Ban infant formula - Motsoaledi

[Vrotappel]

I will probably get flamed for this, but very few women genuinely need to used formula, most can breast feed. It's just easier not to. It's like all the ceasers now-a-days, most are not for medical reasons, but the women just find it easier.

BS

 

[DDV TECH]

How is it that SA produces such ludicrous Health Ministers?

Hmm, perhaps it's something in the formula they had as a child? but seriously, yes I agree, everything from aids to condoms have been botched by them, it is strange that virtually all of them sucked at their jobs.

 

[alloytoo]

I will probably get flamed for this, but very few women genuinely need to used formula, most can breast feed. It's just easier not to. It's like all the ceasers now-a-days, most are not for medical reasons, but the women just find it easier. Breast milk has a ton of advantages, and most mothers should breast feed.

No one disputes the benefits of breast milk (though I've no doubt a large cheque from Nestle could make JZ do so), the sad fact is that most woman would like to breast feed and bond with their children, but a host of reasons (many of them medical) prevent it.

 

[Ricard]

Interesting about the ban In the UK. I did not know this. I do think there is a place for it though. People With HIV can give their babies HIV throgh Breast fedding.

But I thought the health minister should know this?!?

Strange... watched an advert yesterday for Baby formula (on the BBC) ... still see it on the shelves. Skin lightening cream contained MERCURY, so I don't agree with the Honourable Gent that they are comparable.
The decision whether to breast feed or not should lie WITH THE MOTHER, not some brainfart who thinks he knows.
Even in SA the advertisers for infant formula TELL YOU that its not a substitute.

 

[nightjar]

The f&cked up health minister must really concentrate on important issues like upgrading state hospitals - leave mothers to decide what is best for THEIR babies!

And those mothers that dilute baby formula to kingdom come would 98.9% be the type of mothers who would have drank / smoked whilst breastfeeding & do not give a f#ck for the health of the baby regardless.

Agree 100%

Millions of babies around the world depend on milk formula and would die for the lack of it.

The real problem in South Africa is that most of the people who use it are too stupid to use it properly.

However stupid these people are they are still considered fit to vote which goes a long way to explaining why SA is in the mess it currently is.

 

[Kilgore_Trout_Redux]

Soy based baby formula is still formula.

And as someone whose kid was born immature and needed firmula to survive I'd like to tell this cretin to take a hike.

 

[wrathex]

What I don't understand is why the minister brought skin lightening creams into his statement and compares it to milk. Is the minister suggesting that mothers are refusing to breastfeed because of reasons of vanity eg: don't want breasts to sag or because some mothers find the first week of breastfeeding to painful and thus just gives up and goes for formula ?

I know of a few mothers who skipped breastfeeding simply because it hurts when the baby first starts suckling, leaving nipples raw and painful. (but this passes after a few days, the nipples harden and it is no longer painful)

The minister is right that he wants to promote breastfeeding above all else, but he shouldn't have bliksimmed home such a goog intention by saying that he wants formula banned thereby scaring the maternity fraternity and making his noble intentions seem off the mark.

 

[noxibox]

I know of a few mothers who skipped breastfeeding simply because it hurts when the baby first starts suckling, leaving nipples raw and painful. (but this passes after a few days, the nipples harden and it is no longer painful)

We were told that if that happens you're doing it wrong. Unfortunately neither babies nor mothers instinctively know how to do it, and it can be really difficult to get right. Especially when you have a screaming frustrated baby and a mother who has had very little sleep for days.

What though stopped those mothers from using a pump?

 

[noxibox]

How is it that SA produces such ludicrous Health Ministers?

Brain surgery in a public hostpital.

 

[noxibox]

Outside of this, it's also proven that breast is not always best - both my sister and cousin did not provide enough milk for their children to thrive - because my sister slavishly listened to the nursing sisters (breast is best, breast is best, just persevere) her poor child looked like a starvation victim until we persuaded her to start supplementing (and them completely supplanting) with infant formula. Her child started thriving within a week.

That is very poor medical care. Did no-one doing check-ups raise alarms when the baby did not gain weight as expected? This is not an example of breast milk not being best though, but an example of the known fact that not all women produce enough. And that can even be caused by inadequate feeding initially. Or it can simply be that the mother's body fails to respond to the triggers nature has in place to cause milk production to rise to meet needs.