Part 2: Susuibu.com International Lactation Conference 2010

Why are we so obsessed with numbers?

Why do we define our self worth and the worthiness of other things in numbers?

 (Pics googled)

In the last entry, I forgot to include an introduction to the conference's three main speakers: (Info taken from the conference's main website)

• Dr. Jack Newman – world renowned expert on childcare and breastfeeding, author of best selling books “Ultimate Breastfeeding Book of Answers”


• Sue Cox – distinguished author, speaker and pioneer in breastfeeding support in Australia. Author of “Breastfeeding with Confidence” and “Baby Magic”

• Diana West – distinguished speaker and author of best selling book “Making More Milk”.

(I rarely open the lappy these days, so please forgive me for the time gap between these entries)

Anyway, in this entry, I will tell you about the first talk, very sarcastically titled "Numbers On Demand" (I'll tell you why it's sarcastic in a minute) by the very knowledgeable, and VERY funny Dr. Jack Newman. (He's a funny old man, visit his site, there's LOADS of important info there to remind you of the very stupid thing called formula feeding)

It seemed very funny to me that Dr. Newman himself chose to quote Antoine de Saint-Exupery, because when we talk about adults, and how important "numbers" are to them and how 'numbers' seem to amaze them, I could think of nobody else but the mention of it in Antoine de Saint-Exupery's book, The Little Prince.

Here it is:

"Grown-ups like numbers."

"If you tell grown-ups, "I saw a beautiful red brick house, with geraniums at the windows and doves on the roof...," they won't be able to imagine such a house. You have to tell them, "I saw a house worth a hundred thousand francs." Then they exclaim, "What a pretty house!"

So Dr.Newman's talk was aptly titled 'Numbers On Demand' to highlight how SO MANY ERRORS in breastfeeding are made due to people's obsession in defining breastfeeding according to the 'number' of so-and-so. For example, the baby's weight (the breastfed baby's supposed poor weight gain), the time length of a feeding on one breast, yadda yadda yadda.

Want a longer list of things adults will involve numbers and calculation with, in attempt to be 'scientific' and supposedly accurate about breastfeeding? Here it is:

1. Weighing machines/scales. Did you know they can be devastatingly INaccurate? And growth charts are based on formula-fed babies?

2.Weighing babies with their diapers on

3.Weighing babies who were just recently breastfed

4.Giving a time-frame to breastfeeding (babies should suckle for so-and-so number of minutes on each side)

5.Defining how much baby has drank by weighing him after he/she is breastfed and determining milk supply by such theory

6.The supposed frequency of initial breastfeeding (first few days) i.e every 3 hours, 2 hours, 4 hours, etc.

(Dr. Newman's talk and slides were in fact much, much more laden with info than this, but I am not able to transfer and digest absolutely everything. He also discussed jaundice in detail)

To almost all these factors which would result in a 'problem' for the breastfed baby, the solution was: to watch the baby (his chin, especially) while he/she is being nursed to determine whether he is actually drinking or not.

Thus, problems arise from poor breastfeeding practices. Not from breastmilk or breastfeeding itself. And poor breastfeeding can be corrected.

And, before jumping out to buy a can of formula, there are BETTER alternatives, number ONE being expressed breastmilk, especially via lactation aid (a small tube used near the breast, so that mother and baby are kept familiar with breastfeeding)

So among the things that we have achieved by being "modern, up-to-date with technology, and scientific" is, we have lost the ability to be natural: going back to fitrah (an Arabic word that could be used to mean natural).

Wouldn't you agree that our world has in fact become quite God-less and immoral? (People against God and religion are not welcomed to answer, thank you) Believing in God is a part of our nature. And Allah has also made breastfeeding a natural thing, so much so that Allah mentions in the Qur'an (in Surah Al-Baqarah, chapter 2, verse ). The same goes for natural birth (which includes drug-free labor pain management), Allah tells us how to manage labor pain by relating to us the birth of Isa a.s.

Dr. Newman said that there's MORE to breastfeeding than JUST breastmilk. Do you understand what I mean? Formula milk companies are claiming this and that about their milk, but feeding your child is not JUST about filling his gut and watching his 'meat' expand. (pardon the sarcasm)

Formula milk companies have to work so hard in brainwashing people into thinking how healthy, how much better, how beneficial their milk is (and not to mention how supposedly convenient it is) because in fact, FORMULA MILK CAN NEVER BE COMPARED TO BREASTMILK. Formula milk CAN NEVER become a substitute for breastmilk.

Formula milk companies fork out millions in marketing campaigns to brainwash you and exploit the modern educated women's "ignorance" about breastfeeding (I do not apologize for the pun) because they will rake in gadzillions of millions in consumer purchases, preying on ignorance! (and not to mention fear)