Formula Beginnings

Or... as they named it 'Family Beginnings'. A glossy magazine, sent to me by Enfamil, supposed to be 'A guide to baby's first three months'. Full with feeding problems to be solved (by giving formula of course), and brain building activities (feed them Enfamil with fatty acids). The magazine has 24 pages, 6 of which are formula ads. That's 25 % of the magazine... In the middle, they have $8 worth of coupons for yes, you guessed it, formula. And a list with questions for your doctor, with even more formula ads on the back.

There is a long list of contributing experts, all MDs, PhDs, and one LCSW. I am wondering whether I want to write them all a letter, asking them why they contribute to a magazine which obviously is written to undermine, and hopefully get rid of breastfeeding. Not sure whether I have the energy right now, but someday I might and just do it. If anybody else is up to it, I can provide a list of names for them.

It has articles like 'Is my baby getting enough' (which is really easy to see when you use formula of course), 'Feeding Problems solved' (Even breastmilk [...] can cause upset). It tells us why breast is best, but 'While breast milk is best, Enfamil LIPIL formulas have many of the same vital nutrients...'. It advises to give ORS to a baby with diarrhea if you are breastfeeding, which I think is only rarely needed. Usually just nursing should be enough, but I guess the ORS would have to be given in a bottle, so makes it easier to switch to formula?

The last article 'One new mom tells it like it really is' claims that 'just because your baby is a natural-born nurser doesn't mean your breasts are up for the job'. Amazing how they can claim to be supportive of breastfeeding, while writing things like that. I did wonder about the title of the magazine, it seems close to 'New Beginnings', the LLL magazine, but maybe I am just too paranoid?

Today we went out to get stuff for Jane's goody bags. We got the non edible stuff, some dinosaurs, pencils, and such. We have her birthday party this week, I am soooooooooooo not up to it. Somehow it seems overwhelming to get ready for the party and bake the cake, but I guess I'll just have to do it anyway. She wants a dinosaur cake, including a vulcano. We found plastic dinos in the party store, so those are taken care of. But I am so not up to cake baking! I feel like I can barely function in daily life, the birthday party just seems to add a lot of stress. Oh well, at least Jane is looking forward to it :-)

More rain today, why am I not surprised? LOL I got a hydrangea at the farmer's market today, so it was kind of nice that I didn't have to water it. Trying to see the advantages of all this rain.

My girls went to a birthday party yesterday, and came home with a friend who slept over. But tonight Tara and Kate are sleeping over at their house, so now I suddenly have only five kids. The house just seems so quiet :-)