Mothers who choose not to breastfeed in maternity units at three hospitals will have to provide their own supply of milk.Because if you can’t or prefer not to, then you are obviously a failed mother, who won’t listen to her betters…
Mid Essex Hospitals NHS Trust is introducing the new policy from October to enforce the message breast is best.
Mothers who choose to bottle feed will have to bring their own supply of ready prepared, not powdered, milk formula.No doubt the reason for insisting on it being ‘ready prepared’ is to make it just that little bit more difficult for those dreadful proles who will insist on making decisions for themselves?
Health bosses say it is in line with the Baby Friendly Initiative, a World Health Organisation programme promoting excellent care of pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers and babies. The trust is working towards full Unicef Baby Friendly standards.Just who is the trust supposed to be working for, again?
The community it serves (and fleeces for running costs), or an unelected, unrepresentative foreign quango?
18 comments:
Trust nothing whatsoever that has the name WHO attached. A political organisation that lost sight of it's original goals years ago and a massive waste of money.
A quick google quickly finds sites that list why some women in the US choose not to breastfeed, eg;
http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/why-would-moms-not-want-to-breastfeed-0997/
Apparently, infection, freedom of diet & the ability to drink alcohol & avoid soreness are listed.
Other than alcohol (which probably isn't allowed into Maternity Units, even in Essex), aren't the other reasons valid, even for new mothers?
If a woman is equipped to feed her baby but chooses not to, why should taxpayers, in these times of austerity, fork out?
"The trust has organised new drop-in sessions and breastfeeding support groups. A spokesman for the trust said cash saved from not buying milk would be invested in these services."
I bet these sessions cost ... somewhat more than a few bottles of formula milk. Also note use of the Gordon Brown meaning of investment there.
I dare not show this too my wife.
She will go mental.
*to*
breastfeeding support groups???
Ye gods! The mind boggles.
"Just let me cup my hands under them for you love, while my mate Kevin lifts your little Marlon up to the teat..."
I was bottle fed. Two reasons. My mum couldn't produce enough milk to feed me, and her teats were 5 times more sensitive than an IED.
And what about the mothers who DO breastfeed but do not produce enough milk to satisfy a large newborn? My son weighed almost ten pounds when he was born and required regular top-up feeds from a bottle to stop him howling for more after he drained both barrels. He's a strapping six footer now.
I can't make up my mind if this BS is PC stupidity or a mean minded cost cutting exercise. Maybe both?
"Other than alcohol (which probably isn't allowed into Maternity Units, even in Essex), aren't the other reasons valid, even for new mothers?"
I'd guess not. Any of the above probably means they just aren't trying hard enough...
"If a woman is equipped to feed her baby but chooses not to, why should taxpayers, in these times of austerity, fork out?"
The sums are minor - most women aren't going to be there that long.
"I bet these sessions cost ... somewhat more than a few bottles of formula milk. Also note use of the Gordon Brown meaning of investment there."
Yup!
"My mum couldn't produce enough milk to feed me..."
I presume the fact they note that bottled milk would still be available for 'clinical need' means they would assist with this sort of situation.
Probably while taking special care to make the new mother feel an abject failure, mind you...
"I can't make up my mind if this BS is PC stupidity or a mean minded cost cutting exercise. Maybe both?"
Maternity nursing does seem to attract more of the judgemental type than any other kind of nursing, doesn't it?
I would not mind betting that those making this policy do not expect to be affected by it.
For once, an NHS policy I agree with!
Bottle fed babies tend to get constipated and do not get the benefit of the mother's antibodies. They are also fed via bottles which leak bisphenol-A.
Also, the closeness between mother and baby while breast feeding profound.
I bottle-fed my first, and breast-fed my second - my first child was fractious and my second, content.
OK, my last point might conceivably be due to innate personality differences between the two, by I really don't think that's the case.
Oops! Loads of typos!
Right. So, because breastfeeding was best for your children that makes a policy of coercing all mothers into doing it for all babies OK then, does it?
Yes? Really?
This one's one of the minor Proggie neuroses that keeps rumbling slowly on; it's not on the A-list like homophobia or anti-racism, but it's always there.
It is of course part of the romantic-naturist mindset, that "nature is always best". It gets a boost because it appeals to the maternalist-feminists who tend to infest hands-on childcare professions like midwifery (as opposed to the spinster-feminists, who prefer to snatch children from people who sacrifice their children to the devil in council flats). And it appeals to the leftist nature-romantic, who despises anything "corporate", leading them to insist that bottled milk is toxic.
Of course it was given a major kick-start by the "babies dying in Africa from bottled milk" panic in the 70s, which was orchestrated by Gorgeous George Galloway's charidee War On Want. I'd love to know the real truth behind that, because it's dollars to doughnuts, once one understands the Proggie Movement, that it was made up, like Ritual Abuse, Sex Trafficking, the AIDS figures, Passive Smoking, Obesity Epidemic, Binge Drinking Epidemic, etc etc etc
"For once, an NHS policy I agree with!
Bottle fed babies tend to get constipated and do not get the benefit of the mother's antibodies. "
Indeed, but that needs to be balanced against the needs/lifestyle of the mother.
There's two in this equation, not just one. And forcing reluctant/resentful mothers to breastfeed isn't going to help the bonding process much, is it?
"Of course it was given a major kick-start by the "babies dying in Africa from bottled milk" panic in the 70s, which was orchestrated by Gorgeous George Galloway's charidee War On Want. I'd love to know the real truth behind that..."
If ANY of it was true, I suspect it'd be but a tiny, tiny fraction of the African babies dead from...well, just about everything.
Julia,
I tried to find out about the bottle milk scare a while back, but drew a blank. The best I could find was anecdotal- best guess it was just anecdotal reports from a few aid workers with an anti-corporate/pro-nature mindset, and War On Want et al ran with it.
Also, there doesn't seem to be much support for the "antibodies" thing; that is, mumsmilk contains some antibodies, but whether they get into the baby's bloodstream and actually do any good- considering they're not genetically compatible, remember, the baby is half Dad's DNA- nor whether babies who are breastfed are immune to the same diseases as the mother, doesn't seem to have been reliably tested.
Most babies discover their local microbiota pretty rapidly and spray noxious fluid from both ends while they adapt to it. If antibody transfer actually worked, one wonders why we would ever need to vaccinate children.
Liberal PC + Tory Cost Cutting = Major League Screw-Up
See Playing Fields, Schools and Community, Care In The for further details.
... and we've got five more years of this garbage.
"...... and we've got five more years of this garbage."
*gloom*
Post a Comment