“If a multinational company developed a product that was a nutritionally balanced and delicious food, a wonder drug that both prevented and treated disease, cost almost nothing to produce and could be delivered in quantities controlled by consumers’ needs, the announcement of this find would send its shares rocketing to the top of the stock market.”—Gabrielle Palmer, The Politics of Breastfeeding: When Breasts Are Bad For Business.
Out-of-stock? Infant formula? Our nation-wide infant formula out-of-stock percentage reached 43% this month? How can that be? Sounds to me like an enormous failure of a capitalistic society. And we all know that the price of infant formula will sky rocket once they clean up the factory that was shut down due to Cronobacter sakazakii contamination. According to The Washington Post article, Abbott’s factory in Sturgis, Michigan was inspected by the FDA, and had a number of deficiencies with months away from production.
“The FDA, however, says it is still investigating the facility. Among the deficiencies it found were water leaks and standing water on the floor, workers not wearing appropriate protective gear and a number of swabs in the facility that tested positive for cronobacter sakazakii bacteria, according to the FDA report.” https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/baby-formula-factory-says-it-e2-80-99s-still-months-away-from-production/ar-AAXgysL
Parents need to feed their babies, but many people on social media seem to not realize that one of the reasons for this out-of-stock situation is because 2 babies died and 2 were sickened by Cronobacter sakazakii (and there may have been more infants that got sick or died because it is not a reportable disease in 49 states). I would think that parents would not want this manufacturing plant to resume production unless the problems have been resolved. Cronobacter sakazakii infections can cause meningitis, necrotizing enterocolitis, and septicemia in infants. These are serious infections, and in some infants deadly.
I read an article in USA Today that stated that parents
could contact infant formula manufacturers requesting infant formula.
“#1 Shop beyond the grocery store. If all else fails, you can also order infant formula directly from the manufacturer. Most manufacturers seem to have a full stock and can even offer discounts on subscription orders, to ensure you never run out.”
So if manufacturers can sell infant formula thru subscriptions to ensure the parent never runs out, then how much formula are they holding back in their warehouses. Oh yes, don’t ask that question because that might get people asking too many questions. Or did the author get this information wrong?
Note that at the beginning of this article is a statement, “Purchases you make through our links may earn us a commission.”
It’s capitalism, baby! The article seems to have a financial motive, how odd?
“#5 Give breastmilk a try” And that has a link to HMBANA, the non-profit milk banking system. Hm… but they don’t tell readers that mothers need a prescription from a doctor to get donor milk. Donor milk is expensive($4.50-$5.50/ounce pre-pandemic price). Now what if a mom doesn’t have health insurance? How much does a visit to a doctor cost-probably way over $100 per visit. Then let’s see a baby drinks somewhere around 18-25 ounces in 24 hours, depending on weight and age of the infant-about $90-$125/day if infant is a young baby and the price is $5/ounce. Have to be pretty wealthy to buy breastmilk from a non-profit milk bank, and it gets even more expensive from for- profit milk banks. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/reviewed/2022/05/11/baby-formula-shortage-tips/9734580002/
Why is breastfeeding seemingly a dirty word, unmentionable in US society?
I hope my dear readers can explain to me why breastfeeding has become so invisible and that pumping and/or human milk are supposed to mean the same thing as breastfeeding? Well let’s get back to capitalism in all its glory. We value anything that makes money. Breastfeeding doesn’t make anyone rich, other than the richness of human survival. Mothers pass on to the next generation their rightful inheritance of survival through a perfect food, disease-resistance, and lots of skin-to-skin contact. I think it’s the essence of our humanity. We see it in art, beautiful paintings of mothers breastfeeding babies. Now we have our pictures, but it's of babies by themselves, self-feeding at an early age. I look at those pictures and feel the lonliness.
We are becoming a society that ignores a mother’s gift of breastfeeding to her children. Instead we live in a society that separates mothers and babies without thought or care. And believes that breast pumps and rooms to pump breast milk are the only solution to a new mother’s employment problems. Other countries give mothers paid leave after their babies are born. Or some innovative companies let mothers bring their babies to work for the first 6 months. But this country chooses to spend its monies on its war industry, sending billions of dollars in guns, tanks, and missiles to other countries, while spending zero dollars to help mothers and babies. Are we investing in the survival of our future? Or is the investment in the destruction of our planet and its people.
Mentioning breastfeeding or relactation (bringing back a milk supply after untimely weaning) as a possible solution to this out-of-stock infant formula situation has had the expected response from the media. From that’s impossible to suggestions that mentioning breastfeeding makes formula feeding mothers feel bad. Well, for mom’s who are pregnant and in their 3rd trimester or formula feeding mothers interested in trying or returning to breastfeeding, it may be a solution to scarcity of infant formula for infants.
Relactation
For moms who have weaned their babies from the breast or for moms who have only formula-fed, they need to know that relactation is possible. A mother can bring back a milk production after quitting, if she can get her baby back to the breast. I relactated and I was lucky that I had a baby that went back and forth from the breast to the bottle. This was in 1982 before I realized babies can be cup fed. Mothers can use cups rather than bottles, since one never knows whether a baby will easily transition to the breast from a bottle. Some babies do, but some babies have great difficulty. I did not have a breast pump or any other gadgets that are now recommended. And think that if I had had to pump or use a nursing supplementer, I would probably have not succeeded at relactation. But then I am not a gadget person, and don’t like spending my time pumping or hand expressing or figuring out a nursing supplementer. And having to clean all those things, would not have appealed to me, besides making up infant formula/sterilizing bottles. Luckily I had never seen a breast pump in 1982 (although they had pumps then) and I don’t think they had nursing supplementers back then or I had never seen one.
I did not initiate relactation when my baby was hungry. A hungry baby, just like a hungry adult, will find learning a new skill difficult. I gave her some of her bottle, and then put her to my breast. She latched on right away. She never took a pacifier, it always went flying across the room. So I think that not sucking on a pacifier, made her more interested in getting her sucking needs met at the breast. Gradually over the days I lowered the amount of infant formula and increased the amount of times I breastfed in a day as well as the length of time of each breastfeeding session. Eventually, I went back to exclusively breastfeeding her—no infant formula. Many relactation pamphlets I have seen, seem unduly pessimistic about fully relactating. And the first thing stated is the need to pump. Certainly pumping will bring in a milk supply quickly in the beginning, but spending nursing time is more vital than pumping (yes my opinion because of my experience).
Moms need to know how milk is produced, that nipple stimulation through breastfeeding or hand expression or pumps is important. Priority should be getting the baby to the breast as often as possible. And moms can also hand express or pump, and use a cup to feed the baby her milk, unless they can’t manage it all. Pumps aren’t a necessity, confidence in your body, understanding and support from family or friends are far more important.
Mothers who are employed and have new babies may have to go back to work as soon as 2 weeks postpartum. All the problems in breastfeeding usually occur in the first 6 weeks postpartum: sore nipples, breast infections, concerns about baby’s weight gain. Going back so early, usually means the demise of breastfeeding, because how do you fix those problems if they happen and get ready to go back to work? Is this a mother’s failure? No it is a society’s failure to protect a new mother and her baby by giving her paid leave.
There are many books, research literature, and people knowledgeable about breastfeeding. Read as much as you can, and find people who are supportive, and who will listen to your particular needs. And don’t expect one book or one piece of research or one person to be the only answer. Life is complex, keep searching and asking questions. Find positive people in your life, who recognize that there are a variety of ways to accomplish a goal. And what may be logical for one person is not necessarily the truth for someone else. Peace and love. Email me, if you want more information on relactation or support for breastfeeding. valeriewmcclain@gmail.com
Copyright 2022 Valerie W. McClain
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