Took me a day to think of it lol

Wave hello to Brian Edwards' readers, everyone...



http://brianedwardsmedia.co.nz/2012/02/l...ful-fanaticism/

Oh please, dear god no.

Hey, and linked right back to us.

I wonder if anyone will bother to read.

But, yanno, they might pick up a few FACTS, and we wouldn't want that now, would we?

I AGREE, should have never ever ever become news, and geez poor Piri weepu being thrown into the fire of the media. and even thought I am errrring to the side of thinking its about time we show some bottle feeding support I don't think a govt funded anti-smoking ad is the time or the place.

However as an aside I also think it is reallly reallly sad that images like this are NEVER going to get the greenlight - why cant it be ok for a loving father to be seen feeding his child??? its ridiculous that it has to be shyed away from in especially where the baby wasn't newborn, or wasn't the mother feeding it -why does it have to be breast or nothing? - the man DOESNT HAVE A BLIMIN BREAST!!!.
If anything the sideline message that could be taken out of images like this is -'love your children even if you're a big tough guy, FEED your children even if you're a big tough guy, get involved even if you're a big tough guy' - I bet guys that spend time bonding with children in such a loving way are much much much less likely to be abusive towards them (and yes there are other ways of bonding - but c'mon now that feeding bonding is pretty special and its one of the major things promoted about BF even - so why is it soooo terrible to explore that same bonding for a father in social media/social context?? )-and I think thats a WAY WAY more important message than breast over bottle ALL THE TIME. YES breast is best , but it's time we move on a bit, formula isn't all doom and gloom, and to be perfectly honest it's quite insulting to those that do bottle feed (of which going by the formula in the supermarkets isn't just a tiny minority).
I'm so sick of the 'breast is best' being the ONLY message - and this is from a pro-breastfeeder who will defend BF to the grave, heck I fed mine til he was 3yrs (and then some on the side), I have spent many many many hours teaching woman how to latch babies and have put my back out leaning over syringe in hand painstakingly trying to suck up .5ml of colostrum while the mum desparately tries to coax some out .... I just think it sucks how this 'health' message polarises families doing something normal like oh i don't know 'feeding their child' and trumps other messages - which in the scheme of things could be much more important. I still agree this advertisement wasn't the right place or the right time......but is there ever going to be a right place/right time - where it is actually something we can talk about/support?

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EXCEPT the flaw here is that its a father feeding a 6mth+ child, which changes the message completely in my opinion. it's more like cutting an image of a baby being fed from a spoon bcos heaven forbid breast should still come b4 solids - yanno - ridiculours.

And why would that be, Cadiam? Breastfeeding being undermined somewhat?

Write to the MoH. Make submissions when they put calls out for their Infant and Child Health policies to be reviewed. Encourage bottlefeeding mothers who are badly supported to write to the Health and Disability Commissioner or their hospital patient advocate, citing the NZ Code of Practice for Health workers. Start a group.

If the baby is 6m old (she was 5mo at the time of filming) then GREAT, show a shot of him feeding her solids. No problemo. Bottlefeeding would still be inconsistent with public health promotion, which encourages exclusive bf to six months, and continued bf with complementary foods up to one year.

yes there is that, I wont deny Formula companies of that that's for sure. lol funny I KNEW you would pick that out of what I wrote. thought about editing it to portray more what I wanted to say - but you were too fast

but also the same reason there's food in the supermarket - people make choices, lead different lifestyles, not everyone lives out of their garden sort of thing (not that you have to live out of your garden to breast feed yanno) but yes the world is rife with consumerism, why is their mcDonalds, why is there Burger King, why are there even supermarkets???

and who are we to say it is all wrong? that they shouldn't make that choice?? whether they're bn marketed to or not! I think with all the pro BF stuff that goes on, it's a pretty fair market - in fact almost the other way - what FF mother doesn't feel guilty or like a failure at some point?? Why not back that mother up as well instead of just throwing more pro BF stuff down her throat??? just a thought, plus many many BF mums also offer formula as a supplement when their babies get older, it's not an all or nothing game.
I chose formula over cows milk when the time came, why? bcos it was MY CHOICE. it wasn't about breastfeeding being undermined, but about wanting something more that just cows milk. so formula V cows milk as opposed to breast.

What has this topic got to do with personal choices? Nobody is taking anyone's choices away. The MoH would prefer to normalise bf, because, in a population based context, it is healthier.

I think I just outlined how people might back up ff parents. The MoH isn't doing a good job, and should be, but the only people who can change that are..well... the people.

It's too late/early for me to be into technicalities of how old the child was when filming bcos I really don't know how old his child was or IS for that matter - just what was said earlier in the thread made it sound like this baby was over 6months anyway - so why the big drama!

Some of these I have done already, believe me - unfortunately it doesn't seem to make a difference in the day to day issues surrounding FF socially or professionally, it has been a problem that was a hot topic even when I had #1 8yrs ago and nothings changed AT ALL.
I have had to deny a bottle feeding mother advice before due to policy of the workplace I was in - total crap - the workplace shouldn't be put in a situation where bottle feeding advice is put in the don't touch basket in fear of violating codes, and in order to retain a perfect breastfeeding standard(what a load of rubbish), meanwhile an upset and anxious mum went home with a baby that wouldn't feed with no milk coming to her naturally.
(I wrote myself and encouraged her too).
social media can actually play a really important role here, but the message is just bombarded with 'too hard, don't touch, too many people will be up in arms about it'

I guess something about this stirred something up in me - like it was ok to rationalise why we cant see fathers doing this sort of thing or even be seen to show understanding/support for FF bcos it was 'rationalised' why it was ok to not show that image in the ad.

Why indeed. Its a question many have been asking, but they have been asking the wrong people.



Say hi to the Facebook people too, folks... someone called Peter has been busily watching our page. HI PETER.

http://www.facebook.com/BringBackTheBabyBottle

Then perhaps its time they and you brushed up on the Code of Practice for Health Workers.

Did you ever complain to/about your workplace?

I won't bother reposting the link, as I did earlier in the thread.

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I did, but as I was a student in the workplace - I really didn't count. I'm well brushed up thanks
bcos the codes are ummm well open to interpretation a little, quite a number choose the 'dont touch the subject at all ever' and therefore absolving ourselves of all responsibility in the area and abiding by our wonderful 'breastfeeding' record.

In what way are they 'open to interpretation?'

If you are referring to the Baby Friendly Hospital initiative, and its goals to have 90% of babies exclusively bf upon discharge, then I agree that there are some flaws in this programme, which hopefully should be ironed out when the Baby Friendly Community Initiative rolls out (presuming it still goes ahead) as it then means that a BFHI accredited hospital can't just tick their box to say a Mum has gone home excl. bf, but that she needs ongoing support once she is at home.