could find, and that was that. I've worked in radio, it wasn't a surprise!

I return to the taxi, and we find a way to get within 30 feet in the front door, without being in the main traffic, and I wake up Hugh and carry him on my hip with one hand, and the car seat in the other. Hugh wakes up grumpy.

We sit in reception. No one offers tea, or a drink. it's about 17.40. Eventually, I ask if I can just go into the studio, which is about 8 feet by ten feet, and set up amusement for Hugh. I go in, and set up a dvd on my laptop, settle him on his very comfy car seat on the floor, with the laptop perched on a chair seat, settle him down, and put some apple juice by him. He's perfectly happy. I point out the red light, and that he can't speak to me when it's lit. He knows how radio works, and the lights, since the researcher who took care of him when I was on R4's "Today" took him through it.

I get out a pad, and a pen, a drink for me, opening it to make sure it doesn't fizz on the microphone, and put the silent head phones (cans) on, and twiddle my thumbs.

At least it's cool. Air conditioning for small radio booths is essential!

At about 2 mins to 18.00, someone called Chloe, introduces herself on the cans and says "Hi" from the London end. Takes me through the process again, quickly, and says we'll be joined with women from Argentina, Somewhere I've Forgotten And Didn't Write Down (USA? Boston?), and Nairobi. Reinforces the informal chat between women point. Says there is a recorded interview with Kathryn Blundell, as she couldn't be on live, so could I listen carefully to it, and then respond with my reactions. I ask her the name of the women I'll be chatting too. She sounds nonplussed, then recovers. It's Lee, Adriana and Bilac. I write down the names of my fellow women.

The interview rolls out with Ms Blundell. I hear how subdued she is, and how this has shaken her. I also hear her say outrageous things, like the "wonderous" miracle science of formula. When she's asked why she feels so creeped out by the thought of a baby feeding on her, she replies she had "not thought about it too much". I write this quote down, as I think it speaks volumes, and is the point I'd like to react to, as requested by Chloe.

Ros takes the air, and slowly and methodically plods through the list of the four women, around the world, being kept in order by the power buttons in Bush House. I am frustrated. This is not the free chat between us that I was told would occur. I'm also dismayed at Ros's clear attempt to get each and every one of us, to slag Ms Blundell off. I am delighted when Lee in Argentina makes it clear that Ms Blundell's views of her own body, and are hers and hers alone. I feel I have so much in common with these women, and I'm truly excited by the thought of being able to chat to them. Ros gets to me, and the same ponderous "give us your reaction to that" occurs, and I give my reaction. Ros them continues on with controlling the mike, and all the discussion, and lobbing in comments from emails. At no point is the micophone open to the four or us. We cannot talk to each other at all.

Ros tells me he's never noticed any pressure to formula feed. I ask if he's ever watched television, and after talking about the glowing babies 'supported' by follow-on milk, move on to the point that isn't it interesting that follow on milk only appears in countries where formula ads are banned? Ros has talked over me, and I persevere, sure that as it's bad radio, to overtalk, he'll back down. I'm confused, but continue to maintain my subject. He's overtalking me, and moving onto to another caller, even as I'm describing how much money is made by pressure selling formula to mothers around the world.

Yes, I was being a dunce. I can only blame the adrenaline. And that my experience is 'live in the same studio', where they can't do what they were doing so easily.

Lee in Argentina commends me for carrying on breastfeeding Hugh, as she couldn't get past two years. I make sympathetic noises, and hope to feed back that I understand that feeling and to discuss how hard it is sometimes, and one of the problems is you are never allowed to say sometimes that it is work, and you do struggle. I hope to reassure her that I think two years is marvellous, and she should look to what she achieved. I try and speak up, but no one seemed to respond to me, no matter how hard I tried to be heard. No, I still hadn't twigged.

I was getting very frustrated.

The woman from Jamaica comes on, and pulls the "I did it for X time, and if you past when I did it, you are weird." card. When she states that after one year, milk has no nutritional value, I interrupt her, and say "That's not factually accurate." She carries on. I repeat this 3, maybe 4 times, and am getting very annoyed that she criticised me, and when I respond that she is refusing to let me speak, and what she is saying is not factually accurate... I finally twig.

Yes, I am a dunce.

No one had been hearing what I was saying to her. I was being controlled, and censored, by the buttons and sliders at Bush House. There was no discussion space between the women on air. I had no idea what of mine had been heard. As I had clearly been carrying on after I was silenced, I didn't have any idea what had actually been said by me.

Realising this, I say into the the microphone "Morgan here, I wish to respond to that comment." I'm livid.

Not at the women in Jamaica, I'm livid that I had been taking part in a two way conversation and escalating the urgency of my own voice, in order to get the space to finish speaking, and I'd been speaking into empty air.`

Ros returns me to a live mic, tightly controlling the intro, and I repeat to the woman what I'd been saying non-stop for a few moments. It still really hadn't sunk in that although I was annoyingly repeating the 'facts' things, and the WHO stuff, that probably, it was the first time it was being heard, not the third or fourth!

And, of course, she gets to criticise me personally, whilst I have to bend over backwards not to criticise, or comment, on anyone else.

Because I'm the weirdo woman.

And Ros goes off on one about there not actually being a lot of 'facts' about breastfeeding, and sidelines the entire discussion back to emails. With me on the other end saying "There are lots of facts about breastfeeding, the science is undeniable..." But you didn't hear that, did you?

So I sit, in the cool empty space of the studio in Edinburgh, with my 5 year old behaving impeccably on the floor, watching a dvd, and I listen to every opportunity for a proper exchange of views, being slammed down and controlled by the presenter. Again and again, points that could be picked up and expanded upon, discarded and closed down, in favour of just spouting on the same point again and again. The actual meat of the debate, the pressure on women to do what society wants, and how we polarise the issues, and ignore how much women need support... trying to be heard, and being strangled at birth.

The sliding button of censorship. The knot that binds.

This is the programme that did something so unthinkable, so mind bogglingly obscene, I cannot contain it. They ask a breastfeeding support in Nairobi, if a mother came to her and asked for support to formula feed, would she support her? What would she say? A women who lives next to the Kibera slum.

Bilac answered the question with grace (as did all the women being goaded to criticise other women). But I could not get my head around what was being said. I just could not deal with the level of Western centric arrogance that was being displayed. That was constantly, and consistently, positioning this debate within the cosy secure world of the London chattering classes. How on earth could you ask a mother in Kenya, that question, without any reference to the dangers of formula feeding there?

I sat and fumed on this, as I was completely removed from the programme. Half way through a sentence, Ros told me he was having to move the discussion on, as I was arguing or something, and I was completely closed down.

I really wanted to get up and leave. I knew how I was being painted, and just as I didn't want my windows put through after "Today"... I just didn't want the aggro. But I knew some of you would be listening, and cheering that things that should be heard, were being said.

So I sat, in silence, listening to the inane presenter carry on with their own reduced agenda. Chloe came on the cans, to explain that I was acting inappropriately, and I clearly didn't understand the type of show I was on. That they had wanted personal stories and opinion, not 'set speeches'. I replied that everything I'd said was personal, and she cut me off and said she understood I was against formula, and pro-breastfeeding, but formula wasn't the issue. I was biased, and they couldn't have that bias on air. I said they had the bias, not me, and this was the World Service, and they had a duty to act globally, and not act as if the whole discussion was taking place in West London. How could they ask a women in KENYA if she would support formula feeding? She replied that they were a global service, and that was why my views were not suitable, I was biased. I said how would a woman sitting in the slums in Nairobi tonight, sitting in a tin shack with a sick child, feel about us wittering on about breastfeeding without discussing the risk of formula feeding? Did she know how many babies would die tonight in those slums, from being formula fed?

(WARNING: NAIROBI SLUM VIDEO BELOW CONTAINS FOOTAGE OF DEAD BABY IN OPEN SEWER PIT.)

Chloe went BALLISTIC. She told me up front I'd made her REALLY ANGRY and that was it, I was off the programme and a taxi would be called to take me away RIGHT AWAY. The one that was booked would be cancelled and I could go NOW.

"You just said that formula kills babies!" It was a mantra, a safety talisman: I could be dispensed with, since I'd uttered those words, which she kept quoting back to me, as evidence of my bias and agenda.

So I was out, gone, away, no more. I would not be on the Africa segment of the programme.

I tried to reason with her, and referred her back to what I'd said on air, about how 4000 babies die every day from UNSAFE formula feeding, and she needed to apply that to Africa, and how does she think the African woman had felt, being asked if she'd support formula feeding? They had to be responsible for the global context, and think it through.

It was just making her angrier, and she retorted I had no right to speak for African women. She just could not get past her own anger, and engage. She finally snapped that she was running an on-air live programme, and she could come back and argue with me later, but she had a programme to run! And she pulled the plug.

So I sat there, with Hugh, feeling that if I'd been in Bush House, not in Edinburgh on my own, my bags would be being picked up and I would be being escorted to the door, via security. I had been thrown off air, and as soon as they could get a taxi to me, I would be out of the building.

Which, by the way, cost them a lot of money. They actually phoned a black cab, to get me out of there as fast as possible. A handsome cab for a 60 mile trip!

I simply picked up my mobile phone, and started phoning people. Whilst I was still in the studio, waiting my Taxi of Doom, I phoned people and let them know what had happened. Why I was being turfed out. I phoned Patti Rundall, at Baby Milk Action, who happened to be in Brussels, and told her I'd been thrown off the BBC World Service, for saying that unsafe formula feeding killed babies in Africa.

I told everyone, very clearly, that I has been told precisely, by Chloe, that the reason I was no longer on the Africa programme, was that I'd said "formula kills babies." I do think the phrase "4000 babies die of UNSAFE formula feeding" did get out on air.

But I ain't listening to it, I can tell you. I'm not that much of a sadist.

I calmly packed up my things, Hugh played with the revolving chair, listening to how they thanked me ever so much for taking part, and making it sound like I was still on the programme! My mobile rang, and it was the cab driver, outside on the main, busy, road. I asked Hugh to stay in the studio on his own with his chair, explained to the reception man, who was quite bemused by everything, and took the car seat out, rather excited to see the black cab.

I walked past the pizza again, rather more wistfully.

I fixed in the car seat, and then went back for Hugh and the bags. Hugh was still waiting patiently, on his own, in the tiny glass booth. Hugh said he needed to pee. Reception man said the toilets were up on the second floor. The taxi was in the street, and I had three heavy bags. I took Hugh outside, and allowed my five year old, to pee up against the wall.

It was total coincidence he was peeing on the walls of the BBC. But the image pleased me. :-)

We then climbed into the taxi and took the long road home.

I didn't want to write this blog. Not really a choice, .... it is a far, far better thing I do, than I have ever done before... I may expand on it after I post.

*inserts head*

EDIT: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=134218686598562

Lest We Forget.... National Bash Breastfeeding Week

2010-06-27T15:08:00.000-07:00

As we sit there, blood pressure pounding, ears numb from the screeching, eyes bleary from article after article after article, painting us as nuts, nazis, anti-woman, ant-feminsit and just plain obsessed and bossy... as we sit, whincing, about another person smugly leaving an article about how Breast Is Not Best anymore on our desks... and they've conveniently stopped reading before they get to... Formula Is Flawed... in the bottom in small print...

In short, as we sit there, grateful that another awful week of vitriol is past, and work on our resilience to cope with next's year's onslaught... read this.

The following is an advocacy statement prepared for a preemie baby, a couple of months ago. The young teenage mother, had been told Social Services wanted her in a Mother & Baby Unit when the baby was born. For no other reason that she, and the teenage father, had both been raised in care. Therefore they were lacking essential parenting skills.

Think that through for a moment.

Rock and a Hard Place, non?

Having been deemed to lack essential parenting skills, and both having 'difficult' relationships with care home workers and their own social workers, a unit place was set up for the Mother & Baby. But not the Father, of course, her main support.

But at least they had somewhere to go, after the birth.

However.

Baby had the temerity, the sheer gall... the proof that it too was not capable of working with Social Services.. . to birth itself 5 weeks premature. This threw everyone into a panic. Baby was here, in the preemie ward, but the place in the Unit, was timed to the due date.

What to do?

Well, obviously, the correct answer was to remove the baby from the mother, when it was discharged from the neo-natal ward. And keep it in a foster home, until the placement came up, 4 weeks later. Simples! No problem there.

The sad thing is, the Social Workers didn't think there was any problem with the plan, at all. When the midwives, and the lactation support people, all pointed out the disaster in this plan, not least from a viewpoint on the new mother actually bonding with her baby, the Social Workers scratched their head and went "eh?".

In this, we should be considerate of the dreadful position Social Workers are in. In the UK, there are no guidelines for the care of the breastfeeding baby in care situations. There are no tick boxes on the forms, no training, no protocols, no guidance. So it's not surprising, that a Social Worker isn't going to think "breastfeeding" in these situations. They only have their own personal experiences to go on. And what's so important about keeping a mother and her baby together, for the first 4 weeks? They can bond afterwards, surely? Formula never hurt anyone...

So the following advocacy statement was put together, on behalf of the premature infant.

The mother and baby were kept together. The combined effort of the NHS staff on the ward, the lactation specialist for the area, and the advocacy statement. All Hail The Midwives!

Ignore the screams this week, and next, and the week after.

They wouldn't be trying so hard to pummel us into the ground, if we weren't being heard.

------

RE: XXX XXX DOB: XX/04/10

We are advocating on behalf of Xxx, a breastfeeding premature newborn. We would like to bring to your attention several pertinent points about Xxx, and his specific needs. These facts need to be taken into consideration when you discuss care arrangements for Xxx whilst care arrangements for the family are being discussed.

Xxx was born at 35 weeks gestation. Breastfeeding, is therefore even more vital for his normal development, than a term born newborn. In particular, his cognitive development and immune system has already been threatened by a premature birth. Breastmilk is the only substance that will provide Xxx with the nutritional benefits he is now missing from appropriate womb development.

Breast milk contains components to promote amyelinization which increases development of brain synapses. It has higher anti-oxidant activity than infant formula and pre-terms a have lower anti-oxidant capacity. In addition, human milk helps neutralize oxidative stress. Ezaki et al. J Clin Bio Nutr 42;133-137. 2008)

Breastmilk also contains sialic acid-containing oligosaccharides, vital to brain development, which is significantly lower (20%) in infant formulas. This cannot be synthesized by the infant and therefore interruption of breastfeeding to transfer to infant formula, directly reduces Xxx’s ability to recover the brain growth he has lost due to his premature birth. Higher brain ganglioside and glycoprotein sialic acid concentrations have been conclusively shown to lead to enhanced developmental outcomes (Wang et al. AJ of Clin Nutr.2003;78:1024-1029). Preterm Infants (ELBW) who were exclusively formula fed had a 5 point deficit in their subsequent IQ development. Pre-terms infants that had the most human milk had an increase of 5 IQ points compared to their formula fed counterparts. (Vohr et al. Pediatrics. 2006: 118;e115-123)

Of significant concern, is that the risks of SIDS doubles in late preterm (Walker M, Breastfeeding the Late Preterm Infant in Clinics in Human Lactation 4. Hale 2 Publishing: Amarillo ,Tx; 2009) Breastfeeding can decrease the risk by 50% (Pediatrics.2009; 123 (3):e406-410).

In terms of general health issues, for every 10ml/kg per day increase in breastmilk ingestion the likelihood of re-admission decreased by 6% (Vohr et al.Pediatrics, 118;e115-123) “Risk Ratio for Infant Mortality in Late Preterm vs. Term Infants (J Pediatr 2007;151:450-6)” shows that newborns such as Xxx are at increased risk for SIDS, Sepsis, Influenza, NEC and are more likely to die from these diseases. If you removed Xxx from his mother’s breast, you increase his risks of significant harm. These risks are very real, widely known and understood, and clearly underpin breastfeeding policy from the NHS, NICE, UNICEF and the World Health Organisation. Therefore these significant risks must be present in any risk assessment discussion, concerning Xxx and his access to his mother’s breast.

These risks are in addition to the normal risks associated with lack of breastfeeding for a full term infant. Lack of breastfeeding is associated with higher rates of illness for both baby, and mother. Again, this is supported and promoted by the NHS, NICE, UNICEF and World Health Organisation. Under Article 24 of the Convention on The Rights of the Child, Xxx has the

“right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health. States Parties shall strive to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services.”

Access to his mother’s breast for actual breastfeeding, and not just receiving pumped human milk, would come under this convention, and The European Court of Human Rights has recognized this dynamic – the right of the child to the breast as long as the mother wishes it, as a basic Human Right, and this is recognized in the English courts:

"Local authorities also had to be sensitive to the wishes of a mother who wants to breast-feed, and should make suitable arrangements to enable her to do so, and not merely to bottle-feed expressed breast milk. Nothing less would meet the imperative demands of the European Convention on Human Rights."...In the matter of unborn baby M; R (on the application of X and another) v Gloucestershire County Council. Citation: BLD 160403280; [2003] EWHC 850 (Admin). Hearing Date: 15 April 2003 Court: Administrative Court. Judge: Munby J. Abstract. Published Date 16/04/2003

Perhaps of more crucial importance, given the significance of the need to assess care arrangements for Xxx, within his mother’s arms, the role that the lack of breastfeeding has in increasing risks of child abuse, should be highlighted. Breastfeeding supports a secure attachment between mother and child, and disrupting the bond that has already been established between Xxx and his mother, significantly reduces their chances of forming a successful, long term, relationship, as well as the harm abrupt cessation of breastfeeding could inflict on Xxx.

Within attachment theory, attachment behaviours are actions that a child uses to maintain proximity to their caregiver in order to obtain reassurance and experience feelings of safety (Sutton, 2001). Attachment theory is the dominant framework within which early relationships are understood (Thompson, 2000) and the development of a secure attachment between primary caregiver and child is deemed the most beneficial type of relationship (Schore, 2001). Securely attached children use their caregiver as a base from which to explore the world and are therefore able to more effectively deal with challenges (Drury-Hudson, 1994). Thus, breastfeeding may promote the development of a secure child-mother attachment. However, the importance of breastfeeding as an attachment behaviour also means that if breastfeeding is abruptly terminated it may have a serious adverse impact on the child-mother relationship.

The observation that breastfeeding can be an attachment behaviour in young children and that abruptly refusing breastfeeds in harmful is not a new idea. It was first observed by the eminent attachment theorist Mary Ainsworth over 35 years ago who stated, in relation to her research in Uganda with breastfeeding toddlers, that “amongst those children who had had easy access to the breast on their own initiative, both day and night, the feeding behaviours become organised into the whole system of behaviours that constitute attachment, so that when the feeding relationship was destroyed by weaning the whole attachment relationship was severely threatened and made very anxious.” (Ainsworth & Tracey, 1972). Withdrawal of breastfeeding during a substantial portion on the day would be interpreted by the child as a rejection of the child and similarly pose a serious threat to the child-mother relationship. I would also like to point out that withdrawal of a child’s comfort strategies and attachment behaviours at a time of stress is extremely difficult for the child. It could be described as cruel.

In at-risk dyads breastfeeding should be supported not just because of its impact upon the child but because breastfeeding impacts the physiology and physical circumstances of mothers in such a way as to assist them to sensitively care for their children (Gribble, 2006). The hormone oxytocin is known to be essential for expression of maternal behaviour in some mammals (Insel, 1997; Keverne & Kendrick, 1992), and although the research is as yet scant, there is some evidence that oxytocin is also involved in the development of maternal love in humans (Bartels & Zeki, 2004). Oxytocin is released during breastfeeding (Matthiesen, Ransjo-Arvidson, Nissen, & Uvnas-Moberg, 2001). Prolactin is another hormone associated with promoting mothering behaviour that is released as a child suckles (Uvnas-Moberg, Widstrom, Werner, Matthiesen, & Winberg, 1990).

Finally, the relaxant hormone cholecystokinin is released in the intestine of mothers during breastfeeding (Uvnas-Moberg et al., 1987). As a result of these hormonal effects breastfeeding women have decreased cortisol levels and blood pressure and respond less to stress than non-breastfeeding women (Groer, Davis, & Hemphill, 2002; Heinrichs, Neumann, & Ehlert, 2002; Uvnas-Moberg, 1998). This decreased responsiveness to stress is apparent in a “relaxation response” measured in the brain during breastfeeding (Cervantes, Ruelas, & Alcala, 1992). Mothers who are less stressed are able to be more responsive to their babies (Feldman, Eidelman, & Rotenberg, 2004; Rosenblum & Andrews, 1994) and there is a positive correlation between maternal sensitivity and the security of attachment in children (Pederson, Gleason, Moran, & Bento, 1998).

Breastfeeding also requires mothers to remain in physical proximity to their babies and to interact with them on a regular basis in a positive and intimate manner (Blass & Ciaramitaro, 1994; Epstein, 1993; Smotherman & Robinson, 1994) which can only assist in promoting a healthy mother-child relationship.

The role of breastfeeding in allowing an at-risk mother to develop a healthy care-giving role with her infant, cannot be overstated:

“We clearly demonstrated that lack of breastfeeding increased substantially the odds of maternal (but not non-maternal) maltreatment, specifically child neglect. After adjustment for multiple confounders, there was a nearly fourfold increase in the odds of maternal neglect for non-breastfed children, compared with children

who were breastfed for _4 months. These findings suggest that breastfeeding may play a protective role in helping to prevent maternal neglect.”

Does Breastfeeding Protect Against Substantiated Child Abuse and Neglect? A15-Year Cohort Study DOI: 10.1542/peds.2007-3546 Pediatrics 2009;123;483-493 Lane Strathearn, Abdullah A. Mamun, Jake M. Najman and Michael J. O'Callaghan

To make that point again, if you remove Xxx from his mother’s breast, you significantly increase his risk of neglect by her, and significantly reduce her chances of proving she is a competent mother. In short, if you do not support Xxx’s access to his mother’s breast during the deliberations on his care package, you are greatly increasing the risk that his mother will be found incompetent. Given that plans are already in place to allow Xxx and his mother to maintain their contact in a mother-and-baby unit at a later date, any decision to separate them prior to this, would be difficult to justify.

This is particularly true when you examine the effect it could have on Xxx’s mother. Sudden cessation of breastfeeding so soon after the birth, will cause Xxx’s mother’s body to react as if the baby has died: her hormones will go into mourning:

“Opting not to breastfeed precludes and/or brings all of the processes involved in lactation to a halt. For most of human evolution the absence or early cessation of breastfeeding would have been occasioned by miscarriage, loss, or death of a child. We contend, therefore, that at the level of her basic biology a mother’s decision to bottle feed unknowingly simulates child loss.”

Bottle feeding simulates child loss: Postpartum depression and evolutionary medicine Medical Hypotheses, Volume 74, Issue 1, January 2010, Pages 174-176 Gordon G. Gallup Jr., R. Nathan Pipitone, Kelly J. Carrone and Kevin L. Leadholm

To summarise: continued, unrestricted access to his mother’s breast is a key component in Xxx’s subsequent health and normal development, particularly given his 35 week gestation. Any decision on Xxx’s health and well-being, within care guidelines, should include proper assessment of these risks. If decisions are made to separate Xxx from his mother, due care must be taken to ensure the breastfeeding relationship is not severed. WHO and NHS guidelines would require that Xxx’s ability to breastfeed should not be compromised by the introduction of bottle teats, or a dummy. The foster care-giver would be expected to cup-feed Xxx, his expressed mother’s milk.

In addition, in line with current medical understanding, we feel it important to point out that formula feeding itself is not benign, particularly for Xxx. Formula has a different ph balance to human milk, and it destroys the natural flora and fauna in the human gut. Xxx is at particular risk from developing ill-health, if formula is introduced to his gut, as he has several risk factors already:

*The gastrointestinal (GI) tract of a normal fetus is sterile

* the type of delivery has an effect on the development of the intestinal microbiota

- vaginally born infants are colonized with their mother’s bacteria

-cesarean born infants’ initial exposure is more likely to environmental microbes from the air,other infants, and the nursing staff which serves as vectors for transfer

- the primary gut flora in infants born by cesarean delivery may be disturbed for up to 6 months after birth (Gronlund et al, 1999)

* babies at highest risk of colonization by undesirable microbes or when transfer from maternal sources cannot occur are cesarean-delivered babies, preterm infants, full term infants requiring intensive care, or infants separated from their mother

Supplementation of the Breastfed Baby “Just One Bottle Won’t Hurt”---or Will It? Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC NABA 2003

Therefore, if Xxx is separated from his mother, we would advise that as a medical intervention, medical permission would need to be obtained from Xxx’s mother or obtained via a court order, before formula could be given. Likewise, parental, or court permission would need to be sought before introduction of either a bottle teat, or a dummy, as both can immediately affect the attachment of the baby to the mother, and the baby’s subsequent ability to breastfeed.

If separation does occur, Xxx’s mother will require qualified lactation support, to sustain and maintain Xxx’s milk supply, and to guard her against developing mastitis or engorgement. Social Services would have to supply appropriate pumping equipment, storage and transport for the milk. This places a burden on Xxx’s mother, and that should be recognised when her care is being discussed, as I understand that Xxx’s mothers is, herself, under the care of Social Services.

All of the above factors should be present in any discussion of Xxx’s well being. We can, of course, supply more detailed information if required, as well as extend our support to Xxx at all times. Many lactation specialists within the international lactation community are aware of Xxx, and his specific needs, and we are confident that Social Services will support his health and well being in an appropriate fashion.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us for more information or expert witness.

Fairness, Freedom... and Equality: Breastfeeding Picnic 2010

2010-05-31T14:17:00.000-07:00

As the new coalition Government settles down at Westminster, and gets to work bringing in the joint agenda of Freedom, Fairness and Responsibility... we'd like to ask David Cameron and Nick Clegg to consider the babies in England & Wales, and Northern Ireland.. They don't have much to be responsible about, in their young lives... but they would very much like some freedom and fairness of their own. Simply, they'd like equality with the babies in Scotland: they'd like to be protected from harassment when they feed.

They are protected in Scotland. Scotland has a Breastfeeding Bill, which protects the right of any child who is in a public space where that child has a right to be, to feed uninterrupted on milk: breast or from a bottle. Any mother, father, care-giver, can feed a hungry child milk in Scotland, anywhere the child has a right to be. If someone tries to stop the feed - the police can be called, and the person trying to stop the milk feed, can be charged and fined.

In England and Wales, and Northern Ireland, no such protection exists.

If this fair, David? Is that freedom, Nick? Is that encouraging and supporting individual and social responsibility? That you can be thrown out of a public park, in England, for feeding your hungry baby, but not in Scotland? That a baby can get hungry without fear, in Scotland, but not anywhere else in the United Kingdom? That if a breastfeeding baby is asked to leave a cafe in Belfast, in Cardiff, in London... the mother must stop the feed and she must leave. But if she's asked in Edinburgh, she can call the police and they will come and deal with the moron trying to stop her feeding a hungry, crying baby?

In the current financial crisis, the coalition has stated its first priority is to reduce the deficit and restore economic growth. Protecting mothers who are breastfeeding, will directly support these aims. Lack of breastfeeding costs the NHS millions of pounds every year: 5 times more formula fed babies are hospitalised every year, for severe stomach infections, than breastfed ones. Babies who are formula fed, get sicker more often. They have higher rates of many minor, and some quite serious, illnesses. Formula fed babies have higher rates of heart disease, diabetes and apnoea as adults. On average, a formula fed baby has 5 IQ points less than it would have had, if it had been fed normally: at the breast. Formula feeding costs society, and parents, a great deal of money. Money spent on formula, is money handed over to multi-national conglomerates, such as Nestle and Danone, who are clearly exploiting the poorest mothers and babies on the planet, and breaching Code around the world, endlessly.

Formula feeding is a risk to the health of the baby, and the mother.

Yet it is welcome anywhere. Whilst breastfeeding, which supplies the basic building blocks of human life to human babies.... is rejected and taboo. This is not freedom. It is not fair. It is not responsible.

It will not build a strong and fair society: this inequality. The issue is not even the harm that formula feeding will do financially, although that's important to signal, in the current climate. The issue is not breastfeeding, versus formula: it never has been. All mothers may choose not to breastfeed their baby: that is their right. It is their breasts: they choose who has access to them. It's not even about the mother: it's about the baby. All hungry babies have a right... to be fed. There and then. Formula or bottle. Mother or father. It doesn't matter.

What does matter.. is that a baby is hungry. Hungry babies get fed: end of. Well, in Scotland, anyway.

And it's not just the newborn, for whom hunger is a sharp knife piercing their flesh. Breastfeeding is a total comfort system, for the young of all mammals. As well as food and drink, it is safety, warmth and comfort. It is a salve for aches, pains and fears. A child may have fallen and knocked themselves: they may be in pain. They may want soothing and comfort. They may want cuddled and to suckle themselves out of their distress. Every mother wishes to comfort and console an injured child... but the mother of the breastfeeding child, unless she is in Scotland, can often feel too intimidated to comfort the child. They do not wish to be attacked, belittled or ejected from the premises, for offering their breast to their crying child: they wish to feel safe from abuse.

Protecting hungry babies... is about fairness, it's about freedom, and it's about responsibility. Our responsibility, to the most vulnerable amongst us. Our responsibility, to the mothers who are breastfeeding, and who feel pressured to stop, pressured to hide, pressured to feed their babies in toilet stalls. No one should be fed in a toilet stall, least of all a newborn. No mother should feel that she might be attacked, or interfered with, when giving food and comfort to her child. What's a right to be protected in Scotland, is a right to be protected in England & Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Fairness, Freedom... and Equality

...for all UK babies...

Breastfeeding Picnic 2010

Victoria Tower Gardens

Westminster

Monday July 19th, 2010

Noon until 3pm

Bring your baby, your children, a picnic, and Invite Your MP.

Hopefully, it's time for change....

A word about inviting MPs.....

An MP represents their constituents. This is regardless of their party politics, or any other role they have in Government. Your MP is duty, and honour, bound, to represent your views in Parliament. Invitation to events like the Breastfeeding Picnic, need to come from a constituent, in order for the MP to take it seriously. Not a letter to David Cameron, or to Nick Clegg. But to your MP. This is particularly important if David Cameron of Nick Clegg is your MP. If they are, please invite them NOW to the Westminster event: they will not respond to an invite from anyone not in their constituency.

Parliament works on the merits of the individual MPs in the parties. Even if you have an MP you don't like, or who is not the MP you would have chosen... please invite them. Especially if they are a new MP, joining the House for the first time this session. The timing of the picnic is for the last few days of the Summer sitting. There will be a lot of 'new' MPs who will be anxious to meet their constituents, and to hear their views. Write to them, invite them, speak up for the rights of babies in the UK.

If they are not going to be in Westminster that day, see if they can attend a local picnic. That's the whole point of local picnics, to make the point that this is about the whole of the UK.

We know from previous picnics, that many of you hesitate to write your own letters. So we offer the following outline, for you to consider. But please remember that your words, will hold more weight, than an obvious 'stock' letter. Use the letter by all means, if you really can't face the thought of writing one yourself... but your own words, in your own style, allows your MP to respond to you. Give it a try! :-)

In order to find your MP, hit this link, put in your postcode, and the UK Parliament search engine will do the rest. If you then hit on your MP's name, contact details will come up, including a hit link on their eddress.

-o0o-

Dear .....

As a constituent, I'd like to invite you to the Annual Breastfeeding Picnic, in Westminster on Monday July 19th, 2010. This year's event is being run under the banner - Fairness, Freedom and... Equality - as mothers once more ask that the babies of England & Wales, and Northern Ireland, have the same legal protection to have a milk feed as they do in Scotland. The previous Government have ignored the inequality faced by hungry babies in England & Wales, and Northern Ireland, for too long. The nonsense that is clause 17 of the Equalities Bill, only proves to show how little the previous Government listened to mothers on this issue. Mothers are hoping that the coalition will see the financial sense in affording hungry babies throughout the UK, the same rights as in Scotland. The picnic is being held in Victoria Tower Gardens, adjacent to the Palace of Westminster, from noon until 3pm. Please come and meet mothers and babies and children, and see how needed a Breastfeeding Bill is. If a member of the public approaches a breastfeeding baby and mother in the park whilst you are there, and demands they stop what they are doing... there is no legal protection in place to protect the baby's right to food. Why should the baby be protected in Scotland, and not right outside the Houses of Parliament?

Looking forward to your early reply....

Ben, Kerry and Mark

2010-04-08T13:30:00.000-07:00

"No news, is good news."

Slowly but surely...

2010-02-18T07:09:00.000-08:00

.. the world gets the message...

From the horror of this:

"This poor mama had been fully breastfeeding her 4 month old when she reported that she had been raped. While in a police station the baby was taken from her (this was probably appropriate while the mother was interviewed etc). However, the mother who was traumatised and thought her baby had been taken off her attempted suicide whilst in the police station. This is how she became a psychiatric inpatient. Sadly, officials didn’t organise access of baby to mother so breastfeeding could continue: in 5 days the baby was taken to the mother only once"

..to this...

"The outcome
After many phone calls (only to discover there wasn’t a single bed available in any public mother baby unit), a full day of negotiations and some help from two wonderful paediatricians (thankyou Gillian Opie and Cathy McAdam -it certainly helps to know people in high places!) as well as information provided by other professionals who are also concerned about legal separations of breastfeeding dyads (thankyou Karleen Gribble) this baby has been admitted as a boarder in the paediatric ward in the hospital where the mother is being treated. The mother is ecstatic and, for now at least, she can enjoy holding her baby close as she nourishes her child with liquid love from her own heart, through her breasts. "

Well done Pinky McKay! See the full story here.

We're wining ladies.. one tiny baby step at a time...

Hey Breastfeeders, Facebook Is Obscene...

2010-02-06T10:15:00.000-08:00

I suppose, it was inevitable. Facebook starts deleting breastfeeding images from personal accounts, and then closing accounts ... as breastfeeding images are "pictures of naked women who happen to be breastfeeding."

Mums of breastfeeding babies, who had been posting their own photos in their own photo albums, join together and create a protest group on Facebook. There is also the site that logs what Facebook have deleted, including portraits of the Virgin Mary breastfeeding Jesus.

The Facebook group, incidentally, enjoys massive traffic from lactaphobes, determined to prove that breastfeeding is obscene, attention serving and about Mums getting their jollies from flashing their tits. Every lame argument is posted, and slogged through time and again and time and again. and...

... Facebook decides enough is enough, and warns it will close down the entire protest group... for obscenity and sexual imagery. The Mums who post into this group spend hours dealing with lactaphobes rationally and calmly, as well as give breastfeeding support to Mums in need.

Facebook is once again, acting in cyberspace, in a way totally illegal in real life. Breastfeeding is protected by many laws, in many USA States and other countries. But it's only the computer that's in California, so they can't be pursued by the law! And making a mint out of it too.

*sigh*

Here's the official press release from the group. Go Make Merry. Pass on, send to your local newspapers etc. Propagate Mamas! Also, the back up group is here.

---

PRESS RELEASE

5th February 2010

For immediate release

FACEBOOK TO BAN BREASTFEEDING ADVOCACY GROUP FOR "OBSCENITY"

Lactivist group faces termination from Facebook after embarrassing the social networking site in high profile media awareness campaign last year.

The group of almost 250,000 members faces threats of removal after a media blitz that chastised the social networking site for its draconian policies toward breastfeeding mothers. The campaign, which garnered national and international attention in over 25 languages from various media outlets around the world, was featured on CNN, CBS News and the Dr. Phil show among others. Members believe the current threat is directly related to the embarrassment caused to Facebook’s bosses.

Administrators of the group, "Hey Facebook, Breastfeeding is Not Obscene! (Official petition to Facebook)" were told by the social networking site that the group was in violation of copyright infringement policies. When pressed for details by the group’s admin, Facebook responded by changing the accusation to say the group was posting nudity or sexually explicit material and sending harassing messages to members.

Ms. Joseph says she believes the harassment is due to the social networking site being embarrassed that such a large number of people are against their policies of branding breastfeeding photos as "sexually explicit content". "We have no idea what they're talking about and they won't explain the charges," said Gillian Joseph , an admin of the group, living in Edinburgh, Scotland. "We checked our pages but can't see any copyright infringements, and we've certainly sent no harassing messages. Now they're saying it's because we're uploading obscene photos.".

The support and advocacy group, which boasts over 247,000 members from all over the world, wishes to normalize the sight of breastfeeding mothers and children. It currently contains over 4,500 discussion threads on parenting topics, and over 5,700 photos – though some of these have already been removed by Facebook.

"To shut the group down would not only end valuable support, but give a message to the world that breastfeeding babies are somehow obscene. It's just absurd,” said Debra Balcaen, a Winnipeg resident and administrator of the group.

"It is unfortunate and hypocritical that Facebook's administration has targeted this breastfeeding advocacy group for alleged violations when at the same time they happily endorse sexually explicit material from third party applications and paid advertisements."

END

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

Initial emails from Facebook were sent on 2/2/10 to the administrators of the group. All responses were handled by Gill Joseph, and the full email exchange can be provided upon request.

During previous campaigns, articles about the group have featured in The Washington Post and Fox News in the U.S., in The Guardian and The Times in the U.K., and in The Globe and Mail and The Ottawa Citizen in Canada.

The group has administrators in Canada, USA, UK and Australia who can be contacted on request, but main contacts for the media are:

Gill Joseph email: kamagrian@blueyonder.co.uk

phone: +44 7800 987 844 +44 7800 987 844

Stephanie Muir email: babieslovemilk@yahoo.ca

phone: +1 613 761 9109 +1 613 761 9109

Please note that email may be a better first contact choice, as both women are mothers of young children.

Drawing A Family Together...

2010-01-30T09:22:00.000-08:00

This is baby Ben, drawn by his father, Mark.

Mark hasn't seen him for a day or two, as he's finding the trek out to the Mother & Baby Unit where Kerry & Ben are, a difficult slog with no money and poor to non-existent public transport. He's had problems getting credit onto his phone, to call her. He's managed to get Kerry a cell phone, that works in Ireland, but so far, there hasn't been enough money for them to connect.

Being a responsible Dad, he's been trying to raise money by his trade - he's an artist. Ireland will welcome him with open arms, I'm sure - they have a wonderful policy on encouraging creatives to contribute to the economy. He's selling the two drawings you see here, on Ebay. You have 6 days and a few hours to snap them up. Every penny goes to the family.

Bid for them here.

Things are moving along, if slowly and somewhat frustratingly. Kerry & Ben arrived at the mother and baby unit on Thursday, and are very happy with the welcome they received. Nursing Matters helped arrange a IBCLC from the local area, to attend to Kerry & Ben that day, but there have been delays in getting into the unit. Understandable, given all the issues.

The IBCLC, whom I can't name as that would reveal the county the family are in, and no one wants them hounded out by the media... has everything needed on standby. Her expertise, a good pump, and all the time and patience required. There have been reports of Kerry's milk coming in as she has been cuddling Ben, and that's excellent. However, getting a baby back to the breast exclusively can be much more challenging than just getting the mother's milk in, so we'll update as soon as Kerry has had professional assessment and support. Hopefully, before the weekend is out. The Irish IBCLCs are fully behind this family, and are networking amongst themselves to make sure this family has everything it needs.

Others have been working like trojans, and the family finally have legal support in Ireland. Two professionals are working pro bono (free of charge) for the family from today. Rather awesome, that thought: they've got this far, just on their own. So much for Kerry being too stupid to have a baby... and not be able to understand legal matters thoroughly.

You see.. they just never believe how fierce Mamas are, and how much they will fight fight fight for their babies.

Faced with not seeing his son... Mark has relented, and will gladly accept your donations. He'll need to pay for accommodation at a local hostel, in order to be near enough to Ben to see him and Kerry. He also needs to keep his phone working for her calls, and to eat. They aren't entitled to anything in Ireland at the moment, and have been living there via charitable support. I'm pretty sure Mark will make sure any monies they get, will be passed back to the charities when he can earn it.

Paypal for them, can go to: acehmidwifefund@hotmail.com

(If you don't know how paypal works, you set up an account that's your email address as the account name, and then you send it to the other account, another email address. If you want them to get the amount you send GIFT it. You can also state what the money is for (lactation support, travel and hostel, phone credit) in an instruction box.

Otherwise... cheques, postal orders and bank transfers to...

Nursing Matters banks at Santander, formally Abbey National.

Nursing Matters Sort Code: 09 01 27 Account Number: 24202431

IBAN: GB26 ABBY 0901 2724 2024 31

Cheques etc made payable to Nursing Matters to:

3 Barnsite Close, Rustington, LITTLEHAMPTON, BN16 3QH (West Sussex, England, UK)

If you wish any of the money to got to Nursing Matters, versus lactation support for Kerry & Ben, versus the other agencies supporting them (who are, for instance, paying their rent) please make that clear.

We've worked out that they need £500 uk, to keep them together and healthy, until the next legal hearing. That's before we add in pump and breast expenses. I'm sure we can do that!

Mark and Kerry are totally overwhelmed by your support.

They thank you from the bottom of their heart.

And from deep in Ben's soul.

facebook group link

Urgent Appeal for Coca-Cola For Disaster Orphans

2010-01-29T06:36:00.000-08:00

Urgent donations of coca-cola for orphaned children are being urged by television personality, Clare Buyme-Book, in order to alleviate suffering and disasters by the world's children. Clare, who is not a registered midwife and holds no professional qualifications in breastfeeding support, has been holding media events throughout the country, in order to raise awareness of the nutritional need for coca-cola in the world's poorest.

"What most women don't understand " she said, with tears glistening in her eyes, "is that breastmilk is the equivalent to a glass of coca cola. And unlike powdered infant formula, coca-cola doesn't have salmonella or other nasty bacteria. You don't need clean water to feed coca-cola to a starving child.. and it's readily available throughout the planet. The answer is simple. Where there is disaster: feed babies coca-cola."

The view is not uncontroversial. When asked, Coca-cola itself, put the phone down on us and we were scarily contacted by their lawyers within moments. The lawyers have asked us to make clear that "Coca-cola is a soft drink for adults and contains no nutritional benefits and should not replace breastfeeding." Which we have done. Let's say that again "Coca-cola is a soft drink for adults and should not replace breastfeeding." When asked if this controversy had been good for their publicity, an off the record comment from a senior Coca-cola executive was not printable due to obscenity laws.

Clare dismisses concerns. "Starving orphans need all the sugar and hydration they can get. If the water is contaminated, and they are going to die anyway, surely better to feed them coca-cola anyway? It's not like feeding any baby coca-cola has ever done any harm." When challenged that coca-cola may not be the most reliable source of nutrition for those in emergency, Clare snapped... "For goodness sake, at least the aid workers can have some as it passes through. I'm sure the aid workers need a nice drink to cheer them up as they hand out the cartons of formula and boxes of used shoes. No one thinks twice about asking for donations of formula, at least the coca-cola won't kill any babies." However, when allowed to rant at the microphone for several moments, on the 'breastfeeding mafia' out to ruin her reputation, Ms Buyme-Book softened. A few tears later, she continued...

"The issue is not the coca-cola, really.." she confides "It's the breastmilk. Heaven knows I support breastfeeding, here... have a copy of my book, found at all decent books stores... but honestly, some women just take it too far. They go on about breastmilk as if it's some miracle substance, and quite frankly, I'm fed up of it. Every mother should breastfeed for a few hours if they want to. I'm not against it. But they have to realise the clock is ticking, and when the baby gets older - bam - it's just as good as coca-cola. That's my point, really. At least by seeing coke bottles with rubber teats on them, such mothers soon realise the 'good' they are doing their children."

Ms Buyme-Book then moved on to another car-boot sale to raise more bottles of coke for "Feed the Poor Starving Hungry Babies Of Some Poor Country You've Never Heard Of Until Now"

In other news... Ever Wondered How, With No Registration To Any Professional Health Organisation In The UK & No Breastfeeding Qualifications Of Any Kind... Can I Get Professional Indemnity Insurance For My Celebrity Practice? See next week's programme!

(Above image, copyright Dorothea Lange. Coca-Cola is a trademark to the Coca-cola Company, and reference to them is made for purpose of satire only. ps You get this is a spoof, right? Humour. Joke. Sarcasm. Irony. Satire. No, not satyr, satire. That's a whole different blog...)

Sing A Song of Freedom...

2010-01-27T13:28:00.000-08:00

... a pocketful of joy...

Ben & Kerry now re-united at a mother-baby unit.

Kerry has unlimited, unsupervised access.

Mark has unlimited access to the them at the unit, but needs travel money to visit them, as it is an hour away.

Trying to arrange an IBCLC to see them in the unit, asap.

I'll keep you all posted.

EDIT: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1246590/The-woman-told-stupid-baby-boy.html

"Today, Kerry will move into a mother and baby unit where the 17-year-old will be under constant surveillance - but that is undoubtedly the lesser of two evils for the couple, given that they feared they might lose custody of the child they fought so hard to keep."

(Note that unsupervised is different from surveillance. It means that Kerry that care for the baby within the unit and care for Ben, freely, whilst being observed. This is different from not being able to walk about with him, for instance, without another person standing right beside her. They will be observed, 24/7, but Kerry will be free to care for Ben properly.)

EDIT: Qualified IBCLC will see Ben and Kerry later on today. Many thanks to the wonderful IBCLCs in Ireland, who will be working together to ensure Kerry has the support she wants.

Donations to help support Ben & Kerry's lactation needs, can be sent directly to the Nursing Matters bank account. Details in a moment. Money to helps the charities and societies working to support Mark & Kerry and Ben can also be given. Please note that Mark thanks everyone for their suggested donations in helping his travel costs to visits Ben & Kerry, but respectively declines. As the father, he feels it is his responsibility to ensure he pays his own way... to visit his son. He will however accepts donations that support the infrastructure around them, and will pass monies on to the the various agencies and charities.

Nursing Matters banks at Santander, formally Abbey National.

Nursing Matters Sort Code: 09 01 27 Account Number: 24202431

IBAN: GB26 ABBY 0901 2724 2024 31

Cheques etc made payable to Nursing Matters to:

3 Barnsite Close, Rustington, LITTLEHAMPTON, BN16 3QH (West Sussex, England, UK)

Mother Song Sings a Song of Hope

2010-01-25T11:43:00.000-08:00

In response to Elisha's mother's gift to Ben, yesterday, another mother helped by Nursing Matters wants to sing a song of hope... for Ben, Kerry and Mark.

Mother S, or Mother Song, is the mother of Toddler A.

Toddler A was Mother Song's second child. Mother Song was an excellent mother. She was a breastfeeding supporter and attended mothering meetings to support other mothers. She excelled at mothering: so much so, Mother Song was employed by the local Council, to care for disabled children in order for their parents to have a respite break. Such was Mother Song's professional esteem, the council moved her family into a purpose built home - from which she could extend her professional care. It was equipped with all the facilities required, to care for the most severely disabled children. Eight months after moving into this local council approved and supplied home... a home designed for disabled children to be cared for properly... Mother Song went to the toilet. Mothers do.

Whilst she was on the loo, she heard the most piercing, mind shattering scream she could ever imagine to hear, from her precious daughter - Toddler A. Rushing out of the toilet, she found that Toddler A, whom she'd left perfectly happy in the living room, had wandered under the stairs. Toddler A had squirmed behind an ottoman. She'd then appeared to have fallen sideways, down into the gap.

She was screaming in incredible pain.

Mother Song discovered she had a terrible burn across both her chin, and her hand. Mother Song did not hesitate. With Toddler A still screaming, she dialled 999 and called an ambulance. They were taken to hospital, and Toddler A's burns were dressed. They were sent home, and arrangements for the dressings to be changed regularly, were made.

At home, it was discovered that the pipe under the stairs, was both for carrying boiling hot water to the radiator and was unlagged. The council were apologetic, but it was only sealed over after the family subsequently moved house.

Mother Song carried on mothering her little girl, and prayed the healing would be such, that the discussions of plastic surgery for the scars, were premature.

5 days later, when attending at the local hospital to have the dressings changed, the nurse, who has not been involved earlier, changed the dressing. The hand burn was infected, and required anti-biotics. The nurse looked perplexed, and declared she had never seen such a strange injury. The nurse said she wanted the child protection doctor to see the burns. Mother Song made a complaint, there and then.

She was asked to take Toddler A to the hospital, to see a paediatrician. Dr Christopher Hobbs examined the five day old burn, which was infected. He declared it a deliberate injury: NAI, non accidental injury.

Mother Song was told she had branded her own daughter, 15 months old.

Social workers were called, and she was asked to stay at the hospital overnight with her daughter. It would be 'voluntary'. She agreed without hesitation. She trusted the people around her.

Over the next couple of days, the shock of what was happening made it hard for Mother Song. She had two children, a home designed for her to give care to other children, and an impeccable record of caring for others for over a decade.

People believed she had burnt her own child.

She stayed at the hospital whilst it was sorted. She was never to be left alone with the children. Neither child would be allowed home with her. They would go to their grandparents, with Mother Song and her husband, but.... but... Mother Song and the children's father, were to be forbidden from seeing their children overnight. From 8pm, to 8am, they were to go live elsewhere, and not with their children.

Toddler A was breastfed. Toddler A bed shared. Toddler A had responded to the burns, by nursing more and more and more, especially at night. Toddler A used nursing, to soothe her pain and calm her fears. She used her mother' milk to heal her burns. How could it be fair to Toddler A, that her Mum was to be taken from her during the night-time, when she could have her during the day?

Mother Song asked for, and received, a Toddler Advocacy Statement. I phoned Leeds Social Services, and explained we were advocating for Toddler A in the care arrangements. I had, in fact, a free and frank exchange of views with the head of Child Services at Leeds, who uttered the immortal words "If you can't trust Social Services to protect breastfeeding, who can you trust!" I was a little forthright in my views. I my defense, I had Elisha in my mind. We hadn't fought and screamed and protested about Elisha at the beginning... we'd trusted Social Services.

Mother Song gave her social work team the advocacy statement, detailed here below. They debated, and worked through all the issues with Toddler A. They looked at Toddler A as a real child, and made judgements about her, and not a tick box in a form. They made judgments on what they had in front of them, and how Mother Song had acted and cared for her children. They looked, they listened, they heard.

Mother Song was allowed to reside overnight in the grandparents' home. She was never to be left alone with either of her children. She was never allowed to the leave the home with children without escort. Toddler A was to sleep in a separate cot, and not bed share. Mother Song agreed to this readily, she felt it entirely appropriate in the circumstances.

Toddler A would not be deprived of her mother's breast.

Social Services had done the work, and made care arrangements that would protect Toddler A, whilst ensuring she was as safe, and as nurtured and nourished, as possible.

I broke down and cried, when they phoned to let me know. A lot of us cried a lot of tears, for Toddler A and Mother Song.

The chasm opened under the family's feet. The looming threat of the investigation - police came and photographed 'the crime scene' and squeezed under the stairs - and the crushing weight of the power of one person - the Child Protection Paediatrician, threatened to strangle them. Mother Song discovered that the opinion of one man, or woman, can carry the weight of the entire social care system. Dr Hobbs had taken one look at the burns, almost a week after the event, when they were infected, and declared them deliberate. Therefore, they were.

That Dr Hobbs was not an expert in burns, was not the issue. He had spoken: the children were on the pathway to the Family Courts.

There were no opposing voices. The system, which looks as if it has opposing voices on paper, had none. A children's advocate was appointed. Mother Song hoped this would help. The children's advocate read the reports of Dr Hobbs, and agreed. The lead social worker, who had the power to challenge Dr Hobbs, read his reports, and agreed. Everyone read the same bits of paper. Everyone chanted from the same hymn sheet.

The family moved down, inch by inch, to oblivion.

Mother Song was shocked by it all. It took about ten days, for that shock to wear off. She had been waking in a confused and anxious state, and wondering what had happened, how had it come to this, so quickly, so completely? She was grateful for the social work team caring for her family. She knew they had acted well, and she knew they had the interests of the children as their only focus. But she watched as The System took over, and began to crush the hope that this nightmare was going to be over any time soon.

About ten days in, she woke up and found a mother bear in her soul, and she came out fighting. On day 1 she had actively sought a lawyer who would fight for her children: she determined that her this lawyer would not sit back, and comply, comply, comply the children away. With the spectre of Elisha in my eyes and ears, I advised Mother Song to fight fight fight fight. Never let a statement she disagreed with to pass without mention. Never shout, never argue, never be angry. But be adamant for what she believed to be right, and true. She fought. And fought. And fought. We fought with her, on the edges.

The 'usual suspects' on breastfeeding and children involved in the care system, started to emerge.

Dr Hobbs declared that Toddler A was underweight, and cited this in the paperwork as evidence of neglect. He demanded regular weighings, and the threat of removal of Mother Song from her children if weight did not go on, hung in the air. We contacted the World Health Organisation and sent them Toddler A's weight charts. We then took their answers, and prepared an advocacy statement on Toddler A's weight.

The weight 'issue' disappeared from the paperwork.

Mother Song was watched in her interaction with her children. Other socials workers and health professionals watched and noted and made reports. It was noted that when Toddler A was distressed, Mother Song would offer her the breast for comfort.

This was not appropriate. You do not mother a child who can walk, at the breast. This was evidence of bad mothering.

Mother Song took every scrap of evidence presented against her breastfeeding, to her lawyer, and instructed her to fight. The lawyer went into court, and faced out The System, and told them that in the UK, you could not criticise a mother for breastfeeding. The just released NICE guidelines were quoted: it was the duty of all health professionals to support breastfeeding for as long as the mother and child were happy. The System backed off. A court order protecting the breastfeeding was written.

This was a small section of the fight. The main fight was on the burns, and how Toddler A came to fall upon the unlagged pipes. Mother Song contacted burns experts all over the world. She garnered evidence from them, on the nature and type of Toddler's A burns.

All this going on, whilst living in her in-law's home, and then her own mother's home, and never being allowed to be alone with either of her children. Her income gone, their own home abandoned.

Mother Song won. Dr Christopher Hobbs's assertion that the burns were deliberate, were thrown out. The family were cleared.

Toddler A's burns healed, with no scarring. No plastic surgery required. And yes, a lot of breast milk was washed over those terrible burns. Just as a lot of breastmilk was suckled down by an injured child, in need of her mother's breast.

It took months before it was all settled. Even after they were cleared, they had to wait for the police investigation to process through, before they could go on holiday and try and put the nightmares, and fears, behind them. Another little girl joined the family last year. Three daughters, to hold and love and laugh with. Three daughters to learn how to sing their mother's song.

There are a few moments that stick with Mother Song. The moment she had to say in court "I was having a poo, m'lord, and when I heard the scream, I wiped myself and ran." The moment she reheard the 999 phone call in court, with her darling daughter's scream forever frozen in time. The feelings inside, when she googled Dr Christopher Hobbs and the record of his involvement in supporting the Cleveland paediatricians flashed in front of her eyes. The history of miscarriages of child justice, stemming from his unerring ability to see a child once, and know they were being abused. Turning up to the police station to be charged with suspicion of harming her own daughter.

There are other moments, of course, that will never fade. How her friends and community rallied, and believed in her. How the initial social workers at Leeds conducted themselves impeccably, and supported her daughter in her breastfeeding. How many people helped, supported and worked for them.

In that free and frank exchange of views I had with the head of Leeds Child Services, I said that we, Nursing Matters, would praise them to the skies if they did the right thing. She replied they'd do what was right, and that was all that had to be said. I've never been able to praise them, and thank them. Mother Song was still too wounded, too unsure. The scars too deep, as yet unhealed fully.

But when she read of Elisha's story yesterday, in support of Ben, she contacted me and said "Tell them our story, they need to know there is hope."

There is hope Ben. There is hope, Kerry and Mark. Social Workers do act properly and correctly - they do look at the child, and not the paperwork. Mother Song needs you to know that. We all need to believe that. There is right in the world, and sometimes... sometimes... the right decision is made, no matter how bleak it looks.

Here's hoping your own song, will end so well.

----

We are advocating on behalf of XXXXX, a breastfeeding infant. We would like to bring to your attention several pertinent points about XX, and her specific needs. These facts need to be taken into consideration when you discuss care arrangements for XXX during this investigation: specifically, the proposal to enforce an abrupt cessation of night feeding upon XXXX, by prohibiting her access to her mother’s breast between 8pm and 8am.

XXX is a bed sharing, night time breastfeeding infant. She feeds anywhere between 5 and 7 times a night. This represents normal parenting practice with a breastfeeding infant. It is both the cultural norm, globally, and medically researched and evidenced as excellent parenting practice.

An abrupt cessation of night time feeding will adversely affect the health and well being of XXXX, and her mother in the following ways.

*XXXX will become distressed and emotionally distraught at the sudden weaning. She will probably lose weight, as she will have lost much of her calorific intake, as night feeding is higher in fats than day time feeding. Her distress may become so great, she might refuse the breast completely. This premature weaning will raise her risks of significant illness later in life, including a higher probability of heart disease and diabetes.

*Her mother will suffer engorgement from the abrupt weaning. If not given appropriate support, this could lead to swelling and infection, and require anti-biotic treatment. Her milk supply will be adversely affected by the lack of night time feeds, and this may result in the loss of the breastfeeding relationship.

Night time breastfeeding supports XXXX’s health and well being by:

giving her excellent nutrition, important when already fighting an infection

supports her immune system, important in helping her heal her burns

comforts and soothes her pain and distress, she is in pain and distress from the burns

protects her mother’s milk supply, particularly when she is distressed herself

We urge you to consider XXXXX’s night time breastfeeding needs as you consider how to support her during this investigation. Her mother has already offered to reside with XXXX in any residential unit you might suggest. Given that enforced and abrupt night time weaning will adversely affect XXXX, and may have life enduring health consequences for her, we advise extreme caution in relation to any proposal to deny her breastfeeding rights.

Evidence and experts

We’ve enclosed full supporting material on all the statements made here, about XXXX’s breastfeeding needs. Many world renowned experts have hurried to XXXX’s defence, and their supporting letters are copied here. Lactation experts such as Dr Jack Newman, Pamela Morrison, and Karleen Gribble, have all written in medical support of XXXX’s needs, with references. Pamela Morrison and Dr Newman are also undertaking an exhaustive study of XXXXX’s weight records from birth, to see if evidence of a clinical problem can be found. This will also allow us to clearly identify any weight loss from enforced weaning, and allow that to be excluded from any investigation of her health since statutory agencies became involved.

All of these experts are happy to be contacted by the statutory agencies, free of charge, in order to give further appropriate medical advice.

If you wish to discuss the risks to XXXX’s health with a breastfeeding expert who is neither part of our organization, nor knows the family, and is local to you, please phone XXXX. She is a breastfeeding counsellor and trainer with the NCT in XXXX.

The European Court of Human Rights’ imperative that breastfeeding infants not be denied the breast is recognized within the English court system:

"Per curiam. If the state, in the guise of a local authority, seeks to remove a baby from his parents at a time when its case against the parents has not yet even been established, then the very least the state can do is to make generous arrangements for contact, those arrangements being driven by the needs of the family and not stunted by lack of resources. Typically, if this is what the parents want, one will be looking to contact most days of the week and for lengthy periods. Local authorities also had to be sensitive to the wishes of a mother who wants to breast-feed, and should make suitable arrangements to enable her to do so, and not merely to bottle-feed expressed breast milk. Nothing less would meet the imperative demands of the European Convention on Human Rights."...
In the matter of unborn baby M; R (on the application of X and another) v Gloucestershire County Council. Citation: BLD 160403280; [2003] EWHC 850 (Admin). Hearing Date: 15 April 2003 Court: Administrative Court. Judge: Munby J. Abstract. Published Date 16/04/2003

If you require any further clarification, or medical evidence from us, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Addendum

Should you decide to enforce night weaning upon XXXX, we advise you that her mother will immediately require proper lactation support. She will need access to a hospital grade breast pump, at night, to deal with her engorgement and maintain her supply. The expressed milk will need to be stored and transported to XXXX under appropriate storage conditions. We have collected the appropriate information for you, on pump hire suppliers and costs, and couriers capable of cold storage delivery in the XXXXX area.

---

We are advocating on behalf of XXXX, a breastfeeding infant. We have been informed that XXXX’s growth has been called into question, specifically her weight gain profile and status. Therefore, we commissioned an independent and well qualified and experienced expert in the field, to conduct as assessment of XXXX’s official NHS weight gain records since birth. Her comprehensive results and analysis are in the next section of this statement.

The expert has stated that there is no indication of any problem in XXXX’s weight chart.

Understanding how to interpret weight gain charts is a complex business. Therefore, for the advantage of the layman, we have also included here a brief summary of how to use weight gain charts. Our expert used the internationally recognized and globally accepted standard of growth, the World Health Organisation’s Child Growth Standards.

The growth standards encompass a weight to height graph, with the normal bell curve of small growth children from smaller than average growth parents, through average growth ranges, to larger growth ranges from larger than average parents. The important factor is not which percentile (where you lie as a reference to rest of the normally growing population) but the individual pattern of growth, the ‘trajectory’:

"The assessment of growth implies looking not at a single measurement point but at the overall trajectory of growth to determine whether a child is tracking along the curve or is crossing centiles towards the lower centiles. Infants born with low birthweight will be expected to track along the lower centiles of the WHO standard since exclusive breastfeeding does not alter the fact that they were small for age in the first place. By looking at a single point, a baby in this category will indeed be considered low weight-for-age; but before deciding that exclusive breastfeeding is inadequate, most health professionals will consider the baby’s birthweight, growth trend, any problems with lactation, and infections that might explain the apparent growth failure." “WHO Child Growth Standards” Dr Mercedes de Onis & Dr Adelheid Onyango, Co-ordinators, WHO Child Growth Standards Project, Geneva, published, The Lancet, January 19^th, 2008

Therefore, there is no causality between being on a low numbered percentile, and this being an indicator of faltering or problematic growth. An infant that tracks through from the 10^th percentile from birth, is as healthy and robust as an infant in the 90^th percentile that is tracking equally smoothly.

In order to make this more clear to the layman, in terms of XXXX’s status as a normally breastfeeding toddler on an appropriate diet of offered complementary solids, we contacted Dr Mercedes de Onis, at the World Health Organization, and explained that a perfectly tracking infant on the 15^th percentile (XXXXX) was being flagged up as having problematic weight growth on the basis of the sort of ‘single point’ assessment the above quote flags up. Her co-worker, Dr Adelheid Onyango, responded on XXXXX’s behalf:

“The internationally accepted cut-off for underweight (by a single-point evaluation) is

equivalent to the 3rd centile.   Therefore, a child whose growth is tracking on the 15th

centile cannot be considered to be underweight.”

Dr Adelheid Onyango, Coordinator, Growth Assessment and Surveillance, 
Nutrition for Health and Development (NHD), World Health Organization, 
CH-1211, GENEVA 27, Switzerland, deonism@who.int 
(telephone contact via Family & Community Health, GENEVA, + 041 791 2888)

Therefore, as XXXX’s advocates, we have to inform you that using all current, evidence based medically researched data and theory, no suitably qualified expert can find any indication of a problem with XXXX’s weight gain and pattern of growth, from either a long term trajectory analysis or a single point evaluation.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if we can help in any other way. Both Pamela Morrison (IBCLC) and Dr Onyango are happy to comment further if required.

Morgan Gallagher

Appended:

** XXX’s Weight Chart Assessment (Pamela Morrison, IBCLC)

** Handy ‘understanding weight and babies’ info sheet (Dianne Weissinger, IBCLC

In Ben's Name... love from Elisha

2010-01-24T11:02:00.000-08:00

Mother and Child - Reshma Azmi

I'm crying as I write this. I hope it doesn't mean there are too many typos. I'll correct them as I edit over the next day or so.

In 2007, I asked for help for Baby E. Baby Elisha, as it happens. Elisha was 5 months old, when she was taken from her mother's arms, literally, in the street, by Essex Social Services. Her mother, Rachael, who was a teenager, had exclusively breastfed her from birth, and safely co-slept with her. Rachael was a stroppy teenager - and wasn't very good at being told what to do by anyone. Whilst she was a loving, caring and supportive mother, utterly dedicated to her daughter, she had a fraught relationship with her own mother. Rachael had gone to live in a supported mother and baby unit, and lived there, with Elisha. She didn't get on well with many of the other teenage Mums who were in the unit, many of whom thought she was weird when she breastfed, and didn't start solids early, and slept with the baby in the moses basket beside her. Maliciously, and without any evidence, one of the other teenage Mums told the Health Visitor that Rachael was taking drugs.

One Monday, Rachael attended a hearing that she'd been told she had to go to. No one had told the family why. She went on her own, and the family had no idea it was a 'serious' meeting. Without any warning whatsoever, and without legal representation, Rachael emerged from the hearing, with Elisha now on the 'at risk' register. The family rallied round, and in the middle of the shocked disbelief, it was arranged that Elisha and Rachael should stay with Rachael's mother - Elisha's grandmother.

On the Friday, Rachael and her Mum had an argument, and Rachael stormed off out, with Elisha. Rachael was going to go round to her grandmother, Elisha's great grandmother, and calm down. She first went to a friend's, to moan about how her Mum didn't understand her.

Unbeknowst to Rachael, and in an moment of worry that the grandmother will carry with her for the rest of her life, Rachael's Mum phoned Essex Social Serives, and asked for support. She wanted to chat to someone, and have someone advise her on how to manage the weekend, with Rachael being so unhappy at having to stay there.

Essex Social Services phoned the police and initiated a search for a mother who had stolen her own child.

Social workers spotted Elisha in the arms of one of Rachael's friends, in the street. Rachael, on the way to her own Gran's for tea and a chat, had nipped into the loo in the house of another friend, as they passed. The social worker tried to pull Elisha from the hands of the girl holding her. Rachael emerged to find her friend, hysterical and distraught, arguing with complete strangers trying to take the baby.

Elisha was screaming her head off.

Rachael, whilst trying to calm Elisha, breastfed her. In later reports, the social worker claimed this was evidence that she was not a fit mother, as it was inappropriate behaviour to breastfeed in the street.

In the middle of all the screaming and crying, the social worker told Rachael the baby was only going to be taken for the weekend, in order to let Rachael calm down. Finally, the social worker toook Elisha from her mother's arms, put her in a car, and drove off.

Such was Rachael's shock, she and the rest of the family attended the local police station a few hours later, to report that Elisha had been kidnapped. The police explained that social services could do what they wanted.

Elisha's grandmother, distraught and in shock, desperately tried to get through to social services - Elisha was exclusively breastfed. She'd never had a bottle, would they monitor this properly? The family were terrified Elisha would end up dehydrated and distressed, and in hospital. Meanwhile, Rachael was becoming engorged and in pain herself, so they also desperately arranged a pump and lactation support. I was put in touch with them on the Sunday, and they sent me all the court papers, there and then.

Elisha was not returned.

The months passed... and with Rachael being asked not to breastfeed in access meetings, with Rachael being criticised for not having a high chair, as this was evidence she was not in tune with her baby's developmental needs, with Rachael's insistence on breastfeeding Elisha during access meetings being cited as evidence she was not a responsible mother... Elisha moved further and further towards permanent adoption.

Rachael was forced to attend parenting classes, where she was instructed on how to strap her baby into a high chair and force feed it solids. Or rather, how to strap a doll into the high chair, as she wasn't allowed to attend with Elisha. Where she had to prove she knew how to parent according to the social services book and had to buy equipment they deemed crucial, even 'tho it went against her every instinct as an attached, baby wearing, co-sleeping and baby led weaning, mother. Before the removal, in the accommodation she and Elisha had had in the mother baby unit, Rachael had been told that it was not good enough that she had no bottle steriliser, no bottles, or baby formula, or a crib in the room. These 'lacks' were evidence that Rachael was not a good mother.

Finally, when the paperwork emerged with active criticism of the breastfeeding in writing, and at the request of the family, I asked for your support. Mor Dioum of the Victoria Climbie Foundation, also took on Essex on behalf of the family, attending the meetings being held.

Elisha was returned to her family, but not her mother. Breastfeeding had been severed. Elisha had carried on for months, in the access meetings, but, finally, the trauma was too great, and she refused to breastfeed. Rachael was devastated, feeling she had lost so much with her precious, gorgeous, and beautiful first born.

Now, over two years later... Elisha is back with her Mum. Her and her new baby sister, who had automatically been put on the at risk register the moment she was born, are free from social services and live happy lives. The family could not be more grateful, to all of you who phoned, faxed and emailed Essex, and demanded to know why breastfeeding was being used as evidence of lack of mothering.

There never was a single scrap of evidence that Elisha had either been harmed, or that Rachael was in any way involved in drugs. Throughout it all, Rachael refused point blank into being bullied into drug testing. Even this, was used as evidence she was unfit to mother her own child. Elisha has always been a happy and completely healthy child: there was never any evidence of anything, other than the malicious gossip of one teenager, to a third party. And that a teenager left her own mother's house, to walk to her grandmother's, to have a cup of tea with her, after having an argument with her Mum. Elisha was removed in less than an hour of Rachael going out for a walk. She had signed a written agreement that she would sleep overnight with her mother... well, there had been no overnight for her not to sleep in her Mum's house. The baby was gone before night fell.

The family have knitted back their lives. Rachael has found her life partner and had another child, Elisha's sister. Elisha's sister breastfed until she self-weaned, never had a bottle, never had a dummy. Only recently, have they managed to finally free Elisha of the dummy habit forced upon her by the foster carer.

They've also been pursuing formal complaints against Essex Social Services. As part of this, we at Nursing Matters prepared a complaint advocacy statement, on Elisha' s behalf, to further the complaint against Essex.

But, as this complaint has still to be even heard properly, we'd not publicised the case. It was more important, to keep a low profile, and pursue Essex for their actions.

This changed this weekend. Rachael and her mother, Juliet, are in such agonies... for Kerry, Mark and Ben. This weekend, hearing the reports of how Ben was taken from his mother's arms, as he'd been breastfeeding... the pain they are feeling is just immense. The memories are sharp and tearing.

But they want to help. Above all, they want to help. Therefore, in Elisha's name... they are releasing the advocacy complaint. It's below. It's a gift from Elisha, to Ben. From Rachael, to Kerry. She knows it will hurt to read, but also knows that it needs to be read.

Be warned. It is not good reading. We took the careful notes made by the foster carer in charge of Elisha, and wove them into the complaint on her behalf. It contains details of Elisha's stress, when being force fed by bottle. It describes her distress. It also mentions perhaps the most damning element of all, in how Essex failed to care for Elisha: it reveals that Essex interpreted Elisha's distress as withdrawal from drugs, given via her mother's milk. They noted the distress. They noted the baby's refusal to feed from the bottle. They hadn't a clue how to interpret that distress. No preparation had been made at all, for Elisha being breastfed. In fact, they simply told the foster mother, if she won't feed, take her to Accident & Emergency. That was their 'care plan' - get her to hospital and have her put on an IV drip if she starts to dehydrate.

This is a huge thing for this famly to do. Damnit, I'm crying again. Their pain, over the past two years, and Elisha's pain on being removed from her mother's breast... such pain is not for public consumption.

But it is for public notice, if it will prevent another baby going through this. If it helps get Ben back to his mother's breast, in the next few days. If it helps get proper guidelines in place, so that all babies taken from the breast, have the support they need to continue breastfeeding until the case against their mothers is clear: no baby should wither from the lack of their mother's breast until is is _proven_ that they will come to harm. Mother and baby units exist - they should be used first and foremost. Other family members can always be in attendance - they should be empowered. Social services have to stop being afraid of breastfeeding. Afraid there is something they cannot control. Mothers will submit to 24 hours observation, to keep their babies safe: the option has to be made available until harm is proven.

Innocent, until proven guilty.

Dear Ben... have this, in case it helps... much love, from Elisha. XXX

----

Nursing Matters advocates on behalf of breastfeeding babies, by presenting evidence based medical information and informed medical opinion based on the biological needs of babies and infants. As an organization, we seek to support the baby’s own biological imperatives and to speak for the baby alone, in any disagreement or involvement of the mother, with statutory services. We speak for the baby.

Nursing Matters was contacted by the family, within 48 hours of Elisha’s removal on Friday 22 June, 2007, and have therefore been documenting on her care throughout her entire time away from her mother. We advised the family of lactation care for Elisha’s mother, as well as instigated a global alert on the need to protect breastfeeding when Essex Social Services sought to criticise a mother for breastfeeding her baby in access meetings. And to cite breastfeeding as evidence she did not understand her own baby’s needs. We will continue to work with statutory agencies, the international medical and lactation community and all relevant political structures, to ensure the human rights and biological needs of normally fed babies are not ignored by statutory agencies.

Based on the care records and actions of Essex Social Services in their care of Elisha during her removal, we would therefore add our voice in complaint, in Elisha’s name, for the care she received by Essex Social Services on her removal.

Please note, every quote made in this document by a health care professional with lactation qualification, is made directly about Elisha, and is made as a result of reading the notes in her case, written by the foster carer and social workers. They are not generic. They are in response to Essex Social Services own records.

Therefore, in Elisha’s name, we support the formal complaint made by the family, that Elisha’s needs and rights as a breastfeeding baby were not accounted for, or supported appropriately, by Essex Social Services. Further, that her care actively destroyed her breastfeeding relationship with her mother.

“What is striking in the document you have provided for comment is not that Baby Essex’s breastfeeding relationship was neither considered nor supported but that it was actively undermined and, eventually, extinguished in the face of decades of evidence and public health statements about the importance of breastfeeding to the health and well being of infants.” Nina Berry, University of Wollongong, former Breastfeeding support field worker for Save The Children

In the first instance, Elisha had a right to her mother’s breast, a right which was denied her. The European Court of Human Rights has recognized this dynamic– the right of the child to the breast as long as the mother wishes it, as a basic Human Right, and this is recognised in the English courts:

"Local authorities also had to be sensitive to the wishes of a mother who wants to breastfeed, and should make suitable arrangements to enable her to do so, and not merely to bottle-feed expressed breast milk. Nothing less would meet the imperative demands of the European Convention on Human Rights."...In the matter of unborn baby M; R (on the application of X and another) v Gloucestershire County Council. Citation: BLD 160403280; [2003] EWHC 850 (Admin). Hearing Date: 15 April 2003 Court: Administrative Court. Judge: Munby J. Abstract. Published Date 16/04/2003

At no point were Essex Social Services sensitive to this need. We are aware that the family requested expressed milk form her mother, was sent to Elisha, and Essex Social Services did nothing to arrange, support or facilitate this. Elisha’s access to her mother’s breast appeared not to have been part of the paperwork we have seen, or part of their planning at all, as a facet of Elisha’s care. This is completely unacceptable and Elisha suffered for the lack of this planning:

“Any milk expressed by the mother should be given to the baby as soon as possible. There is no justification for discarding it or withholding it from the baby, unless the baby has some medical condition requiring some other type feeding. Babies are put at health risks from formula feeding, and any breastmilk feeding reduces those risks.” Alison Blenkinsop, IBCLC

We wish to highlight that at the time of the international appeal to Essex Social Services, about their procedures and criteria for care of a breastfed infant, the service repeatedly stated it was following National Guidelines for the care of a breastfed infant. And yet, there is no evidence of this in the paperwork to and from the foster carer, and practically no mention made of it. Breastfeeding is not a category included in the standard form for transferring breastfeeding babies to the foster carer, and no checks are evident on how the breastfeeding is supported. There is no advice or support plan at all, on how to support the breastfeeding.

Nursing Matters therefore has to request that the guidelines Essex Social Services have stated they were adhering to in Elisha’s care, be made public by Essex Social Services, in order for appropriate assessment to be made on their being fit for purpose. Nursing Matters has requested a copy of statutory guidance for supporting breastfeeding babies during removal by social services, from the Department of Children, Schools and Families, and have been informed that there is no current guidance available from them, as they are still being developed. In light of this, we request , again, that Essex Social Services reveal the guidelines they have stated they worked with at the time.

In addition to the complaint that Essex Social Services did not facilitate Elisha’s right to her mother’s breast during the removal, we would also like to highlight the problems that arose as a result in the deficiency of her care at the foster home in the first few days. We would suggest that Elisha’s right to continue her breastfeeding relationship with her mother, was actively undermined by the standard of care she received.

This complaint refers only to the description of care that is detailed by the records of Essex Social Services, and quotes the notes made by the foster carer. For the purposes of clarity, we will distill out the main areas of complaint, on Elisha’s behalf.

1) Primarily, as outline above, the lack of support for Elisha’s right to the breast, as detailed above.

2) The complete lack of preparation of either the removing social worker, or the foster carer, on the most appropriate methods of feeding and comforting an exclusively breastfed baby. Attempts were made by a social worker to bottle feed Elisha within hours of her removal, and no understanding of the harm this could do, is evident in any of the interactions. There is no mention of the removing social worker or the foster carer being aware that cup feeding was the most appropriate method of feeding for Elisha. In fact, there are several distressing descriptions of how Elisha refused the bottle teat completely, and displayed physical and emotional distress on being forced to engage with the bottle. As she had so completely refused the bottle teat at first attempt, and was already under threat of dehydration when she arrived at the foster carer, the foster carer was alerted that syringe feeding should be used and if all else fails, have Elisha admitted to A&E. We find this lack of basic understanding of the feeding needs of a normally fed infant bordering on professional negligence and something that needs to be addressed within Essex Social Services, as a service provider, with the utmost urgency.

Negligence is a powerful term, and should only be used when completely appropriate. We would suggest that the forcing of a bottle teat and syringes into Elisha’s mouth, in conjunction with the introduction of a dummy, is strong evidence of negligence in the matter of the supporting of Elisha’s breastfeeding:

“There is no medical reason for a breastfed baby to ever receive a dummy. A five month old infant who had never had a dummy before would not be able to use a dummy for comfort-sucking, and no doubt would have been extremely distressed by not being able to receive either nutritive or non-nutritive sucking at the breast.” Pamela Morrison, IBCLC, in response to Elisha’s notes from her foster carer.

It is also of note that no permission from the mother had been given, for the use of either a bottle and teat, or a dummy, in Elisha’s care. We would ask… why was a dummy forced into Elisha’s mouth, and repeatedly returned to her mouth, in order to teach her to use it?

3) Lack of understanding of her emotional and physical distress, in particular, repeat attempts being made to force bottle feeding on her without due attention being paid to her breastfeeding status.

“Feeding from a teat or sucking on a dummy is not a physiological norm. A fully breastfed baby may not be able to feed in any other way. Abrupt cessation of breastfeeding puts a baby at risk, both physically from difficulty in taking milk another way, and psychologically from the loss of comfort, sucking, and familiar sensations.” Alison Blenkinsop, IBCLC

Breastfed babies are in control of their own feeding, and have never experienced having anything forced into their mouths, such as a syringe, bottle teat or dummy, and of being forced to swallow. Despite her obvious signs of distress:

“I did not know when Mum had last fed her and the family care worker said they had tried to feed her by bottle and she took half an ounce. Tried SMA Gold via a bottle, but (baby) unable to take this also unable to suck a dummy.”

““Fed her via syringe, a slow job but she managed 3oz. Very restless and fidgety, thrashing about a lot. Cries and fights when nursed in arms, more relaxed when put on shoulder.”

“Woke at 12.30am, offered her a bottle, held her in my arms and made eye contact, and sang – she seemed to relax a little and she took 4oz from a bottle. Woke at 4.45 am, crying and thrashed about. Not interested in feeding and I nursed her on my shoulder, and she slept.”

… Elisha is repeatedly subjected to being held in the cradle position, a bottle feeding position, and forced to accept either a syringe, a bottle teat, or a dummy into her mouth. The carer notes Elisha’s distressed behavior, but is seemingly unaware that it is the feeding methods, and the dummy use, that is causing much of it.

“Thrashing about and crying are normal behaviours of an infant in distress - particularly exhibited by a baby who cannot feed, eg a hungry newborn baby who cannot attach to the breast, or an older baby who is being "fed" for the first time by a stranger with an unusual and unknown hard silicone teat, instead of the expected feeding and warmth of the soft and familiar mother's breast.” Pamela Morrison, IBCLC.

“This behaviour is normal in a healthy, fully breastfed baby. Difficulty in taking feeds any other way is normal. This baby is demonstrating that difficulty. Bottle/syringe feeding requires different actions from breastfeeding. A fully breastfed baby’s co-ordination would be affected by enforcing another feeding method, which could put her at risk of choking and aspiration, and is likely to be very distressing.” Alison Blenkinsop, IBCLC

“The description provided of Baby Essex’s behaviour when first faced with a bottle offered by a stranger is completely congruent with the behaviour of other exclusively breastfed babies I have worked with. Forcing a teat into a baby’s mouth is often associated with significant distress evidenced by the kind of thrashing behaviour described by Baby Essex’s carer. It is not uncommon for an exclusively breastfed baby to refuse bottles and many mothers seek my help with this as they consider returning to work. These babies commonly arch their backs, turn their heads from side to side to avoid the bottle and do so with considered determination. They do not recognise bottles as either a source of food or comfort and it often takes many weeks of quiet persistence to familiarise a baby with a bottle.

This phenomenon has been observed, documented and described by Elsie Mobbs (Mobbs 2007 ). Her work notes that ‘infants exhibit great emotional distress when their fixated sucking comfort object is not available … replacement fixated sucking objects are at first rejected and there is great emotional distress before a switch is achieved’. In the case of an infant who has only ever been fed and comforted at her mother’s breast, her mother is her ‘fixated comfort sucking object’. Therefore Baby Essex’s behaviour could well be explained, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, simply by the fact that she had been deprived of her mother.” Nina Berry, University of Wollongong

Our understanding from the family, is that Elisha’s distress, as so carefully recorded by the foster carer, has been linked to her mother’s care of her prior to the removal. If this is indeed the case, and records emerge to prove this, we should advise Essex Social Services that several international professionals, such as Elsie Mobbs, whose academic work is referred to above, are happy to provide expert witness on Elisha’s behalf, based on the records of the foster carer. The lactation community as a whole, are anxious that clear, evidence based scientific and medical research, is applied thoroughly to understanding the distress caused to Elisha by forcing hard objects into her mouth, at a time when she had been removed from her mother’s breast. And suggestion that this is a minor matter, that did not impact on Elisha’s wellbeing dramatically, will be met with a sustained, professional, response.

4) The matter of asking Elisha’s mother to restrict her breastfeeding during what little access Elisha had to her breast. We will not elaborate on this here, as it is an area that has already generated a huge response to Essex Social Services, and the clear evidence of the requests to her mother for her to refuse Elisha’s request to be fed, and subsequent statements that a mother’s desire to meet her daughter’s clearly expressed need for the breast is evidence of her inability to mother her baby… are already a matter of public record. We can revisit it in detail if required. Just to note, that this complaint on Elisha’s behalf, also includes this vital area, and Nursing Matters would be expecting this area to be fully covered in the complaint process finally underway.

We are, of course, available for further comment and evidence based response, at any point. Nursing Matters will seek to uphold Elisha’s breastfeeding rights in the process of this complaint, in its entirety.

Dear Fife Social Services...

2010-01-22T09:51:00.000-08:00

Nursing Matters

..advocating for breastfeeding babies.. everywhere

From: Morgan Gallagher, chairperson

www.nursingmatters.org.uk

January 22^nd, 2010

To: Stephen Moore, Executive Director, Social Work, Fife Social Work Department, Rothesay House, Rothesay Place, Glenrothes, KY7 5PQ Tel: 08451 555555 ext. 444112 | Fax: 01592 583253 stephen.moore@fife.gov.uk

cc: Nicola Sturgeon, Secretary for Health and Wellbeing, St. Andrew’s House, Regent Road, Edinburgh EH1 3DG +44 (0)131 556 8400. FAX: 0131 348 5949 scottish.ministers@scotland.gsi.gov.uk Nicola.Sturgeon.msp@scottish.parliament.uk

cc: Mike Brady, Baby Milk Action, 34 Trumpington Street, Cambridge, CB2 1QY, UK. From the UK phone: 01223 464420 From outside the UK phone +44 1223 464420 Email: info@babymilkaction.org

Dear Mr Moore,

I’m writing as chair of an NGO, to express our utmost concerns over the handling of the removal of Ben Robertson, from his mother’s breast, this past weekend, under the direction of your Social Work department.

Breastfeeding, as you will know, is a human right. We are concerned that Ben Robertson’s Human Rights are being infringed by the actions of your social work department.

As we understand it, Ben was removed from his mother’s breast on day 4 of his life, and he is only being allowed access to his mother for 2 hours every other day. This is totally unsupportable. I would draw your attention to the following ruling from the English and Welsh courts:

Whilst this is the English and Welsh courts, it refers to the European Court in terms of its ruling on Human Rights. Therefore you’d think that a Scottish council, would be aware of the magnitude of the injury that has been inflicted upon Ben.

Lack of breastfeeding injures Ben’s health. It increases his chances of several life threatening illnesses. As a breastfed baby, removed from his mother’s breast, his pain and anxiety will be extreme. Babies removed from their mother’s breast in this fashion, often suffer a lifetime of stress and the medical results of such stress. I don’t feel I need to outline the entire catalogue of disaster that could be triggered in Ben’s life, by the lack of provision to accommodate his well being, whilst his care order is being processed. The risks of not breastfeeding are well documented, and the risk of harm to Ben from removal of his mother’s breast should have been part and parcel of the risk assessment of the care package being offered to support Ben at this extremely vital time.

We are extremely concerned about the apparent lack of thought about any aspect of maintaining Ben’s breastfeeding. Why, for instance, were Ben and his mother not removed to a mother and baby unit, where they could be monitored? As Fife is in charge of this care order, we require that Fife stand responsible for the arrangements.

Why is regular daily access to allow breastfeeding to be established, not in place? Has the mother received adequate lactation support, to prevent her suffering pain and the loss of her milk supply? Our understanding is that the mother has requested her milk to be fed to Ben – has this been carried out? Has she been taught to hand express? Is her milk being collected and taken to Ben? Has she been supplied with an industrial grade hospital pump? Her milk supply would be barely in on day 4, has Ben’s milk been protected? Is he being cup fed to protect his ability to latch? Has the foster family been told that Ben should not be given a dummy or pacifier, if he has never had one, in line with NHS and WHO guidance on protecting and establishing breastfeeding in the newborn?

The mother is still the mother, and as the above court ruling makes clear – it is the duty of social services to support the baby’s breastfeeding, in order to protect the Human Rights of the Child. We see no evidence of this in your reported care plan for Ben.

We protest in the strongest possible terms, and ask that adequate facilities are immediately put in place to support Ben’s breastfeeding, at all costs. Formula feeding is a risk activity – it risks Ben’s health both directly, and indirectly. On this, there is no confusion or doubt. As a child in the care of Fife Social Services, you have a duty to uphold Ben’s Human Rights, and to allow him access to his mother’s breast in order to support his breastfeeding. At the very least, you can ensure that formula is not given to Ben unless the mother herself wishes it.

I look forward to your early reply to our concerns and questions. We can supply expert witness, on all the statements I have made above, as well as extend any professional help that Fife may require in making sure that Ben’s needs are met adequately under the care order. We have been campaigning for years for adequate guidelines to be published by the Department of Children, Family and Schools to enable them to care for the needs of breastfed children, whilst their safety is assessed. We do understand the complete lack of appropriate guidance leaves you in a vacuum.

However, the vacuum that Ben is now in, without access to his mother’s breast, is completely intolerable. I’m sure that many others in the lactation community will be in touch, to request that Ben’s rights are upheld at all costs. Until a permanent order is in place, removing the mother’s rights to her child, Ben’s breastfeeding should be upheld – it is his right.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you require further information

Yours

Morgan Gallagher

Chair, Nursing Matters

---

If you wish to also complain, do not complain about the removal. You cannot complain about the removal, and be heard. It is their right, and brief, to assess for harm. They have a duty to the child, to keep it safe. That's why the complaint is about not making provision for breastfeeding, whilst that assessment is made. It is no business of ours, to second guess the assessment. Only after the assessment, can comment be made on the outcome. The issue is the care provision.

Sodding GMTV Again!!!!

2010-01-15T04:45:00.000-08:00

Couldn't resist.

GMTV are doing an item on extending breastfeeding at some point in the next week or so. They've done their usual "We'll do a lovely, non biased questionnaire, and poll the Great British Public on their views." It's a stonker!

1) Are you a man or a woman?

2)Where do you live?

3) How old are you?

4) Do you or are you planning to breastfeed?

5) Would you be comfortable breastfeeding in public?

6) Do you think breast milk is more nutritional for babies than formula?

7) Do you think it's a woman's right to breastfeed in public?

8) Do you think think a women should use discretion when breastfeeding in public?

9) Do you think a woman's breasts should not be displayed in public for any reason? (NOTE DOUBLE NEGATIVE)

10) Do you think infants over the age of 12 months should ever be breastfed in public?

11) Do you think it's wrong to breastfeed an infant over the age of 12 months?

12) What age do you think a woman should stop breastfeeding?

* 3-6 months

*6-9 months

*Up to 12 months

*1 year or over

*2 years or over

*3 years or over

* As long as the infant wants to be fed

* Other

And then the usual "Do get in touch and tell us your experiences."

I rather think a lot of Mums need to fill this in. GMTV are notorious for their bloodbath reporting on breastfeeding. Click Here.

EDIT: If you have problems getting in, try from here: http://www.gm.tv/

Sodding Tesco AGAIN!!!!

2010-01-06T15:47:00.001-08:00

Tesco New Born Nappies.

I, for one, am about out of patience. Once, fool on you.. twice, fool on me....

Time for a full out campaign. This one will be trickier, as this is not a formula pack, it's a nappy pack. And bottles and teats are covered by The Code, but not in the UK regs. So this is not a breach of UK regulations. But it is against Code, and the spirit of the Code.

So this may be our heads, and their brick wall. After all Hugh Fearnely Whittingstall had huge resources, and a much more obvious 'oh look, that's wrong' type campaign. And they ignored him.

So the odds aren't good. When you make as much money as Tesco... you can ignore a lot of complaints.

Who's with me?

Christmas Stockings

2009-12-16T16:04:00.000-08:00

There are two standard Christmas posts on this blog.

One, is about drinking alcohol and breastfeeding - for the party season. It can be found here. Some of the links to articles have died, and I will track down fresher links when I've found the time. That may be in time for next Christmas. Cheers!

The other is a narrative vignette written after a mother was asked to stop breastfeeding her baby in Church, at a Christmas service. Doh! Because Mary clearly fed Jesus modified cow's milk from a plastic bottle. Or, perhaps, the Three Wise Men were told to go away until the baby had stopped feeding... that post can be found here.

Otherwise, it's just my usual pleas to think about buying the IBFAN breastfeeding calender for yourself and for others as holiday season gifts.

IBFAN saves babies lives: the most vulnerable and endangered babies on the face of the planet. Baby Milk Action, who produce the calender every year, fights David and Goliath with the Formula Giants, and does so on a tiny budget. They scrape together pennies, and turn them into massive achievements. They need more money - buy their fantastic calender, send it to friends, and help keep babies alive.

And annoy the formula companies at the same time. The gift of giving that just keeps on giving!

You can purchase your calender via Baby Milk Action, or through your IBFAN region. Go now, buy one.

There are also quite a few stocking fillers on offer this season, that you can buy through Baby Milk Action, or other stockists that support and protect breastfeeding. A great dip into for fun one, is Alison Blenkinsop's "Fit To Bust" This is the book to give your disapproving mother-in-law, or to leave in the loo for her, with an earmark on one of Alison's Jam & Jerusalem ditties on Breastfeeding... "Do Your Boobs Hang Low....?" perhaps?

There is the classic Must Have book for all those passionate about protecting babies health worldwide, vital for understanding the huge economic and political pressures on preventing breastfeeding. Gabrielle Palmer's updated version of The Politics of Breastfeeding is available from Baby Milk Action too - this is a gift for yourself, or one to give that friend that Just Doesn't Get It.

The book that gives you the facts and figures you need when dealing with the ludicrous 'women's choice' argument, and the book that never takes its eye off the main issue - the appalling poverty that so many women are forced to endure, and the effect of the poverty on the health and well being of those women and their children.

"Just Call Me Daisy", which I covered when it was an idea for an e-book, is also out now. It's a compilation of stories from mothers, and although I've not yet seen the book version, I found the e-book version honest and open - about the triumphs and the joys found along the way on struggling with a world that is working to make her give up on breastfeeding, not win out. I've a poem in it, I think, but like I said, I've not seen a copy. :-)

There is also the book by Anne Sinnot I mentioned a few months ago, when she was looking mothers who had breastfed their older children. Amazon says it's out of stock, others say it's not published yet. I think it's going to be an interesting read, if you can find it. :-)

EDIT: Apparently 'not currently in stock' in Amazon speak means "We have it but we're sulking as the publisher won't pay us to say we have it in stock." So if you order from Amazon, you'll see the delivery appear as if by magic... ;-)

Have fun! :-)

Great Job Eastenders!

2009-10-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

I rather think there has been a bit of a campaign going on, within the BBC scripting department for Eastenders. Unlike the horrors of the recent babies born over in Coronation St, Eastenders babies have been going through a very slow transformation... from formula fed, to breastfed.

Now, before we start looking at this, let's remember that soap babies have a very hard time, dramatically speaking. They often disappear for months, if not years, and if you stop and think about it too closely, they are often at home on their own, as all the major characters taking care of them, are in the pub having a fight.

Bottle feeding, whether formula or expressed breast milk (as if!) works very well with planning a soap baby. You can parcel it off to the baby-sitters for several weeks at a time. You can also do a bit about dumb and deadly Dads, being too thick to bottle feed them correctly, and refusing to be fathers.

Also, you have the prudish corner to contend with. A BABY BREASTFEEDING BEFORE THE 9pm WATERSHED!!!!!!! Pass the smelling salts.

So there are quite a few issues, on terms of narrative, about soap babies. Not to mention just simple stupidity. I emailed Coronation Street about a new Mum being allowed to breast feed, about 4 years ago. I was informed, in all seriousness, that it would be confusing and dangerous to have a breastfeeding baby latched on to an actress for a scene. As they'd just tried to drown all the Platts, including 2 year old Bethany at the time, I commented back I was quite surprised to hear they'd actually tied Bethany down and thrown her in a car in the canal.. and not pretended they were drowning her....

Coronation Street continues to be dire.

Eastenders however... well I smell a campaign. Slow, subtle, stealthy. First we have Honey, some years back now, falling pregnant with the soon to be baby Janet. Tanya offers her a breastfeeding top.

Rather funny, when Tanya promptly bottle feeds baby Oscar, the hidden and lost baby Who Is Never Seen. (Perhaps she plans to home educate him, and thus is hiding him from the go get?) ;-)

Then, we have baby Janet being born, and Honey's distress that she can't go to the breastfeeding clinic as normal Mums can, as Janet has Down's Syndrome and has heart problems.

Hmm... not very good, and you can see the only reason it's mentioned, is that she's being denied something. You can work out that if Janet didn't have Down's Syndrome in the narrative, Honey would just have bottle fed formula like all soap Mums...

However.

Honey falls pregnant again, and a couple of years later, baby Billy is born, and Honey breastfeeds him, wearing a net curtain. It's a slight plot line, Ian Beale goes ape about 'doing that sort of thing' in the cafe. Billy sounds off about 'doing the best for the baby'. We only ever see the Net curtain, never any actual breastfeeding.

Then... Roxy falls pregnant. Now I've blogged about Roxy and the breastfeeding. I feel they did it really well. I know others were upset about her trying, and complaining it hurt, and talking about the middle class Mums being shocked she was using formula... but as I said at the time, I felt this was true to her character, and very well done. Roxy would never have been seen as the sort of mother to even attempt to breastfeed, and faced with a preemie in a plastic box, she did so. It was fitted around the narrative in soft and gentle touches.

Like Honey, 'tho, we never see it. It's discussed. No Net curtain, but a discussion.

And now Heather. Heather, who in tonight's episode, is breastfeeding baby George.

Without note.

Without comment.

Without narrative construction.

It just is.

It was wonderful. It was simply wonderful, to see a mother in a scene, talk about something else entirely, and just breastfeed her baby. A casual comment that the baby is hungry, and likes to eat. No making a meal of it from either the staff, or the camera. The word 'breastfeeding' never used. Just feeding.

It just was.

It was simply wonderful.

And I wonder... I so wonder... if you look at the above progression, it could be a very clever thing the BBC have just done. By slowly, gently, and without real fuss, made it so that they can show a baby breastfeeding... without net curtain.. and not have it commented upon. Given the groundwork, I think very few people will complain about Heather breastfeeding baby George.

And that's wonderful.

If you agree, tell the BBC. We can't complain, if we don't congratulate where it is due.

It will be interesting to see where it goes. I cannot for the life of me see how they can get Heather to wear a net curtain (thank the System Overlords!). I can see her breastfeeding the baby in front of the father, whoever he is.

I can see her going to the bottle relatively quickly, as this is a soap baby. But who knows? Maybe she will carry on breaking the taboos... or maybe, it will be the next baby, or the next but one baby, whose mother will not just breastfeed, but actively reject bottle feeding.

That does feel a bit of a stretch... but I could be wrong!

Regardless, I do think this one moment of completely natural, no overstatement, no fuss, just is, breastfeeding, should be applauded.

Great Job Eastenders!

Nestle Family

2009-10-03T16:19:00.000-07:00

Actually, no, I've not been invited to California to view Nestle's 'ethical business base'.

Perhaps I don't shower often enough?

:-)

Tesco Breaks Code

2009-09-15T12:43:00.000-07:00

Email, phone, write letters.

The SMA Starter Pack (28 Clubcard Points)

The SMA gold is a nutritionally complete infant milk. It can be used as the first infant milk you should choose or to complement breast feeding. SMA gold can be added to older babies food. It is gluten free. Also available in cans of powder.

Formula advertising and promotion, pure and simple. Yes, it's to buy from their online service. No, it's not point of sale.

Restrictions on advertising of infant formulae

17.

(i) in a publication specialising in baby care and distributed only through the health care system;

(ii) in a scientific publication; or

(iii) for the purposes of trade prior to the retail stage, in a publication of which the intended readership is other than the general public; and

(b) which does not comply with the requirements, prohibitions and restrictions relating to labelling contained in regulations 13(1)(h), (2) and (3) and 15.

And.. they are offering double reward points. Again, completely against Code.

Restrictions on promotion of infant formulae

19.

(a) advertise any infant formula;

(b) make any special display of an infant formula designed to promote sales;

(i) any infant formula as a free sample; or

(ii) any coupon which may be used to purchase an infant formula at a discount;

(d) promote the sale of an infant formula by means of premiums, special sales, loss- leaders or tie-in sales; or

(e) undertake any other promotional activity to induce the sale of an infant formula.

20.

(a) the general public;

(b) pregnant women;

(d) members of the families of persons mentioned in sub-paragraphs (b) and (c) above,

TESCO DIRECT: If you need to speak to someone, please contact us on 0845 6004411**, 8am to 11pm Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm on Saturday and 10am to 6pm on Sunday

PO Box 73
Baird Avenue
Dryburgh Industrial Estate
Dundee
DD1 9NF

tescodirect@tesco.co.uk

I'll try and find a person in authority phone number tomorrow.

Complaints about website advertising and promotion are processed by Trading Standards, not the Advertising Standards Authority. However, the ASA will do the promotions part of the code breaking, so you need to complain to both.

Trading Standards - put your postcode into the Consumer Direct box at base of page. Complaint against breech Clause 17 of Infant and Follow on Formula Regulations, 1995.

ASA: Go Through the complaints form citing the double rewards points breaking Clause 19 & 20.

EDIT: When phoning Tesco Direct, they will claim it's 'Groceries' and not them, as they don't sell formula. Ask them to put "SMA Starter Pack" into their search engine, and it comes up under Tesco Direct. Young man I just spoke to ws well informed and knew form his training that reward points cannot be given for formula. So phone tonight!

Reducing Infant Mortality

2009-08-25T10:35:00.000-07:00

Reducing Infant Mortality from Debby Takikawa on Vimeo.