Stand up for babies by not buying Nestle

There is a week-long Nestle boycott going on from today to November 1, and I am going to tell you why I think you should participate. I'll keep this simple and link to others who know more about the details than I do.

This is about infant formula. In the US, formula is in no way comparable to breastmilk, but if you do formula feed, your baby will probably grow up healthy and happy. Why? We have clean water. We can sterilize our bottles. We can afford as much formula as our babies need and, if not, the government will usually step in and help. We can read the words on the can so we know how to safely prepare the formula and can make an educated decision about whether or not formula is a viable choice for our babies.

Many women in the developing world do not have these luxuries. Whether or not to breastfeed isn't even a choice if you don't have enough money to buy formula regularly--and this is often a giant chunk of a family's budget. Formula feeding is not a safe option if you have no clean water to mix it with, or if you have no way of sterilizing bottles. You might ask, then why WOULD any of these women elect to formula feed?

Well, because of bad information. Even here in the US, lies abound when it comes to breastfeeding. Many people think formula is "just as good" or "about as good," but it isn't. Some don't realize that it takes several days for mature milk to come in and they formula feed because they don't think their babies are getting enough to eat. Many people don't know that supplementing will hurt your milk supply. If we can read books and search for info online and have access to lactation experts, and we still sometimes don't have what we need to make a go of breastfeeding, how difficult must it be for women who don't have these benefits?

Formula which looks so innocent on the surface and claims to "protect" can deceive quite easily. A mother may acquire just a small amount of formula, not realizing that her milk supply will dry up within days if she uses it. She may or may not be able to read the fine print admitting that breastmilk is best. Even if the mother can afford the formula itself, not having clean water to mix it with can be deadly. Diluting formula with water to save money hurts babies even in the US. According to UNICEF, “marketing practices that undermine breastfeeding are potentially hazardous wherever they are pursued: in the developing world, WHO (World Health Organization) estimates that some 1.5 million children die each year because they are not adequately breastfed. These facts are not in dispute.”

No company should claim that their formula protects babies. They should not give any promotional items to doctors and healthcare workers which might sway them to promote one brand of formula over another. They should not push the responsibility for educating women on safe formula feeding off on health workers, especially because more women would be breastfeeding anyway if it weren't for their deceptive marketing.

Nestle is a big part of the problem due to their devious marketing practices, and they know it. If you doubt this, please see Annie's series of posts about Nestle at PhD in Parenting. This post in particular offers insight on how and why Nestle should change; be sure to read the comments, too. This article is also a good read if you'd like more evidence and to further understand the problem.

Nestle makes a ton of products, and I don't blame you for being overwhelmed at the prospect of giving them all up. If you can't do that, how about just avoiding the ones you recognize? If you aren't up for that either, how about committing to something small--a slight inconvenience this Halloween. Just buy anything other than Nestle to give to your trick-or-treaters. Here's a list of what NOT to get, taken from the full list over at Crunchy Domestic Goddess:

Baby Ruth
Bit-O-Honey
Butterfinger
Carlos V (”the authentic Mexican chocolate bar”)
Chunky
Gobstoppers
Goobers

Kit Kat
Laffy Taffy
Lik-M-Aid Fun Dip
Nerds
Nestle Abuelita chocolate
Nestle Crunch
Nips
Oh Henry!
Oompas
Pixy Stix
Raisinets
Runts
Sno-Caps
Spree
Sweettarts
Wonka
100 Grand

I've heard so many people say "but I didn't know." Well, now you do. Shop wisely.

Let them eat cake

This post has been burning a hole in my brain.

A couple of days ago I mentioned on Facebook that it is Jordan's and my policy, when approached by someone claiming to be in need, to help them. This means that if someone comes up and says they need just $2 for gas to make it to their friend's house, we give it to them. I recognize that sometimes these people are lying, but sometimes they aren't. What if we write everyone off as a liar and pass up an opportunity to truly help someone as a result? Therefore, we try not to judge. A couple of dollars or some spare change means very little to me and I'd rather take a chance on wasting it.

Someone replied to my statement, though, saying that people asking for money (in the gas scenario I gave) are ALWAYS scammers. He went on to say that this is 2009 and anyone with a gas emergency can use a credit card.

That is like saying people who have no bread should eat cake. Not everyone has a credit card. Jordan and I don't, by choice. Others don't have them because they can't get them. To get a credit card you need credit. At the very least, you need the promise of cash coming in. I believe Jordan and I were required to provide proof of income to get the ones we had before. But let's just say for the sake of argument that they handed them out to anyone who asked. Some people have no money. Some people have no job. Even if those people wanted to pay their credit card bills, they couldn't, and they would soon be taken away. Why are more people not aware that we are the haves and there is another culture of have-nots right here among us?

Both my parents have college degrees and had good full-time jobs with benefits, so I grew up with everything I needed at my feet. However, there are three times I can remember (probably many more) when I depended on the kindness of others.

1) I was 14 years old and on a class trip to Six Flags. I went to the bathroom only to discover that oh NO, I'd started my period and I hadn't thought to take a pad. I was going to be there all day with a bunch of guy friends. I had no change for the pad machine. What the HELL was I going to do? It may not seem like a big deal to a 25-year-old, but to a little teenage girl it was horrific. I came out of the stall and tearfully began asking the other girls in the restroom, strangers from other schools, if any one of them had a pad. No one did. Just when I thought all hope was lost, one of the girls pulled a quarter out of her pocket so I could get a pad from the machine. God bless her. And I still remember it 11 years later.

2) When I was 17 I went for a walk in the woods with my then-boyfriend. It was on a trail that we thought was a loop, so we didn't turn straight around when we were ready to go back. It wasn't a loop. The trail took us on a 3-hour hike into the next state and the park was about to close when we ran into another couple to ask them where we were. There was absolutely no way we'd have been able to get back to where my parents were waiting before (long after) dark. This was a guy I'd met online so I'm sure they thought I'd been murdered and would have called the police soon. The couple gave us a ride in their car back to where we'd come from.

3) In the lunch line one day at work, I had my food all picked out only to discover they were unable to accept credit cards that day. I had no cash, so I was about to walk all the way out to the ATM and pay a fee to get just three bucks. The man behind me handed me a $5 bill without being asked so I wouldn't have to. I was really grateful.

I'll bet if you think hard, you can come up with some stories like this in which you have come up a little short and were helped by a stranger. Stuff happens! If things like this happen to us, the haves of society, is it so inconceivable that someone else with no job and no support system might need our help as well? I'd say they deserve to be treated the same way we would want to be treated, wouldn't you?

There seems to have been a rash of Marie Antoinettes recently. Have you heard about the #NestleFamily controversy on Twitter? It seems that many people were unaware of Nestle's unsavory business practices. If you don't know, they have a history of engaging in deceptive marketing practices (particularly in third-world countries) that undermine breastfeeding and sometimes cause the deaths of innocent babies. (Please read the full account here.) You would think that once someone understood this, they would be concerned and ready to avoid buying Nestle or at least eager to do more research, right? Some of them are, but others are saying it's ridiculous to blame Nestle for those babies' deaths because no one can take away a mother's right to breastfeed. They are saying that if mothers didn't have clean water or enough money to buy plenty of formula, they never should have started formula feeding. This is a tragic lack of understanding. Here, we have the benefit of hearing that breast is best. Most people know this is the general consensus of health professionals. In third-world countries, however, women may think that if formula is so popular in the United States, it must be good for babies. They might try the free sample without knowing that by the time it is gone their milk supply will have dried up. They may not realize how expensive formula is and that they are only getting it free for a limited time. Here, we have lactation consultants in most hospitals to help with our breastfeeding issues. I know I would have had a hard time without the help I received with breastfeeding both my babies! It is unreasonable to expect women to be able to breastfeed successfully without these resources and knowledge, and in the face of a product that seems so helpful and innocuous on the surface. These women and babies do not have what they need.

Lastly, I think this applies to healthcare. I have avoided mentioning this issue until now because I have friends and I'd like to keep them. I'm not saying I have all the answers, but I am saying that the current system has failed people. It has left hardworking people in financial ruin. It has left people without the care they need and deserve. I can appreciate that people may not agree with Obama's brand of reform; however, what I cannot appreciate is the opinion that nothing is wrong with our current system. I'd wager that the people who hold this opinion either have sufficient health insurance or have never had a serious health issue, or both. "Yes, I have cake!" they say. "I worked hard for my cake! If these (uninsured) people want cake, they can get a job with benefits and eat cake too!" The problem is that there have been fewer and fewer jobs available that offer benefits. Jordan and I are thankful beyond words that he has his. I have seen friends get their affordable coverage yanked out from under them as their companies try to save money. Many people are willing to work and earn subsidized healthcare, but don't have that privilege. Yes, it is a privilege. Other people may have a hard time getting insured (or getting insured affordably) because of pre-existing conditions. I have friends and family with serious, expensive ongoing health problems, so I feel passionately that things need to change in some fashion.

Until college, I was at least mostly unaware of people in all these situations. I had a college professor who strongly believed some people were stuck in poverty and could not get out by themselves, and he advocated for them. He opened my eyes to the fact that there are impoverished, even homeless families living right here under our noses--not just in other countries and faraway places the way we'd like to imagine. It's just pathetic that some people grow up and still do not know these things. They ought to teach it in schools.

Be thankful for the cake you have. Understand that others have none. Share your cake without judging.