Press Release: Best for Babes Reveals New Ad for World Breastfeeding Week; Urges More Help for Moms

Little Silver, NJ (August 4, 2009) –The Best for Babes Foundation released a provocative new ad to coincide with World Breastfeeding Week, which takes place from August 1-7 in 150 countries.

The eye-catching ad is a visual pun with a serious message:  Not only does breastfeeding save lives every day and in emergencies, but expecting moms need more help and to be better prepared to overcome insidious and systemic barriers to breastfeeding.  The ad urges expecting mothers to find a support group, get expert lactation help, and choose hospitals and physicians that are truly breastfeeding friendly.

Best for Babes LifeSaving Ad

See full-size ad below

Best for Babes Co-Founders Bettina Forbes and Danielle Rigg contend that women are being pressured to breastfeed, but prevented from succeeding.  “Moms don’t need more pressure, judgment or guilt,” says Forbes, who initially did not want to breastfeed.  “It’s the cultural and institutional barriers—or ‘booby traps’—that are keeping moms from making informed decisions, and keeping those moms who want to breastfeed from achieving their personal breastfeeding goals,” says Rigg,  who ran a successful lactation counseling practice.

What are the barriers?  “Last year, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that most U.S. hospitals actually thwart breastfeeding.  Add social disapproval, fear of nursing in public, insufficient insurance coverage for lactation counseling or supplies, and the beguiling and shameless promotion of infant formula, and you begin to get the full picture of how moms and babies are being thrown overboard,” asserts Forbes. “The U.S. has inadequate maternity leave policies.  While many employers offer smoking breaks, too few offer pumping breaks or lactation rooms, and breastfeeding women are not protected from being discriminated against or fired,” explains Rigg.

The new ad will run in the Fall/Winter issue of Mom & Baby and online through TheFamilyGroove.com and various blogs. Frank About Women, the nation’s leading marketing-to-women communications firm, donated the six-figure ad campaign entirely pro-bono. Leading breastfeeding experts and celebrities endorse the campaign, including Ruth Lawrence, M.D., Founder of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine and Chair of the Breastfeeding Section of the American Academy of Pediatrics; Joan Meek, M.D. Chair of the United States Breastfeeding Committee; actress and best-selling author Marilu Henner, and athelete and author Gabrielle Reece. The campaign is being backed by a growing corporate alliance of International Code Compliant companies, including Earth Mama Angel Baby, My Brest Friend, Hotslings, Pumpease, and My Baby Experts.


The Best for Babes Foundation was established in 2007 to give breastfeeding a makeover by using mainstream marketing and branding to inspire, prepare and empower moms, and to reveal and remove the barriers that keep moms from achieving their personal breastfeeding goals, despite their best intentions.  The Best for Babes Web site offers breastfeeding inspiration, help for moms who don’t want to breastfeed, a ground-breaking checklist for expectant moms, important information about navigating the “booby traps,” as well as opportunities to become involved.

For more information about the ad or Best for Babes:

The Best for Babes Foundation

P.O. Box 454

Little Silver, New Jersey 07739

www.bestforbabes.org

ZWIN PUB 08-06953 Mom and Baby-BfB_Life Saving_LO RES



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1 Comment | Last revised on 08/04/2009


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One Response to Press Release: Best for Babes Reveals New Ad for World Breastfeeding Week; Urges More Help for Moms

  1. I think the ad is amazing! I also think the Best for Babes approach is absolutely the right one - no more pressure, judgement or guilt to breastfeed, rather adequate support ACROSS THE BOARD from government, the healthcare industry and our culture WILL make a difference. We must persevere!

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