Since the birth of my baby last summer, I've been considering writing a post about the dogma surrounding breastfeeding. If you haven't had a baby in the past few years, you probably haven’t even heard about it.
There have been several studies showing breastfeeding infants is superior to giving them formula. There is strong evidence that breastfeeding is correlated to better infant health, although the case that breastfeeding directly causes better health is weaker. This has led to a campaign to press parents to breastfeed.
The many problems of breastfeeding dogma campaign are beyond the scope of this post. I have been looking for a way to convey the problems in 60 seconds or less. Fortunately, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ran a 60 second message during Face the Nation last week that is an excellent unintentional parody of the campaign. It gives you a quick overview of the campaign’s key points and its level of sophistication.
That woman could lactate like nobody's business.
It's like some piece in a museum showing sexism of the past that makes you wonder how people could have ever taken it seriously. This is the same, except it’s from last week. It tries to be funny but ends up being offensive.
I don't know what's behind this push. I suspect breastfeeding zealots provide the Office of Women's Health with material, and the Office of Women's Health can get more funding by producing reports for their parent agency showing they're indeed doing something with their budget.
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Thank you! This song illustrates that the government and medical professionals acts as though breastfeeding is something any women can do....and that is simply not true. Breastfeeding is often a struggle, and for some women impossible. I can think of countless other ways for HHS to spend tax dollars, such as making education a priority. I bet there is a correlation between a baby's health and its moms level of education.
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