Breast-feeding is best, so ban bottles, Venezuelan lawmaker proposes

[The Straight Story]

Breast-feeding is best, so ban bottles, Venezuelan lawmaker proposes

Venezuelan lawmakers are weighing whether to ban the use of baby bottles as part of a push to promote breast-feeding, state media reported.

The proposed measure will be up for debate in the South American country's National Assembly on Tuesday, lawmaker Odalis Monzon said in an interview with state-run VTV.

"Every baby has the right to breast-feeding," said Monzon, a lawmaker from the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela.

In addition to banning bottle-feeding, the proposed revisions to Venezuela's Law of Promotion and Protection of Breastfeeding also include plans to penalize those who advertise baby formula, she said.

Transnational companies that market formula, she said, have interfered with a crucial bond between mother and child.

http://www.12newsnow.com/story/22618657/breast-feeding-is-best-so-ban-bottles-venezuelan-lawmaker-proposes

[Proud Liberal Dem]

1. I don't like these sort of things

not every mother is able to breast-feed and some may not want to. Mother's milk may be *best* for babies but it's not like women whom don't breastfeed are harming their babies. This guy must be Bloomberg's Venezuelan counterpart.

[tammywammy]

2. What about the women that cannot breast feed?

What a ridiculous idea to even contemplate.

[NickB79]

9. That was my wife. Our daughter couldn't latch properly

From the first day, my wife had major issues breast-feeding our daughter. The hospital staff were wonderful, and even went so far as to send a nurse out to our house several times after we left the hospital to try to make it happen, but no such luck. I've since been told this is actually pretty common.

[Justina For Justice]

14. Papua New Guinea Had Similar Law in the 1970's.

In order to encourage new mothers to breast-fed, the traditional method for thousands of years in Papua New Guinea, the government required that, if mothers were unable to breast-feed, they had to obtain a doctor's prescription to buy baby bottles. I believe the law was passed while the country was still an Australian colony.

The country's laws also mandated that women be allowed time to breast feed their babies while they were on the job, something that many other other countries still don't provide their nursing mothers.

The country became independent in 1975, but the same law may still be in effect today.

I lived there for in the late seventies and early eighties, and I considered the law a healthy move to protect infants from being fed coke, soft drinks or the sometimes dangerous baby milk substitutes that were frequently dumped in Third World countries.

I expect the Venezuelans have similar provisions in their proposed new law to allow for the purchase of baby bottles by mothers who are unable to breast feed.

[Godhumor]

3. Sincerely hope this goes nowhere.

I already thought lactation specialists at hospitals were overzealous...can't imagine adding legal weight to the mix.

[Squinch]

4. Good god, is there no end to the ways in which men think they are

entitled to use women's bodies.

"Every baby has the right to breast-feeding." No, they damn well do not. Every mother has the right to decide how she will feed her child.

[DavidDvorkin]

6. Odalis Monzon is a woman.

[Squinch]

18. !

Oops! Almost makes it even worse!

Thanks for pointing it out.

[Jarla]

5. So adopted babies should starve?

[Ilsa]

7. Sure. As soon as Daddy is able to nurse.

Okay, realistically, this group must be taking the same Stupid Pills that the Texas Lege is ingesting.

Yeah, ban bottles, but are they providing funding so that there are plenty of lactation specialists to help mothers with breastfeeding problems? Education increases breastfeeding rates, not stupid laws.

Are there are plenty of mothers that can't produce enough milk. Why do they think artificial milk was ever needed in the first place? Sorry, this can't be legislated. Another waste of time by a governing body.

[In_The_Wind]

8. Dictate what we do with our bodies.

I think not!

[Cairycat]

10. Some articles on this have implied it's not a bottle ban per se

But a ban on advertising bottles and idealizing them in advertising, along with limits on formula use being pushed by medical personnel. And there are exceptions in the proposed law in case of a mother's death, etc.

As a breastfeeding advocate, I think that what the law is attempting to do - decrease interference in parents' feeding decisions by multinational formula manufacturers, and limiting advertising - is good. I don't know if banning bottles is the best way to get at those goals. There probably is a danger of old or unsafe bottles being used, or unsuitable imports, etc. Of course, even premature infants can be cup fed, but it does take time and patience and taking one's cues from the baby, which are not the norm for bottle feeding.

With a very few rare exceptions (genetic diseases like galactosemia), breastfeeding is best for every infant. It may not be easiest or most convenient for every mother. Companies like Nestle have long taken advantage of that dissonance, making enormous profits in so doing. There does need to be stringent limits on formula advertising and what these companies can do. Governments need to do a much better job in legislating things like maternity leave and pumping breaks to aid breastfeeding. The medical community needs to stop accepting so many freebies (= bribes) from the manufacturers, and start giving out evidence-based information. Perinatal medical practices need to be scrutinized and those which promote breastfeeding used.

There will always be fewer babies breastfed than there could be, and many more mothers who could but don't. Government does have a role in shaping the ways formula manufacturers, employers, advertisers, and to some extent the medical field can promote and assist breastfeeding.

[LisaL]

13. You do realize that some women do not produce breast milk?

[Godhumor]

17. We could have breastfed but didn't. And we won't if we ever have another one

Not going to get into reasons, but for some couples, breastfeeding is not the best option.

[davepc]

11. I guess fathers who are the primary caregiver can get bent

[LisaL]

12. So if the woman has no milk, the baby should just starve to death. Perfect.

[dflprincess]

15. Apparently he does not understand that even mothers who breast feed

sometimes use bottles to feed their child breast milk they've expressed earlier. Very handy for the working mother or for any mom who may want a break and leaves the baby home with Dad.

[Earth_First]

16. Sounds like a Bloomberg initiative... n/t