Best for Babes

Bear with me while I make an analogy between breastfeeding and fishing, and tell me if you think I’ve gone off the deep end.

There is an old saying:  “Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; teach a man a fish, you feed him for a lifetime.”

It would be easy to apply that to breastfeeding:   “Give a newborn artificial baby milk, you feed him for a day; teach the baby’s mother to breastfeed, you feed, nurture and improve the health of both for a lifetime, so that mothers, babies, healthcare, employers, society and the planet benefit.”

Upon visiting this fishmarket in Catania, Sicily, I learned that aggressive industrial & commercial fishing threatens the livelihood of local, small-scale fishermen. It also destroys the breeding ground of the bluefin tuna, diminishes biodiversity and threatens the health of our planet.

But here’s the rub. What if it is not easy to teach a man to fish?   What if men have had the best intentions of fishing, only to go to the lake, and find that the fish have been depleted by aggressive practices, or the waters polluted, or signs and fences put up threatening anyone who tries to fish?   What if men were being told that fishing is great for them, and healthy too, but every day they are handed a bag of fast food which just seems so much easier than getting prepared for fishing, and putting in the time and effort to secure a good catch of fresh fish?  What if the teachers who are supposed to teach men to fish are being bought out to promote fast food, too, because while fishing has huge long-term advantages, it takes just a little more work, a little more support?   What if the few fishermen who succeeded in fishing, are heckled and jeered at?   How many fishermen then, do you think, will really survive this process?

It’s no different for breastfeeding. 74% of new moms have the desire to breastfeed, but given all the cultural and institutional barriers, i.e. “the booby traps” that we have written about, it is no wonder that so few mothers are learning how to breastfeed.   (For more about the “booby traps”, see our Moms Rising piece in response to Hannah Rosin, our Martin Luther King Day inspired post, and hey, we even wrote a song: The Twelve Breastfeeding Days of Christmas).

So that leaves the question.  What do we do? Do we continue to try to teach the man to fish, one man at a time, and leave him to fend for himself against the forces that threaten the fishing industry?  Do we continue to send mothers to support groups, or to get expert lactation counseling (if they can afford it), and stand by wringing our hands as they are being failed by the lack of a breastfeeding infrastructure, and are being undermined by barriers?   Do we continue to tell them the benefits of fishing breastfeeding, and heap pressure on them while allowing them to be threatened and suffer botched and negative breastfeeding experiences?  Do we wait for them to tell each other their horror stories–stories that did not need to be, most of which could have either been prevented or easily solved by preparation and early, proper lactation management–and discourage each other?  Do we stand by as more mothers are robbed of an exquisitely intimate and precious experience with their babies that is as instinctive as kissing the ones we love?

There is another way, the way of social entrepreneurship. Ashoka Founder Bill Drayton, once famously said that “social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry.”

Social entrepreneurs are “change agents,”  creating “large-scale change through pattern-breaking ideas,”  “addressing the root causes” of social problems,  possessing “the ambition to create systemic change by introducing a new idea and persuading others to adopt it,”  and changing “the social systems that create and maintain” problems.  These types of transformative changes can be national or global. They can also often be highly localized—but no less powerful—in their impact. Most often, social entrepreneurs who create transformative changes combine innovative practices, deep and targeted knowledge of their social issue area, applied and cutting-edge research, and political savvy to reach their goals. For all entrepreneurs, whether in the business or social realm, innovation is not a one-time event—but continues over time.–Skoll Foundation

And that is precisely what the breastfeeding movement needs, and what Best for Babes aims to deliver:   the passion, drive, creativity and innovation needed to revolutionize the breastfeeding movement and make it the Mother of All Causes.  For this reason, we are going to be nominated for the prestigious Ashoka fellowship by a titan in the foundation world who believes that we fit the criteria of a social entrepreneur.   It is a ridiculous long shot (past nominees have gone on to win the Nobel prize, haha) and we’ll just be honored to be nominated.  Heck, we’ll just be excited to finish the draft application we started last year.

We need your help. These days, it takes a village to protect the mother so she can feed her baby; and we are building that village one volunteer, one advocate, one influencer, one donation at a time.   It is your involvement, and your commitment to us, that will determine whether we succeed or fail.   It is our collective collaboration that will determine whether we can bring together not only the 2% of women who made it to one year of breastfeeding exclusively (the “choir” most of us are preaching to) but the 72% of women–some three million every year–that try to breastfeed, and the billions more that wanted to breastfeed but were set up to fail.     Moreover, let’s bring in those who are affected by a society that doesn’t support breastfeeding; the spouses, the employers, the health care system, the schools . . . and take to the streets, like those marching under the other pink ribbon, and race for the cure literally under our nose.  Trust us, if we can get everyone past the destructive trio of pressure, judgment and guilt, and unite all who have been affected by “the booby traps,” our numbers will be greater than any other cause to date.  It’s time to harness that formidable energy.

Will you join us?   This year we have accomplished much to set this ball into motion–our innovative celebrity interviews and our groundbreaking ad campaign are gaining steam (80 blogs are now carrying it!).  We are getting our message and our CREDO out into the media (through incredible coverage in SHAPE and Fit Pregnancy magazines among others), and we are the first non-profit to change the conversation by shifting the pressure OFF moms and on to the barriers that keep them from achieving their personal goals.   Despite being “outsiders” to the medical/scientific world, we’ve won over the breastfeeding movement leadership (see left, we made the front page of an AAP newsletter!)– we brought down the house at the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, and we’re slated for the Healthy Children Conference and the United States Breastfeeding Committee Conference in January–trust us, our message will shake up the status quo.   We have jumped headfirst into social media, becoming one of the fastest growing breastfeeding causes on Facebook and one of the only breastfeeding non-profits that is blogging and is active on Twitter.  We have dazzled more potential corporate allies than we’ve been able to follow up with, and there is tremendous untapped opportunity here to follow in the footsteps of the great cause-related marketing campaigns.

Truthfully we’ve bitten off more than we can chew, and that is the curse of being passionately obsessed with social change:  we can see so clearly what needs to happen to help moms and raise breastfeeding rates that we tend to ignore our very human limitations of time and funding.   But that’s okay.  As much as we’d like to be the type that does one thing and one thing well, instead of the type that sets a bazillion things in motion, we know that it is more important right now to act as a catalyst to put a little rocket fuel under this cause and elevate it to the stature that it deserves.   There is much, much work to be done, but we know you will stand with us, shoulder to shoulder!

We look forward to an awesome 2010 with you!

Under the influence of the holiday spirit,  (and late nights of deranged cookie-baking) I re-wrote the 12 Days of Christmas to reflect the Best for Babes vision of what it would take to really help moms.  I’ve explained below why each of these gifts would rebuild our shattered breastfeeding infrastructure, and contribute to a world where all mothers who want to breastfeed could meet their personal breastfeeding goals without pressure, judgment or guilt.  Moms, babies, our society and the planet would benefit.

Before you continue reading, click on the image to the right, and go ahead and sing it!  It’s more fun when you actually do it. It may take a bit of nimbleness, but I tried it out on my kids and husband, so can vouch that it is sing-able.

(As Dr. Seuss might put it, you can sing it to your hospital, doctor, employer and store, sing it at the mall, they’ll ask for more!  Sing it far and sing it loud, sing it to the squeamish crowd.  Sing it at your breastfeeding meeting, sing it as a friendly greeting.   Sing it to help moms succeed, and fulfill every breastfeeding need!”)

Print-out version of  Best for Babes’ Breastfeeding Days of Christmas

How 12 Gifts Would Rebuild Our Shattered Breastfeeding Infrastructure

A mother wanting to breastfeed: 74% of mothers want to breastfeed and are trying to breastfeed, but only 40% are achieving their personal goals, and only 12% are making it to the American Academy of Pediatric’s minimum recommendation of six months exclusive breastfeeding.   Even worse, most moms are not even getting through the first few days or weeks of exclusive breastfeeding, and it is not their fault.   Moms are being pressured to breastfeed but set up to fail by insidious “booby traps”–cultural and institutional barriers.  It is as bad as telling someone to run a race and handing them flip-flops. For more about awful mixed messages we are giving moms, see this excellent article by babygooroo.com.

Two doula/midwives: Having a labor doula or midwife can lower the risk of a c-section, reduce labor time, perception of pain, and generally provide superior birth outcomes, which lead to better breastfeeding initiation.   Many ob/gyns and hospitals welcome the participation of a labor doula as it makes their job easier, think of it as an experienced coach who can help you way more than your husband/partner, who in all likelihood, has never delivered a baby.

Three support groups: La Leche League is the largest and best known mother-to-mother support group provider; there are also support groups springing up through IBCLCs, Maternity and breastfeeding boutiques, and hospitals.  Shop around, not all support groups are created equal and word of mouth will lead you to the best ones.  Support groups that are judgmental or do not provide accurate, scientifically-proven information are a hidden “booby trap.”

Four (FABM) MDs: FABM stands for a Fellow of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, and means that this physician has demonstrated advanced knowledge and skills in breastfeeding and lactation management (read between the lines: this doctor is not just giving “breast is best” lip service while handing out formula samples and undermining moms).   Similar to FAAP (Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics) it follows the physician’s credentials, e.g. Caroline Chantry, MD, FABM .    We dream of a day when not just Ob/Gyns and pediatricians are FABMs, but allergy, diabetes, heart disease and other specialities that are impacted by increased breastfeeding rates.  When an expecting mother sees her allergist, he/she should be encouraging her to breastfeed, and discussing it in a supportive, evidence-based framework!  For more on choosing a breastfeeding-friendly physician, click here.

Five Baby-Friendly Hospitals: This is a biggie, which is why it goes in the “5 golden rings line.”  Only 3% of the 3,000 maternity and birth centers in the U.S. are designated “Baby-Friendly” under the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative.    The Centers for Disease Control found that 70% of hospitals perform poorly on breastfeeding support; no wonder moms are not making it through the first few days!   If all maternity & birth centers followed the ten steps to Baby-Friendly, such as rooming-in, latching the baby in the first hour, avoiding pacifiers and bottles, providing donated, screened, pasteurized human milk from a milk bank if supplementation is needed, and not handing out gift bags filled with formula samples (shown to reduce breastfeeding duration), we’d see a meteoric rise in breastfeeding rates (and population health improvement, and employee morale, and reduction in carbon emissions, etc.–we could go on and on).   Moms are being “booby-trapped” by the hospitals they trust, and it has got to stop.   Let’s move the nurse-ins to the hospital lobbies, and start writing respectful, but firm letters to hospital CEOs and copying them to the media.

Six great IBCLCs: An IBCLC is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant.   To find the best ones, click here, and be aware that like in every other field, there are some quacks.  If your “lactation specialist” in the hospital is judgmental, grabs your boob, hands out nipple shields like candy, or otherwises raises your finely-tuned mom’s instinct antennae, call your La Leche League group, friendly doula/midwife, or local breastfeeding boutique for the name of a good one that can visit you in the hospital.  We urge you to complain to the CEO of your hospital if you have a negative experience, and write a letter of commendation if you were helped.  Copy it to your local newspaper.

Seven partners protecting: The role of your partner or spouse in protecting the breastfeeding relationship when a mother is at her most fragile and vulnerable is invaluable.   Forget sending him or her to labor classes (get a doula instead); make sure your husband or partner is educated about the hospital booby traps and is ready to bare their teeth to all the insidious attempts to derail your breastfeeding efforts.  This is where he/she can really be your hero.

Eight friends a-helping: Not only should your friends cheer you on for your decision to breastfeed, they should line themselves up to cook, clean, babysit your toddler, grocery shop and run errands for you.   Your job is to rest and to get the hang of breastfeeding, you are an athelete in training with a single focus.  Entertaining guests is for later!

Nine celebs a-nursing: Celebrities are hugely influential in our celeb-obsessed culture, and can have a positive influence on the many women who have few or no breastfeeding role models.  After Angelina Jolie’s breastfeeding cover on W magazine, many women wrote that if she could nurse twins, they felt empowered to do it too.  We also need more celebrities to talk about more benefits of breastfeeding than just losing weight, and share their intimate breastfeeding stories in our context of helping moms (see our interviews with Kelly Rutherford and Gabrielle Reece).  We need celebrities to nurse in public to show solidarity with moms who face huge social disapproval for nursing discreetly, or are outright discriminated against.    We need celebrities to lobby for the Breastfeeding Promotion Act, and increased funding for breastfeeding infrastructure . . . in short, breastfeeding needs a Bono, Fox, Gere or Gore.   Salma, Angelina, Gwyneth, Sigourney:  we need your help!

Ten nursing nooks: Boy are we tired of hearing about moms who are thrown out of stores, restaurants and even airplanes for breastfeeding.   It’s really getting old. And just for the record, most moms prefer to be discreet, but some babies yank those blankets right off.   Wouldn’t it be great if every mall, every shopping plaza, and every airport had a cozy nursing lounge (i.e. NOT the bathroom)?   And every store and restaurant had a quick and easy supportive breastfeeding policy?  We’re working on it, and have an exciting platform, but we need your help to raise the funds to make it a reality.    We’d love it if big breastfeeding-friendly retailers like Nordstrom would sponsor it; and it would help the image and PR of Target, Applebees, Victoria’s Secret and Starbucks if they would jump on board too.   Did we mention that 74% of moms try to breastfeed?   That’s at least 3 million moms per year, and billions that have ever breastfed!

Eleven strangers cheering: Best for Babes is working to change the breastfeeding culture in the United States so that the public not only accepts breastfeeding, but thinks it’s cool, hip and fabulous.   This takes giving breastfeeding a makeover and branding and “marketing it to be as mainstream as motherhood itself”.   This does not mean the overbearing lecture to moms on all the benefits of breastfeeding, it means setting a positive example and attracting women to breastfeeding so they are psyched and pumped up to breastfeed, much like working out or making any other lifestyle change!   Face it, we all need a little motivation (benefits are great, but a cute workout suit can help too) to get to the gym, and breastfeeding is no different:  some helpful information, some stellar breastfeeding products that make it more fun and a little easier can go a long way.   Most of all, it takes a culture that adopts the Best for Babes credo of cheering on, coaching and celebrating ALL moms to make informed breastfeeding decisions, and achieve their personal breastfeeding goals whether it is one week one month or one year or not at all.  We need to gently lower the defensiveness of women who didn’t breastfeed or couldn’t breastfeed by ending the horrible cycle of pressure, judgment and guilt.   Like seatbelts and sunscreen, our mothers didn’t know better.   Many of our peers were “booby-trapped” by the barriers, and feel awful about it, and are blaming themselves not realizing they were set up to fail.   Some moms truly can’t breastfeed–how do you argue with a double mastectomy, or medication contraindicated by breastfeeding, or having tried everything to no avail?  If 95% of women are capable of breastfeeding successfully, there are still 5% that are not, no matter how many IBCLCs they see.  Another reason we need more milk banks!  Most importantly, ALL moms deserve compassion and respect.   With a little TLC for all, we’ll find the “breast vs. bottle” debate  and the mommy and boob wars will lose steam and that even the moms who decided not to breastfeed or couldn’t breastfeed because of barriers will start cheering moms on.   Case in point:  My co-founder’s mother, who didn’t breastfeed her daughter, is one of our staunchest supporters.  My special request, please read these two articles if you are a breastfeeding advocate (hint: become a mom advocate first):  “Shame and the Mom: A Boob Story” by herbadmother.com, and “When Boobs Collide” by Hisboyscanswim.com.

Twelve supportive employers: This is last on the list because the reality is that most new moms are not making it past the first few days and weeks of exclusive breastfeeding, long before their maternity leave ends and they go back to work.  (Oh yeah, and we have some of the worst maternity leave policies of any industrialized nation, so let’s assume that not all mothers even get maternity leave, unlike most European countries with high breastfeeding rates that provide a year or more.   Some companies provide 3 months but that is not enough.)   But the specter of having to fight for the right and the breaks to pump on the job, be sneered at and harassed, and have no place to pump besides the bathroom or a dirty closet with an outlet, can discourage many working moms from trying to breastfeed in the first place.   And the ironic kicker?   Breastfeeding benefits a company’s bottom line; less sick days used, lower employee turnover, higher morale, lower benefits expenses, better attraction of qualified employees, the list goes on.  Go figure.

I wasn’t planning on blogging but a post from a  PR & communications expert I really respect caught my eye.   He marveled at Dr. King’s ability, called him the “King of all Communicators” and urged us to read King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”

Since my New Year’s wish is to “Be Inspired,”  I didn’t mind reading the nine-page letter.   What I didn’t expect was to find a parallel to the breastfeeding movement. 

When I talk to people about what I do, I find that many people don’t understand what the big deal is about breastfeeding.   Isn’t it natural and easy?  Aren’t most women breastfeeding?   Why the protests and “nurse-ins”?  Why do women keep making such a big fuss about it?

So I tend to do intuitively what Dr. King did, when he explained “why we can’t wait”–he gave us a moving, visceral and poignant snapshot of what it meant, at that time, to be a Negro.   In the same vein, I try to give people who don’t understand the urgency I feel, the opportunity to stand in a new mother’s shoes.  

Imagine you are expecting your first child.   Your mother didn’t breastfeed, so she can’t show you how, share her experience, or tell you what to expect.   You take a class at the hospital about childbirth, but it doesn’t include even the basics of breastfeeding.   Most of your friends didn’t breastfeed, or maybe you are the first in your group to have a baby.  Your ob/gyn never speaks to you about feeding choices, because his job pretty much ends at delivery.   You give birth in a country that has an astronomically high caesarean and birth intervention rates, which negatively impact breastfeeding.   Your baby is supplemented in the hospital with formula, against your wishes.   A certified lactation counselor is not on staff during the weekend you delivered, or is overwhelmed with patients.   You are discharged before your milk comes in or breastfeeding is established, and your “gift” is a diaper bag filled with formula samples and information which has been proven to undermine breastfeeding duration.   Because your baby was given a bottle in the hospital, he/she has a poor latch:  breastfeeding becomes unnecessarily painful and you have to track down a lactation consultant who makes home visits, doesn’t scare you, and is covered even minimally by your health insurance.   The clock is ticking and your husband hates to see you suffer and struggle, so he tells you ”it’s okay to give the baby formula.”   You go online and find a sea of misinformation or language that’s so technically scientific, it’s over your head.   Miraculously, you get help, stick it out, go to great lengths to leave the room every time you nurse the baby, yet your mother-in-law and friends ask you “when are you going to give that baby a bottle.”   Your pediatrician charts your baby’s weight against formula-fed babies and thinks she/he is undernourished, undermining your confidence and self-esteem.   By the way, it turns out no one in your pediatrician’s office is certified as a lactation counselor, or can give you any answers or refer you for your breastfeeding questions.   If you are lucky to have a maternity leave, or are able to afford unpaid leave, you may feel, as Michelle Obama reportedly did, that you have to go back to work just as you have gotten the hang of breastfeeding.   Perhaps you won’t be able to negotiate a flexible work schedule, as she did.   Most likely, especially if you are a blue-collar worker, you will have to fight for pumping breaks, put up with sneers from co-workers, and find an empty broom closet with an outlet.   If you are a stay-at-home mom, you will be expected to STAY AT HOME, and not feed your baby while you are running errands to feed the rest of your family or keep your home going; you will face social disapproval, rude stares, and risk getting kicked out of stores, airplanes, the mall.   You will need to have the same endurance and perseverance as an athelete trying to run a race in flip-flops while being jeered at from the crowd.   At any of these points, that free sample of formula starts to look quite appealing, and maybe some of the sneakiest formula advertising messages have worked their way into your subliminal consciousness, such as “Strong babies start here” even though your rational mind knows very well, that in fact, they don’t.  If you throw in the towel, which most new moms understandably do, you will probably be berated for NOT breastfeeding by the very same people who didn’t want you to breastfeed in public, and didn’t want you to make a fuss. 

So, if you wonder why women get so riled up, we hope you will not think that it is just because we want to breastfeed in public.  Many of us aren’t trying to make a point of breastfeeding in public, or on Facebook; If we post pictures for our friends, it’s usually because we are proud of ourselves, and amazed at what our bodies, and our babies, can do.  We just want to be able to feed our babies when they are hungry, without having to break into a sweat finding a bathroom, a closet, or a car.   We just want to be able to succeed at breastfeeding AT ALL without having the rug constantly pulled out from under us.  

As the inauguration of President Obama unfolds, we want what Michelle Obama says she wants for us, a balance of work and family.   We have high hopes for the new administration.  Hopes that breastfeeding’s health benefits and healthcare cost savings, employment savings, and environmental boost to the planet, and the rights of mothers and babies, will finally become more important than the agenda of powerful lobbyists and their industries.   We have waited too long, and as Dr. King says, ”our cups of endurance runneth over”–and truly they do, whether they are size A, B, C or double D.  

What saddens me most is not that most people don’t understand the many obstacles to breastfeeding–especially breastfeeding longer than a nanosecond–that new moms in the U.S. face, or don’t understand that breastfeeding can actually be easy and wonderful if proper support is in place.   What saddens me is that most new moms themselves don’t realize that although they were urged to breastfeed, they were set up to fail.   They unfairly blame themselves, and perpetuate the myth that “they couldn’t breastfeed,” when probably they could have, if only they had been helped along the way.   They don’t see that breastfeeding moms are being discriminated against, even segregated today, and in the exhausted fog of new motherhood, have come to accept what should be unacceptable.  They don’t see that the “mommy wars” have been fueled to pit breastfeeding mother against bottle-feeding mother and to conveniently avoid uncovering the real culprits that are undermining both. 

Please know that not all mothers experience all of these obstacles.   For some, breastfeeding is immediately easy and problem-free.  There are phenomenal hospitals that follow breastfeeding support protocol.   I know ob/gyns and pediatricians who are herculean in their efforts to support breastfeeding mothers, even though much of our health insurance system does not support them to devote the extra time.  There are mothers and in-laws and friends who will encourage you to breastfeed, even if they didn’t, some recognize that they were sold out, too.   Their willingness to put their defensiveness aside and end the guilt trip is admirable.  

I hope you will allow me to extend the inspiration, just for today, and paraphrase Dr. King’s closing:  If I’ve overstated the truth, and shown an unreasonable impatience, I beg your forgiveness.   If I’ve understated the truth, and shown patience to settle for anything less than an end to discrimination against breastfeeding mothers, than I am really failing you all.

By now you may have heard about the huge flap over Facebook removing photos of women nursing, the ensuing online protest on December 27th (Reuters) as it is being debated throughout the media, i.e. the Times, ABC News, the NY Times and lots and lots of blogs.  Discussions center on the issue of public breastfeeding, and whether Facebook can control social media information (SF Gate).  

Facebook is not budging on the issue but let’s look at the very fat silver lining.   In serving the interests of a few squeamish about nursing, Facebook’s tactic has backfired and breastfeeding is unexpectedly back in the limelight.   In the past few days, groups and causes have been sprouting up on Facebook like weeds—some nasty, but many very nice—in support of breastfeeding.  

Expecting Models Jessica Hebert

 By the way, the glam photo of Best for Babes’   breastfeeding cover girl has not been taken down from Facebook, but it doesn’t violate their terms either, as far as we can tell!

If we get lucky, and breastfeeding gets a Bono, there is a chance that the media will shift the spotlight away from the Facebook/public nursing debate (is it just another “mommy war”?), to the insidious barriers that are clouding the breastfeeding experience and success of so many women.  The media has done a fantastic job covering new scientific studies about the benefits of breastfeeding, and we’re certainly glad that they have been covering the Facebook controversy, and mostly siding with breastfeeding moms.

We just wish they’d take start asking questions, like “why is breastfeeding more difficult in the U.S. than in other industrialized nations?”   Same species, same boobs, right?  The answer is a different culture. 

The sad fact is that that most U.S. women quit breastfeeding exclusively–despite their best intentions–long before they can even try nursing in public, or are even thinking about taking a photo of themselves and posting it on Facebook.   Many women throw in the towel within days or weeks of giving birth.   The social and cultural obstacles to breastfeeding are huge:  the disapproval of family and friends, the shocking fact that only 3% of U.S. maternity centers follow a protocol proven to result in breastfeeding success, the worst maternity leave policies of any industrialized nation, and workplace and health care discrimination, to name just a few.   Some doctors make herculean efforts to support their patients to breastfeed (despite being squeezed between health care paperwork and malpractice lawsuits); many doctors give it lip service (pun!) at best.   Despite clear evidence that the first few hours and days in the hospital can make or break breastfeeding, news that most hospitals perform poorly on breastfeeding support barely makes it across the mainstream radar, and is quickly forgotten if it does. 

In the meantime, we’re happy to have Facebook give breastfeeding moms all the face time in the media that we can get.

Happy New Year!   

I love January 1st.   I roll out of bed, ignore the piles of laundry, and putter about, thinking of the promise of another brand-spanking-new year.

I’m not so great at resolutions.   Last year I made a resolution to start training to run my first marathon, only to find out that I actually despise running.   I’m not so great at predictions either, either I don’t trust my intuitions enough or I rationalize my way into trusting ones that I don’t have.

So for 2009, I am going to stick to a simple wish for you and your loved ones:   may you wake up each day inspired.   Perhaps you want to improve your health, your parenting skills, the environment, or your linen closet.    Perhaps you want to save a life, save a puppy, communicate your brand, or make sure that your charitable contributions are money well spent.    Perhaps you want to find a better balance in life, learn to relax, or take up a new hobby. 

So we urge you:  throw off the heavy yoke of “should” and “must”!   Put on the light and fluid robe of motivation.   Find the people, places or things that inspire you the most and hold them close to your heart.   Stick their pictures on the inside of your closet door, start a journal, make a collage with your kids.   It may not come easily, it may come in fits and bursts, but allow inspiration to breathe life and meaning into everything you do, and to inform your imagination, your strategies, and your actions. 

As we continue our mission of tackling low breastfeeding continuation rates in the U.S.–a seemingly intractable social problem with devastating health, environmental and economic consequences–we find that the thing that keeps us going most is inspiration.   It’s the kind of thing that if you ask for it, it will find you.

So as we close 2008 and start 2009, we thank YOU for inspiring us . . . we couldn’t do it without you!

The fabulous Motherwear Blog has posted a roundup of the top truly inspirational breastfeeding celebrities in 2008.   Kelly’s list starts with Angelina Jolie for raising the bar with the gorgeous W magazine cover, and moves on to down-to-earth, ”I’ll lose the weight soon enough, now I’m focused on breastfeeding and doing the best for my baby” moms Melissa Joan Hart and Minnie Driver.   Best for Babes is thrilled that the Motherwear post included our exclusive interview with Gabrielle Reece, superstar athelete, model, fitness guru and now host of “The Honey Line“!   Read the complete post here to see what the Motherwear blog has to say about Christina Aguilera, Kelly Rutherford, Salma Hayek, Nicole Richie and Gwen Stefani.

One celebrity we’d like to see included in the list is Jessica Alba, who got a lot of attention in January 2008 when she confessed that she was more ”paranoid” about breastfeeding than she was about childbirth.   She went on to appear on the cover of Fit Pregnancy in June shortly before giving birth to Honor Marie, and credited breastfeeding to being able to lose her baby weight.   There’s some scuttlebutt that she didn’t stick with it for very long, but the point is, she tried it, which for moms that are squeamish is a big deal!   We think it’s great that she was honest about her misgivings, and great that she gave it a whirl–some 30% of new moms don’t try to breastfeed at all–not even once!–so we say that women who are on the fence need role models too.   And let’s not forget that of the 70% of women that try to breastfeed, most throw in the towel in the first few weeks, despite their best intentions.  (And that’s another story!)  The fact is, that all moms, even Jessica Alba, are being routinely undermined and discriminated against in their breastfeeding efforts.    They need our support and understanding, not judgement.  

None of us would be able to report on all the celebrities breastfeeding without the leadership of Danielle Friedland, founder of the Celebrity Baby Blog (CBB).   CBB was recently bought by People magazine and gets some 10 million page visits per month (!), making it a powerful advocate for breastfeeding moms.   To find breastfeeding celebs on CBB, scroll down to the category archives in the extreme bottom right corner of the home page.

Do you have a favorite breastfeeding celebrity, past or present?

Well, neither did I, but I sure wasn’t going to tell anyone about it.   I suspect that there are many other women who feel the way I did.  I didn’t admit it to anyone because I didn’t want anyone hitting me over the head with the benefits of breastfeeding, telling me how long I had to breastfeed, or otherwise guilting me or putting on the pressure.

So we wrote a piece for our friends who don’t want to breastfed, and we hope you will tell us what you think.   It’s right on the home page of http://www.bestforbabes.com under “Inspire”. 

Check it out and let me know!

The W magazine issue with Brad Pitt’s photo of Angelina Jolie breastfeeding on the cover hit the stands today.   The leaked photo kicked off a media frenzy, scored high approval ratings, and is being hailed as an inspiration to nursing mothers world-wide.   The question now is, can Ms. Jolie help nursing moms overcome the cultural and institutional barriers—the booby traps—that are keeping them from succeeding at breastfeeding?  Can this gorgeous photo create a cultural acceptance and appreciation of breastfeeding in the same way that Demi Moore’s Vanity Fair cover helped others appreciate the beauty of a pregnant woman’s body, and set off a booming maternity industry?

The truth is that most U.S. women throw in the breastfeeding towel in the first few weeks.  Given that low breastfeeding rates have devastating health, social, economic and environmental consequences, breastfeeding desperately needs a Bono, Gates or Gore.  Ms. Jolie’s leadership as a cultural icon and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador could create the tipping point needed to improve the health of millions of mothers and babies.

And yes, we are trying to contact Ms. Jolie, but it may be easier to get a date with the pope. 

When we tell people we are in the boob business this is what we hear:   

1)   What’s the big deal?   Aren’t most moms breastfeeding? 

No.  Although 64% of new mothers try breastfeeding, only 14% make it to the minimum six months exclusive breastfeeding recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.  Worse, most throw in the towel in the first few weeks.  Compare that to Sweden’s rates of 99% initiating and 79% nursing at 6 months, respectively, no wonder the U.S. has one of the lowest rates of breastfeeding among all industrialized nations.   Thousands of needless deaths, and billions in health care costs in the U.S. could be prevented by raising our national breastfeeding rate.  

Especially shocking is that breastfeeding rates actually declined from 70% in 2002 to 63.6% in 2006 following the Government’s $40 million ad campaign highlighting the risks of not breastfeeding.  This nearly invisible campaign was botched under powerful lobbying pressure from the formula companies–who increased their own advertising budgets from $30 million to $50 million while the ads ran.  To top it off, the government buckled to pressure and held back a press release on a major meta-study underscoring the risks of not breastfeeding (see below)–information that prospective parents DESERVE to have. 

2)  I wasn’t breastfed and I turned out fine.  

Another way of looking at this statement is to compare it to statements like “I didn’t wear a seatbelt when I was a kid and I turned out fine” or “I didn’t wear sunscreen as a kid and I don’t have skin cancer.” 

For the first example,  seatbelts, we all know by now that seatbelts save lives, mostly because of a brilliant ad campaign that drummed it into our heads, and statistics on crash fatalities involving seatbelts or lack thereof.  Luckily for the seatbelt campaign, there were various industries that benefitted from seatbelt laws: automakers that installed them meaning new cars had to be purchased, and law enforcement that could fine if people were not wearing seatbelts!    Most importantly, there were no industries that were lobbying against or advertising against wearing seatbelts, as it would be really bad public relations.   Not so for breastfeeding.   It gets lobbied against and combined marketing budgets total in the billions. 

In the second example, skin cancer, it’s somewhat like the first; we know frying in the sun without sunscreen increases the risk of skin cancer, and effective advertising campaigns combined with industries that stand to benefit made for a great combination in educating the public. 

But what if you add “yet” to the end of the sunscreen sentence?  “I didn’t wear sunscreen, and I don’t have skin cancer, yet”.   That’s really what we should hear when someone says “I wasn’t breastfed, and I turned out fine.”   You may be fine for now.  And we don’t want to scare anyone, but everybody is working really hard to sweep the risks of formula under the rug, and that is not right, or ethical.   Parents deserve to know what the risks are, so they can make the best decision for themselves and their families.   

So why do so many people seem “fine”?   Well, for one thing, most people are not aware of the risks of not breastfeeding, so they are not thinking, I have digestive problems, or allergies, or diabetes, and it could be because I wasn’t breastfed.   So when people say, “I turned out fine,” we try not to debate on an individual basis, because every person is different!   Some people we know smoked like a chimney their whole lives and never got cancer, but nobody would dream of saying “smoking is fine.”  

One thing people might want to consider is that times have changed.  Our immune systems need all the help they can get given an increase in environmental stress, overuse of antibiotics, increase in vaccines (and the autoimmune diseases that may be related to that).  While the previous generation may have turned out fine not so for this generation, that has drastically increased rates of obesity, diabetes, Crohn’s disease, allergies and autism, to name a few.   Our view is that babies nowadays especially need all the help they can get, and that means breastmilk, either from the mother, or screened, pasteurized, donated human milk.  

Here is an excellent summary* of the news release that was withheld under the influence of formula lobbyists: 

Breastfeeding reduces babies’ risk of these diseases by:

• Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS):  36% 
• Type 1 Diabetes:  19-27%
• Type 2 Diabetes:  39%
• Leukemia (acute lymphocytic) :  19%
• Leukemia (acute myelogenous):  15%
• Asthma:  27%
• Gastrointestinal infections:  64%
• Lower respiratory tract diseases:  72% 
• Atopic dermatitis:  42%
• Acute otitis media:  50%

And breastfeeding reduces mothers‘ risk of these diseases by:

• Type 2 Diabetes:  4-12%
• Ovarian cancer:  21%
• Breast cancer:  28%  

*(from Motherwear’s breastfeeding blog,    “This information comes from a new meta-analysis (study of studies) from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.   This study looked over 9,000 studies on breastfeeding from developed countries, weeded out the ones with poor methodology, and came up with an overall percentage for each one.  This is harder than it sounds because “breastfeeding” is defined differently in each study.”)