Please send an email to BWMC (breastfeeding related)

anonsouthernbell · May 2011

This weekend I received the Spring newsletter from Baltimore Washington Medical Center and in it they have a rather large picture of a mom bottle feeding her infant. I feel that this is unacceptable as the hospital should do more to promote breastfeeding and especially that of newborns. They easily could have had a picture of a mom breastfeeding or of a mom just holding her baby. Anyway, I am going to send the hospital an email and if anyone else would like to as well here is their email address: bwmcpr@bwmc.umms.org . (That is the email address that I was able to get off of their website).

If anyone wants to see the picture it is on page 11 of the Spring Healthline: https://www.mybwmc.org/publications

I sent this to my local LLL group and one of the leaders replied stating:

Anyone writing to them could mention how disappointing it is to see that they do not appear to support the WHO Code (https://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/infantfeeding/9241541601/en/), the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (https://www.babyfriendlyusa.org/eng/06.html), OR the recent Surgeon General's Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding (https://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/breastfeeding/index.html).

Please consider writing them an email. Thank you!

KathrynMD · May 2011

why does showing a picture of someone bottle feeding their baby make the hospital unsupportive of BFing?

If they showed a picture of someone BF, couldn't someone take that to mean they aren't supportive of mothers/parents who can't or don't want to BF their children?

KathrynMD · May 2011

duplicate

madladybride · May 2011

The hospital HAS to know that this is a charged issue. How about just a picture of a mom holding her baby, no feeding involved?

KathrynMD · May 2011

madladybride:
The hospital HAS to know that this is a charged issue. How about just a picture of a mom holding her baby, no feeding involved?

Yes

or maybe its just an old stock photo?

autumn bliss · May 2011

I didn't see the ad, but is the assumption that it is formula in the bottle? Is it an Enfamil or Similac ready feed bottle or something in the picture? I know plenty of BF mommies that use bottles too...

SarahKate31 · May 2011

I don't really see what the big deal is here. As others have pointed out, it could be breastmilk in those bottles. But even if it isn't, who cares. In my search for info on formula feeding all I find everywhere (even on formula containers and formula leaflets) is info about BFing. In my experience, there isn't a shortage of info on the subject and I don't think a picture of a bottle should be automatically viewed as anti-BFing.

anonsouthernbell · May 2011

There is actually research that shows that print media does have an impact on whether or not people breastfeed. My issue honestly is that the woman is still in her hospital gown and even more so because she is an African-American mother and breastfeeding rates for black women are the lowest out of all groups. And most formula manufacturers do talk about breastfeeding, but there is one that I receive information from quite frequently that doesn't.

anonsouthernbell · May 2011

KathrynMD:
why does showing a picture of someone bottle feeding their baby make the hospital unsupportive of BFing?

If they showed a picture of someone BF, couldn't someone take that to mean they aren't supportive of mothers/parents who can't or don't want to BF their children?

My best friend ff both her kids from the get go and I support her for her decision as I support any mother that choices to ff her child bc she either can't or doesn't want to bf. I don't think that formula is poison and it helps millions of babies grow and get the nutrition that they need. (I myself being one of them).

With that being said, bf saves our country millions of dollars and provides the best outcomes for both mother and baby. I would expect that a hospital would promote through its publications support of biological norms, one of which is bf. I mean I wouldn't expect a hospital to show pictures of people smoking in a positive light bc that isn't a biological norm nor does it provide the best outcome for the smoker.

KathrynMD · May 2011

anonsouthernbell:
KathrynMD:

why does showing a picture of someone bottle feeding their baby make the hospital unsupportive of BFing?

If they showed a picture of someone BF, couldn't someone take that to mean they aren't supportive of mothers/parents who can't or don't want to BF their children?

My best friend ff both her kids from the get go and I support her for her decision as I support any mother that choices to ff her child bc she either can't or doesn't want to bf. I don't think that formula is poison and it helps millions of babies grow and get the nutrition that they need. (I myself being one of them).

With that being said, bf saves our country millions of dollars and provides the best outcomes for both mother and baby. I would expect that a hospital would promote through its publications support of biological norms, one of which is bf. I mean I wouldn't expect a hospital to show pictures of people smoking in a positive light bc that isn't a biological norm nor does it provide the best outcome for the smoker.

Did I read that right? Did you just equate formula feeding w/ smoking? Smoking is cancer causing, deadly and toxic. I wasn't aware that formula was carcinogenic. And, also for all we know, that mother in the pic was bottle feeding her kid breast milk.

Should there not be media depicting women bottle feeding their children? If there were multiple pictures in that newsletter of women feeding newborns and they were all or mostly of bottle or formula feeding, I'd be bothered and I'd agree there's an argument to be made that they aren't supporting/encouraging breastfeeding, but one picture, one time? That's not a trend.

SarahKate31 · May 2011

KathrynMD:
anonsouthernbell:
KathrynMD:

why does showing a picture of someone bottle feeding their baby make the hospital unsupportive of BFing?

If they showed a picture of someone BF, couldn't someone take that to mean they aren't supportive of mothers/parents who can't or don't want to BF their children?

My best friend ff both her kids from the get go and I support her for her decision as I support any mother that choices to ff her child bc she either can't or doesn't want to bf. I don't think that formula is poison and it helps millions of babies grow and get the nutrition that they need. (I myself being one of them).

With that being said, bf saves our country millions of dollars and provides the best outcomes for both mother and baby. I would expect that a hospital would promote through its publications support of biological norms, one of which is bf. I mean I wouldn't expect a hospital to show pictures of people smoking in a positive light bc that isn't a biological norm nor does it provide the best outcome for the smoker.

Did I read that right? Did you just equate formula feeding w/ smoking? Smoking is cancer causing, deadly and toxic. I wasn't aware that formula was carcinogenic. And, also for all we know, that mother in the pic was bottle feeding her kid breast milk.

Should there not be media depicting women bottle feeding their children? If there were multiple pictures in that newsletter of women feeding newborns and they were all or mostly of bottle or formula feeding, I'd be bothered and I'd agree there's an argument to be made that they aren't supporting/encouraging breastfeeding, but one picture, one time? That's not a trend.

Yes

anonsouthernbell · May 2011

KathrynMD:
anonsouthernbell:
KathrynMD:

why does showing a picture of someone bottle feeding their baby make the hospital unsupportive of BFing?

If they showed a picture of someone BF, couldn't someone take that to mean they aren't supportive of mothers/parents who can't or don't want to BF their children?

My best friend ff both her kids from the get go and I support her for her decision as I support any mother that choices to ff her child bc she either can't or doesn't want to bf. I don't think that formula is poison and it helps millions of babies grow and get the nutrition that they need. (I myself being one of them).

With that being said, bf saves our country millions of dollars and provides the best outcomes for both mother and baby. I would expect that a hospital would promote through its publications support of biological norms, one of which is bf. I mean I wouldn't expect a hospital to show pictures of people smoking in a positive light bc that isn't a biological norm nor does it provide the best outcome for the smoker.

Did I read that right? Did you just equate formula feeding w/ smoking? Smoking is cancer causing, deadly and toxic. I wasn't aware that formula was carcinogenic. And, also for all we know, that mother in the pic was bottle feeding her kid breast milk.

Should there not be media depicting women bottle feeding their children? If there were multiple pictures in that newsletter of women feeding newborns and they were all or mostly of bottle or formula feeding, I'd be bothered and I'd agree there's an argument to be made that they aren't supporting/encouraging breastfeeding, but one picture, one time? That's not a trend.

I think you missed my point because I stated that formula helps millions of babies grow worldwide. The point is that the biological norm is for people to not smoke. As far as your point about the media is concerned. All I almost ever see is pictures of women bottle feeding their babies. This serves to reinforce that babies are feed by bottles and not by breasts. I could go on further but I am not going to get into a pointless argument. Either send the email or don't. Your prerogative.

MoMandA · May 2011

I exclusively pumped from 3 months on and fed both of my boys breast-milk exclusively and continued to do so until they were 14 months old and my morning sickness was so bad that I had to wean. And I did not appreciate it at all when people assumed that I was feeding my children formula and made comments about it. My primary complaint with people who made these assumptions was not what they thought of me it is that breastfeeding or formula feeding is a personal choice and nobody else's business.

anonsouthernbell · May 2011

MoMandA:
I exclusively pumped from 3 months on and fed both of my boys breast-milk exclusively and continued to do so until they were 14 months old and my morning sickness was so bad that I had to wean. And I did not appreciate it at all when people assumed that I was feeding my children formula and made comments about it. My primary complaint with people who made these assumptions was not what they thought of me it is that breastfeeding or formula feeding is a personal choice and nobody else's business.

I completely agree with you and I really give it to you for EP as pumping is such a pain. Normally, I wouldn't make that assumption but the woman is in her hospital gown.

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