http://www.babymilkaction.org/shop/pcards.html#twins
This picture originally appeared in the UN Standing Committee on Nutrition newsletter with the explanation:
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This picture tells two stories: most obviously, about the often fatal consequences of bottle-feeding; more profoundly, about the age-old bias in favour of the male. The child with the bottle is a girl - she died the next day. Her twin brother was breastfed. This woman was told by her mother-in-law that she didn't have enough milk for both her children, and so should breastfeed the boy. But almost certainly she could have fed both children herself, because the process of suckling induces the production of milk. However, even if she found that she could not produce sufficient milk - unlikely as that would be - a much better alternative to bottle-feeding would have been to find a wet-nurse. Ironically, this role has sometimes been taken by the grandmother. In most cultures, before the advent of bottle-feeding, wet-nursing was a common practice.
"Use my picture if it will help", said the mother. "I don't want other people to make the same mistake."
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7 comments:
while the story could be believable, the picture looks doctored. how is the bottle being held up? how is the baby being held up? the mother's arm is all the way off to the side of the bottle fed baby. i hate the marketing practices of formula companies...but i also hate propaganda in any form. this is propaganda.
I find the above anonymous comment very depressing.
This mother said she wanted others to learn from her experience.
I do not doubt the truth of her story as told in the UN Standing Committee on Nutrition newsletter.
Nor do I doubt her courage in presenting herself and her babies in this photograph to illustrate the article.
To cast douby on it by criticising the way she is sitting does her a disservice.
I had to stop breast feeding one of our children due to serious health complications, you would be surprised how fast you can learn to balance the bottle in all sorts of ways with out using your hand. I could balance it on my body and change the other little ones nappy at the same time! I could also walk to the door and open it or answer the phone.
This picture is not propaganda. Read Dettwyler's book Breastfeeding: Biocultural Perspectives. It gives details on this very picture and Dettwyler is a highly respected anthropologist and would not be involved in propaganda!
It is doubtful that the first person to comment will read this nearly three years on, but after having a good look at the photograph, I feel it necessary to observe that were the photograph doctered, surely the mother's arm would not be 'all the way off to the side' but actually holding onto her boy, as her baby girl would not be in the way.
Since the baby girl is in the picture and as the third poster says, mum is managing to bottle prop, she isn't able to even hold her boys feet, therefore I conclude the picture isn't doctered.
It is doubtful that the first person to comment will read this nearly three years on, but after having a good look at the photograph, I feel it necessary to observe that were the photograph doctered, surely the mother's arm would not be 'all the way off to the side' but actually holding onto her boy, as her baby girl would not be in the way.
Since the baby girl is in the picture and as the third poster says, mum is managing to bottle prop, she isn't able to even hold her boys feet, therefore I conclude the picture isn't doctered.
This is quite possibly the most upsetting image I have ever seen and while it perfectly demonstrates our cause I don't feel it's appropriate to have such a disturbing image on a post card. I almost feel obscene looking in on a mother's heart break and I feel that it should not be pushed through a post box like in the same way as an image of gawdy holiday resort.
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