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New Maternity Care Recommendations in the UK
Government advisory body the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) has laid out recommendations for how women should give birth in an attempt to standardize the currently varied practices across the country.
It says that women should be given information and support to make an informed decision about where they would like to give birth.
Among the options of the surroundings for labour are a home birth, hospital birth and water birth – with the latter not currently available to all women in labour.
Other Nice recommendations include supportive one-to-one care for women in labour; clinical intervention only being offered if the labour is not progressing well; and informing women about the risks and benefits of choosing epidural analgesia.
NICE indeed! I’m especially pleased about the bits I’ve highlighted. Though, I suppose one issue (of the many that have come up over this, most of which I’m not familiar with because I’m not overly familiar with the medical system in the UK) is that there is a lot of debate about when labour is not progressing well—by who’s timetable??
As is to be expected, reaction in the UK to this announcement has been all over the map. Childbirth groups have welcomed the guidelines and encouraged health organizations to implement them as soon as possible. On the flip side, Prof James Drife, a specialist in obstetrics and gynecology at Leeds University, says that because midwife-led maternity units are not staffed by consultants trained to deal with life-threatening emergencies during birth thousands of women may need to be rushed to hospital if complications arise, possibly putting the lives of mother and child at risk.
Related articles:
Water birth 'provides the safest form of pain relief'
The Facts about Birth in the UK
More commentary on the case of the homebirth death in Oregon reported last week
Elise Hansen, regional representative of the Oregon Midwifery Council, wrote a letter co-signed by 15 midwives lamenting that home birth makes the news only when there are deadly complications.
I couldn’t have said it better myself!
Bill Maher
I don’t watch Bill Maher. I don’t have a tv. But I have noticed the web ripples he’s caused with his latest “New Rules” on breastfeeding in public. Louise Marie Roth, who writes regularly at HuffingtonPost.com wrote this excellent piece in response. I took a class in persuasive writing in University and it makes me incredibly happy to read a well-researched, cool-headed response to small-mindedness and ignorance. It’s easy to get angry and write something scathing or equally small minded; It’s a lot more difficult to have the control to present a well thought-out argument that puts someone in their place without letting your emotions get in the way. Kudos to Ms. Roth.
The Politics of Breastfeeding
This commentary from the Toronto Star examines the recent rise in activism for breastfeeding rights. Here’s a choice quote:
So don't people have a right to not be comfortable with public breastfeeding? Sure, but even the YMCA this week said it's time to start dealing with their discomfort as the problem, and not the breastfeeding mom. Those who are uneasy can leave, or look away, or just get used to it. Or as Gilmore says, think of it this way: "What about the rights of the baby – to eat?"
Vitamin D
The Canadian Pediatric Society urged pregnant and breastfeeding women to increase their daily vitamin D intake to up to 2,000 IU. This goes against Health Canada’s recommendation to take 200 IU a day. Health Canada says that 2,000 IU is the maximum allowable safe intake. However, this is the second time in recent months that a health advocacy group has recommended an increase in Vitamin D without the backing of Health Canada. In June, the Canadian Cancer Society said that adults should increase their daily intake to 1,000 IU. This week, Health Canada continued to assert that no changes to Vitamin D intake should be made until further studies showed evidence of a need to revise recommendations.
Vitamin D is included in most multivitamins, some foods, such as milk, are fortified with it, and it is also found in oily, cold water fish, such as salmon. Vitamin D has been shown to offer protection from multiple sclerosis, diabetes, cancer, asthma, osteoporosis, dental cavities and inflammatory bowel disease.
Increase spending to support midwifery?
The Green Party’s platform (in Ontario’s provincial election) includes a promise to increase funding of midwifery training by $10 million over four years, increasing the amount of midwives in the province. Cool.
Sweet Home Birth Boxes - the supplies you need no matter what your birth plan includes!
Join us to celebrate breastfeeding in a fun “competition” where every child “wins” because they are breastfed!!
What: Quintessence Breastfeeding Challenge 2007 This fun event is a challenge for which geographic area ( province, state or territory) has the most breastfeeding babies, as a percentage of the birthrate, “latched on.” at 11am local time.
When: September 29th 2007
Why: to celebrate breastfeeding and demonstrate promotion, protection and support for breastfeeding women and their families. It’s a chance for education and peer support done in a fun social way.
“Latch on”: 11am local time. Some sites are a few breastfeeding women who get together to “be counted” and others are much larger events with lunch, raffles, education, speakers, door prizes etc.
Registration: online at no cost and submit some simple paperwork to be counted on the big day. Dial up www.babyfriendly.ca
Background: In 2001 when this event started, there were 856 babies at 26 sites in British Columbia, Canada. Last year there were 4,687 babies at 156 sites across Canada and the US. This year we would love to see that number increase dramatically. Do your part, join us – organize a site – big or small! Every breastfeeding baby counts in the final count.
Find a location near you!
Sweet Home Birth Boxes - the supplies you need no matter what your birth plan includes!
Breastfeeding first!
"Breastfeeding first – breastfeeding within one hour of birth” is the theme for this year’s World Breastfeeding Week, to be celebrated in Canada, October 1-7. The theme promotes the idea that the initiation of breastfeeding within the first hour after birth is the first and most vital step towards reducing infant and under-five mortality. Thousands of babies can be saved every year – beginning with ONE action and ONE message: begin breastfeeding within ONE hour of birth.
Learn more…
Sweet Home Birth Boxes - the supplies you need no matter what your birth plan includes!
World mortality rate for children under five hits a historic low
UNICEF has reported that deaths of children under five has fallen below 10 million per year for the first time in modern history. UNICEF says:
much of the progress reflected in the new child mortality figures is the result of widespread adoption of basic health interventions such as early and exclusive breastfeeding, measles immunization, vitamin A supplementation to boost children’s immune systems, and the use of insecticide-treated bednets to prevent malaria.
Proper treatment of pneumonia, diarrhoeal diseases and severe malnutrition, and treatment of paediatric HIV/AIDS, are also important for child survival – as are hygiene promotion and access to safe drinking water and sanitation.
Despite the progress, UNICEF’s executive director Ann M. Veneman stressed that there is still a long way to go. “The loss of 9.7 million young lives each year is unacceptable,” she said. “Most of these deaths are preventable and, as recent progress shows, the solutions are tried and tested.”
Legalized Midwifery in Saskatchewan Could be Delayed Again
The Regina Leader-Post reported this week that an unfortunate oversight could delay legislation legalizing midwifery in Saskatchewan even longer. Unlike other provinces, Saskatchewan’s Midwifery Act does not allow midwives to provide professional services to the newborn at birth and for the six weeks afterwards -- just while the woman is pregnant and during labour. The process has already taken eight years but the council trying to establish a Saskatchewan College of Midwives doesn’t want legislation to move ahead without amending the Act.
Response on homebirth issue
The Register-Guard paper of Eugene, OR ran this opinion piece on homebirth that is a fitting response to some of the negative opinions that have run in Canada.com papers across the country following the news of a coroner in Quebec calling for changes to Quebec midwifery in his report into the death of an infant at a homebirth in late 2006. The piece is obviously intended for an American audience, but nevertheless it is well-written and presented.
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I wanted to share this piece on breastfeeding in public because I thought it presented a very realistic balanced view on the subject. I appreciated that the author was so matter of fact.
Furthermore, though the article reflects the culture in the States in many subtle ways it is still encouraging because it demonstrates that little by little we are making headway. Consider this sentence: “I’m a fairly modest person, so I didn’t expect to be the type to nurse in public.” The ingrained belief that breastfeeding in public is immodest is so pervasive that there is a preconceived notion of the “type” of person who would nurse in public. I assume the author is referring to the sign-toting, nurse-in attendees or to sexually promiscuous women? Yet she changed her mind. She had to “get a life and get over it” as she says. And she went one step further: she wrote an article about it. This piece is evidence that the message is getting out there and it’s not just lactivists who are doing their part to publicly advocate for a better breastfeeding culture.
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A mother of three says she filed a complaint with the human rights commission on Monday after a lifeguard at the Scarborough (Ontario) YMCA asked her to move from the pool deck where she was breastfeeding her baby.
Carolynn Prior, a midwife, said the incident occurred on Sept. 1 when she was nursing her 5-month-old son while watching her older children, ages 7 and 9, take swimming lessons. According to Prior, a lifeguard approached her, suggested she would be more comfortable in the childcare facility and said "this is a family place and it might offend someone."
Steven Heipel, vice-president of communications of the YMCA of Greater Toronto, acknowledged that the incident occurred and called it "an error in judgment" by the lifeguard and the supervisor she consulted.
I see a lot of stories about this kind of thing while trolling the news and I always feel incredibly relieved that I live in Canada. Nine times out of ten, these stories are about the States. In fact, it seems that this comes up almost every day, to the point it’s not really news. I would assume it happens everywhere everyday. We only tend to hear about it when someone decides to publicly stand up for themselves and their babies. (As an aside, I wonder if it happens more often in Canada too but perhaps we aren’t as vocal about it?)
My son just turned two (today, in fact) and we are still nursing. In my experience, I really could breastfeed anytime, anywhere. I never had any problems. Now that my son is older, can talk and understand more and is eating and drinking other foods, I often do ask him to wait until we are at home or at least in a place that’s more convenient, simply because it’s easier. It is getting a bit more interesting now that he’s older and people have opinions about how old is too old to nurse, but I can honestly say that I’ve never been made to feel bad because I was nursing, in public or otherwise. And for this, I am so grateful for not being American.
It’s easy for Canadians to list all of the ways that we are not like our southern neighbours and the rest of the world giggles at us, because in many ways our cultures are homogenous. But thankfully, we are different in some very important ways. In my work on breastfeeding and birth culture, I’m consistently relieved to be Canadian and saddened at the state of affairs in the United States.
I would like to believe that this incident in Ontario is an isolated event but perhaps, the problem is more widespread than I think?
Please share your breastfeeding experiences with us. I’d love to have your comments. In your experience breastfeeding, how supportive was the atmosphere in Canada? Or in America?
Sweet Home Birth Boxes - the supplies you need no matter what your birth plan includes!
Toronto Plan Embraces Nursing Moms
The Public Health Department in Toronto has come up with a new plan that, if passed, would request restaurants and city-owned venues to voluntarily display a breastfeeding friendly decal. The decals, adapted from Health Canada's "Breastfeeding Friendly; Anytime, Anywhere" symbol, would let nursing moms know that they're welcome. The plan would go into effect in the spring of 2008 if it is passed this week.
Facebook in hot water over breastfeeding stance
Facebook is embroiled in controversy over the removal of photos showing mothers breastfeeding. The social networking site permanently closed Karen Speed’s account saying that she violated Facebook’s terms prohibiting posting photos that contain “nudity, drug use, or other obscene content.” Response to the move has been overwhelming, with a support group Hey, Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene! (Official petition to Facebook) has grown to over 18,000 members in just 3 weeks.
Check out the group’s wall posts to see comments from supporters. The Toronto Star also has online comments showing both sides of the debate:
http://www.thestar.com/Speakout/Voices/article/255772
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/255973
It seems to me that sometimes public perception of lactivists is that they are trying to push their choices (and their breasts) in everyone’s faces. Conservatives may see it as infringing on their rights not to see breasts in public and don’t understand the point of public photos of breastfeeding. This seems fair enough. Though, the comments I read about this still smack of sexualization of the issue, as if they believe that the women posting the photos get some perverted enjoyment out of it.
The real issue is not whether or not we have the right to post public photos of breastfeeding. The issue is breastfeeding is the natural way to feed a baby. Breastfeeding is the actual purpose of breasts. Breastfeeding is the healthiest choice for babies. Breastfeeding rates are too low because women are not being supported in their choice to breastfeed. Or to get really outrageous, let’s not even call it a choice—women are not being supported in their duty to breastfeed. Breastfeeding rates are too low because our society is still laden with holdovers from our Puritanical, Victorian history as embodied by people who think that breastfeeding is obscene.
A woman posting on the wall of the Facebook group above made a very valid point along these lines: It’s pretty sad that we need decals to show which areas are breastfeeding friendly. The whole world should be breastfeeding friendly.
For more...
Breastfeeding does not protect against asthma, allergies
A new study published in the online British Medical Journal seems to corroborate the HHS story about science not supporting their proposed ads. The study of over 13,000 children in Belarus showed that contrary to earlier findings, extended breastfeeding does not seem to be associated with lower rates of asthma and allergies, and in fact, was associated with higher rates of certain types of allergies.
As I trolled the news, I found it rather interesting to see the ways the study was reported in various news outlets. Time’s headline was: What Breast-Feeding Can't Do. It’s funny how some headlines focused on the negative aspect as if they were just waiting for evidence that breastfeeding isn’t as good as everyone thinks. Compare this with the more neutral stance of the AFP (Breastfeeding has no impact on asthma risk, says study) and Medical News Today (Breastfeeding Makes No Difference To Risk Of Asthma Or Allergy). Clearly it's all semantics, but it seems like these two headlines are focusing on the fact that the risk of allergies and asthma are more or less the same, whether you breastfeed or not, rather than focusing on breastfeeding as being flawed.
The study’s authors say that it is the first randomized trial of human lactation. It compared a breastfeeding group with a control group that did not receive extra urging to breastfeed. By one year, 20% were still breastfeeding versus 11% in the control group. It does make me curious how this can be considered a study of extended breastfeeding if only 11%-20% actually succeeded in breastfeeding to one year. I wonder if the data would be different if the extended breastfeeding rates were more like 50%-75% instead.
Sweet Home Birth Boxes - the supplies you need no matter what your birth plan includes!
Ok, so I readily admit that my post on Wet Nursing was a bit of a rant and that there were some pretty stereotypical statements in there. Some of this was done intentionally to make a point that in many ways we make choices about our lifestyles. Not everyone out there is living in a fancy house, with implants and two cars and a high power career and treating their child like an accessory. I realize that I was playing on a stereotype and addressing a single social class. (However, you can bet that those women out there who are returning to work before their baby is 12 weeks old simply because they have to to survive, are not the ones hiring wet nurses anyway). Regardless of the life we live, there are certain ways we all do things because we think we have to when it really comes down to a matter of choice.
I’m probably going to get some feminists mad at me by saying this but it seems to me that by trying to be equal in a “man’s world” and have all the things men had, we have decided that all the things women had were lesser things and we have devalued the amazing work that historically women have done in the home: the nurturing, the feeding, the home making (i.e, the making a house into a home). True feminism would have said “we are equal because what we do is equally important” rather than “let us out of the house so we can be equal by doing all the important things you do.”
This is not to say that I think all women belong in the home and that all men belong out hunting and gathering (a.k.a. working). I actually think that it’s really great if both men and women contribute to the task of nurturing the family and the home. And I believe that women have brought a great deal of positive change to business, politics, and other careers.
However, feminism has handed us women a crumby deal in that we now believe that we can have it all. We can have the family, the house AND the career. And the media has told us that we can have it and still look beautiful well into our 40s. We stand in line at the grocery store and see that the latest celebrity accessory is a baby. The celebrities are beautiful and they lead full and exciting lives going to parties and premieres. They have fulfilling careers AND cute clean children. We are lead to believe that if we just work hard enough, we can all have that.
But the truth is life isn’t like that. The truth is: Americans only get 12 weeks UNPAID maternity leave. The truth is: the cost of living often means BOTH parents have to work, whether they want to or not. The truth is: sometimes there is only one parent.
So, the answer is what? Hiring a wet nurse like in some Victorian novel? Or the alternative, formula feeding?
Honestly, we need sweeping change in our society, starting at the top, with government and the media. We need longer maternity leaves. We need employers who support working mothers. We need to stop devaluing the job of caring for one’s family. We need to encourage more families to make good choices that honour their families. We need to stop running in the rat race, stop over-achieving, stop believing we can have it all. Maybe then we—by this I mean men and women—would feel supported in our decisions to choose family over work. Maybe then breastfeeding rates would rise and divorce rates would fall.
Sweet Home Birth Boxes - the supplies you need no matter what your birth plan includes!
In the wake of last week’s uproar over formula companies lobbying the government to change health policies, I came across an interesting article discussing the flipside of the breastfeeding issue. The author, Anne Hart, argues that women are intelligent beings who aren’t to be fooled by formula advertising and rather, the low breastfeeding rates have more to do with the United States’ lack of paid maternity leave.
Personally, I think she underestimates both the power of marketing dollars and the political power of lobbyists. See Peggy O’Mara (Mothering Magazine)’s most recent column A Quiet Place: Is Breastfeeding in Trouble? Though to be fair, Hart is concentrating specifically on the practice of giving formula samples out at US hospitals (a practice that has been banned by the WHO and UNICEF).
Despite this, Hart is totally on the mark about maternity leave. In the United States, women are only entitled to 12 weeks off work, and that’s unpaid leave. The National Geographic (August 2007) published a survey of 168 countries to see what maternity benefits were like around the world. The results showed shockingly that things need to change in the States. The United States are among only 5 nations that do not offer any paid leave at all (brown on the map below).
Considering that it can take more than 6 weeks just to get breastfeeding successfully established at all, how is a new mother supposed to also navigate the return to work AND continue breastfeeding, especially without adequate support? Is this why women are turning to wet-nurses?
Sweet Home Birth Boxes - the supplies you need no matter what your birth plan includes!
The Daily Mail in the UK ran a story today on the growing trend of wet nursing both in the UK and in California. Occasionally called cross-nursing or shared feeding, reasons for the resurgence of the practice range from medical (a women hurt in a car accident) to convenience (mother’s returning to work too soon but wanting their children to enjoy the benefits of breastfeeding) to vanity (women with breast implants who have difficulties breastfeeding).
The article explains the serious health risk this practice poses, as breast-milk can pass on everything from HIV and syphilis to TB and hepatitis. Furthermore, breastfeeding groups like La Leche League explain that breastmilk changes as the child grows and contains different enzymes and antibodies. Spokeswoman Anna Burbidge says “Your milk will not have the makeup which will necessarily suit another child and it also worries me that it might affect the baby psychologically to be fed so intimately by another woman, or even more than one.”
The article also discusses the idea that many people are outraged by the practice because it is the last mothering taboo, because we think it is too sensual, too intimate. I wondered if this argument was suggesting that those who are worried by the practice are being “prudish”? In fact, my objection to the idea of wet nursing is rooted in something else entirely.
Since when did our culture get so screwed up that it is more important to work than to feed your own child!?! I know the cost of living is outrageous. I know that it’s hard to make ends meet on a single income. I know that mothers want a life and a career too, that we don’t want to stay stuck at home with the chores and the kids, feeling like our identities are entirely wrapped up in our kids. But has anyone looked at the alternative? We’ve become a society that would rather our identities be wrapped up in consuming, in having the big house, the two cars, in climbing the corporate ladder, being successful. We have fallen into this trap where we live a certain way because we think we have to. Could we not make sacrifices so that we can feed our children ourselves??
I am all for women’s rights, for equality, for not being automatically given the role of Susie Homemaker just because I am a woman. I am glad that we got the vote, that we can wear pants, that we are allowed to have any job we are interested in. I am ecstatic that my husband changes diapers, was present at my son’s birth, helps with the housework. I feel fulfilled by my activities that aren’t directly related to my family (my work, my friends, my hobbies).
But in our quest for equality, we’ve somehow decided that all the things women used to do (taking care of home and family) are lesser jobs, menial jobs. I wonder sometimes if those jobs aren’t the more important ones: nurturing our children, feeding our families nutritious food, making the home a happy healthy place to grow. Since when did it become so shameful to want to be a part of that? Since when did it become so important to focus on life outside of family (work, friends, hobbies) that we are willing to pay someone else to feed our babies? That we say we have to live this way, we have no choice?
On the one hand, I’m thrilled that the breastfeeding message is getting out there, that women realize there are benefits to breastfeeding. As the Daily Mail says “Yet a steadily growing minority of mothers now believe that wet-nursing is the answer to the eternal dilemma of women who want to go back to work but also want their babies to enjoy the benefits of breast-milk.” (emphasis added) On the other hand, it worries me that these women can’t be bothered to do it themselves.
I can’t help but feel that there is something seriously wrong with our culture when women are so selfish that they want the implants and the job and the house and the perfect accessory, a baby (who is breastfed), without sacrificing anything? Anything but their relationship with their child, that is.
The Daily Mail article has it right when they say it’s one thing to wet-nurse for health reasons (although even then, there are alternatives like the milk bank) and quite another to do it out of convenience. I really hope that this trend remains in the minority and that the only reason it’s making news is because it’s sensational.
Sweet Home Birth Boxes - the supplies you need no matter what your birth plan includes!
Nicotine in Breast-milk Shortens Baby’s Naptimes
Hmm…another reason not to start smoking again after your baby is born. A study reported by Forbes showed that babies’ naps were reduced by 37% when mothers smoked cigarettes before breastfeeding. Apparently nicotine shows up in breast-milk after about 30 – 60 minutes and disappears after 3 hours so mothers could time when they smoke, but really, once you’ve stopped why start up again? The article mentions that more research needs to be done if nicotine affects the babies in any other ways.
Rickets on the Rise
The Toronto Star reported in July that cases of rickets, a childhood disease which causes deformations of bones, are on the rise again. Rickets was widespread from its first medical description in 1650 until its eradication from North America in the 1930s. Rickets is caused by Vitamin D deficiency and it seems that the rise in rickets cases comes from over cautious mothers. Vitamin D is added to milk, but families aren’t drinking as much milk as they once were. Vitamin D is absorbed by exposure to sunlight but we are covering our kids in sunscreen and clothing to guard against skin cancer. I’m sure tv and video games have also reduced the time that kids spend outdoors as well. And Vitamin D is not found in breast-milk so exclusively breastfeeding means infants may need a Vitamin D supplement. For a discussion on vitamin D for breastfed babies, check out Today’s Parent (featuring comments from Dr. Jack Newman). See also Breastfeeding and Other Foods or Some Breastfeeding Myths.
As the Star says: “The obesity crisis has brought to light the lack of outdoor activity in both adults and children. Mix this with fears about hormones in milk, skin cancer from sun exposure and mercury in fish such as salmon that contain plenty of vitamin D – and a deficit is created.”
The interesting point about the rise of rickets (for me anyway) is that rickets was a major reason for death in childbirth. Women who had suffered from rickets as children often had deformed pelvises and couldn’t birth their babies. The history of rickets is part of the reason for the still common diagnosis that some women are too small to deliver a large baby (resulting in planned cesarean births). I’m interested to see whether rickets does indeed become widespread again.
In any case, the article recommends living a balanced life: drinking milk, eating fish, spending time outdoors. Everything in moderation, including moderation.
Brace Yourselves
As I suspected last week, the report into the case of the homebirth death in Quebec has started a shit storm of reactions. The latest from today’s Vancouver Province had me so angry that I can’t even begin to formulate a response. I am sure it’s only the beginning too.
I invite everyone to write the Province cool-headed, well-informed letters with sources and suggestions of where to find more info on both the safety of home birth and the insanity of our current maternity system.
We need to find that middle ground where it’s not home OR hospital. What about birth centres? What about home for low risk birth and hospital for high risk birth? What about changing the hospital system so that people actually want to birth there????
My first suggestions, once I calm down, will be to have Ms. Lakritz read Born in the USA: How to Heal a Broken Maternity System by Marsden Wagner and the most recent issue of Mothering Magazine with its pieces on Cesarean Birth and on Homebirth in Holland. Hmm, maybe we should also get her started on Gentle Birth Choices by Barbara Harper and the classic, Immaculate Deception II by Suzanne Arms.
Please post your comments here on what you think of Ms. Lakritz’ commentary.
Sweet Home Birth Boxes - the supplies you need no matter what your birth plan includes!
Lots of controversy in the news this week so I’ve broken up the news report into several posts:
Check out Breastfeeding Campaign Watered Down in the United States and Midwifery Under Scrutiny in Quebec in separate posts.
Nunavut Midwifery Goes High-tech
This really got me excited: The Ajunnginiq Centre launched a trilingual midwifery website last week, which supporters say will help strengthen the ties among midwives throughout the Inuit regions. The website has information in English, French and Inuktitut. Translation was done with the help of elders who gave advice on traditional birthing terms.
"This will be a very good communication tool for the communities and interested parties," said Natsiq Kango, head of the Midwives Association of Nunavut. "There is a lot of interest, but there aren't a lot of outlets for it. The technology in place today, this is going to provide a real channel for this."
There is a new midwifery program in Iqaluit that took on six new students this year. Nunavut Arctic College also offers classes in maternity care. The site will also be used by midwives, nurses and nutritionists.
This is exciting because in remote northern communities women often have to travel hundreds of miles to give birth in the nearest hospital. This often means being separated from family and community for weeks at a time when it is important for women to be close to family and friends. Encouraging midwifery and traditional practices is a step in the right direction for the North. It’s wonderful to see programs in place that train the local people and that foster respect for the community’s traditional ways.
‘Pushed’ Cries Out for Childbirth options
Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care, a new book by Jennifer Block, former editor at Ms. Magazine, is looking at maternity care and childbirth options. One of Block’s goals was to support women who choose alternative birth options and to spell out the truth about maternity care in the United States, care which often involves a “pushed” birth. Block describes a “pushed” birth as “one that is induced, sped up and/or heavily medicated for no good reason, and all too often concludes with surgery, invasive instruments, an episiotomy or a bad vaginal tear -- outcomes you don't want."
For more info: check out the website, or this review.
BOLD initiative: Birth, the play
All through September, a play about birth is running in Washington State and around the world. Birth, the critically acclaimed play billed as the Vagina Monologues of childbirth, is part of Birth On Labor Day (BOLD), a global movement to make maternity care mother-friendly. The play is the story of eight women, the births they experienced and their right to choose where and how they birth. The play will run in 30 cities worldwide. Unfortunately, the play is only running in one Canadian city (in Ontario). Check out the play’s website for more info about Birth and about BOLD.
Survival Tips for New Moms
Healthy Mum, Happy Baby is part survival manual and part recipe book. The idea for the book, to write a breastfeeding manual, came to Annemarie Tempelman-Kluit in the middle of the night. She researched and compiled all of the info she found and is now running two websites to help new moms. Healthymumhappybaby.com updates the information in her book, and www.yoyomama.ca provides helpful, hip info, tips and guides to local events to smooth over the yo-yo bumps of early motherhood.
Sweet Home Birth Boxes - the supplies you need no matter what your birth plan includes!
This week the Washington Post ran a story about how federal health officials attempted to put together a gutsy, eye-catching ad campaign in an attempt to raise breastfeeding rates. The formula industry successfully lobbied against the ad campaign and the Health and Human Services Dept (HHS) watered down the ads significantly. US Congress is set to investigate whether or not the Bush administration has been letting political considerations get in the way of public health policies. Here are photos of the original ads, the final ads and a letter from a lobbyist thanking the HHS for changing the ads.
The ensuing battle over these ads (from 2004) is being waged in papers, on tv, by bloggers. The HHS is claiming that they actually changed the ads because science didn’t support the exaggerated claims in the original ads. The opposition (everyone from lactivists to political pundits) is claiming political interference. Women who couldn’t breastfeed are saying the ads were hurtful for insinuating that they were harming their children by not breastfeeding. Even breastfeeding advocates are weighing in to say that we shouldn’t use guilt to force or coerce mothers into breastfeeding if they don’t want to. Yet others are claiming that the ads were insulting because they assume consumers (mothers) need to be given a hardline message similar to anti-drugs and anti-drinking and driving messages in order to do what is best for their children because the simple truth—that breastfeeding is good for babies—isn’t good enough and doesn’t work.
Check out who all is weighing in:
ABC news
Wired
Marketplace (transcript and podcast)
LA Times
How do we get to the bottom of this? How will we ever know what’s true? Maybe these ads were insulting. Maybe mothers should be “smart” enough to breastfeed just because we know it’s good for babies without the scare tactics. But considering that breastfeeding is up against the formula industry with its big bucks advertising, free samples at the hospital and high pressure government lobbying, how do we expect such a soft message to work? Considering that only 11% of American women breastfeed to six months, isn’t it time that we recognize that our current tactics and promotional attempts aren't working? Maybe moms need more support to continue breastfeeding? Maybe we need to be more competitive? Maybe we need to get stricter with the formula companies?
Food for thought: Dr. Jack Newman’s handout on breastfeeding and guilt.
What are your thoughts? Were the ads too much? What about the role of the formula companies? Post your comments.
Sweet Home Birth Boxes - the supplies you need no matter what your birth plan includes!
