First Salt, then Soda and now Baby Formula

It's funny how when we warn people about a slippery slope and the gradual conversion to a nanny state.

Bloomberg tries to do away with formula to promote breast feeding

http://www.examiner.com/article/mic...tals-to-hide-baby-formula-force-breastfeeding

new mothers who insist on formula won’t be denied it, but hospitals will adopt an out-of-sight, out-of mind approach, storing formula in locked boxes like those used to dispense and track medications. Would-be bottle users will also receive a mandatory lecture on why they should reconsider.

I can't wait for the "well its better for the babies so I'm glad the mothers are being "strongly encouraged not forced" to participate.

Good lord, Bloomberg needs to go away.

That's up to New Yorkers. But there is nothing wrong with encouraging healthy behavior. In most circumstances, breast feeding in the first six months is far better for the child, not to mention less expensive. For far too long, the pharmaceutical industry has used the hospital system to advocate an expensive and unnecessary nutrition program of questionable value. Maybe that is indeed something that should be corrected.

Breastfeeding shouldn't be regulated by the state!

Regulated by the state? In what planet do you get that?

I admit, all out ban on the size of a soda was an over reach, but other than that, Bloomberg has been dead on with requiring that food manufacturers label the amount of salt and calories they serve in their food/restaurants.

How is advocating that hospitals do something that has a tremendous amount of evidence that it is better for the health of their patients a government over reach?

State regulation would imply controlling how much and what kind. That isn't the case here. This is much more along the lines of safety labeling.

Much more on the lines of paternalism IMHO.

Oh, so women should be coaxed into choosing what others think they should choose now? Is that what I'm hearing? Because that's what it sure looks like to me.

More like ensuring full and accurate information. The formula companies are happy to present the point of view that leads to sales, and the hospitals are happy to accept freebies, as long as they aren't demonstrably harmful. But indirectly, formula is harmful, compared to a demonstrably better alternative. The hospitals should be required to educate patients about the alternative before handing over the free samples.

Similarly, drug pushers should be required to educate an impressionable pre-teen about the difference between crack and powder forms before handing out the first sample pouch.

It's like the mayor is trying to provoke people into threatening him so he can have them arrested.

This statement describes the current situation -- coaxing women to use formula at the behest of big pharma.

A colleague has just referred to the 'Breastapo'...

Bloomberg needs to shut the fuck up and concentrate on the city budget instead of fucking with people's personal lives and choices. He can take his nanny-state philosophy and shove it right up his elitist billionaire ass!

Many women have good reasons to not breastfeed - they're taking medications, their milk is not of good quality or quantity, their baby grew teeth early and is a biter ... Now in addition to these problems the mothers will have another hoop to jump through??!

The State: Deciding What's Best for You Since 5000 B.C.

Where do you get that idea? Physicians and nurses ought to provide advice based upon medical conditions, not based upon corporate sponsorship. The requirement that people be advised on the benefits of nursing does not mean that people cannot also be advised that their circumstance is best suited to formula. I'm not surprised the way some react to anything with the word government as "OMG nanny socialism run rampant!!!!!!!" but I expect more thought from you.

I just love the apologism for obvious paternalism on the part of the state.

will also receive a mandatory lecture on why they should reconsider.

But if a doctor wants to show a picture of an unborn baby prior to an abortion and try and make her reconsider you leftist jackoffs would flip out.

One is medical advice, one is political posturing. Why should doctors be required to advocate for a political stance?

They're both coming from the assumption that women are too stupid to make the decision they've already deemed is right for everone.

Boobie milk is far better than formula for the wee ones

However, Bloomberg can't get run over by a soda truck soon enough.

...then buried in a salty grave.

...with a high capacity AR-15 mag shoved up his ass.

Did somebody say boobies? What were we talking about?

Mandatory lecture? Um no, but on the other hand doctors should absolutely be making sure their patients understand the consequences of switching to formula. It's a fact that the companies can't be trusted, it's been already shown thy are happy for kids to die if it sells more of their product.

Women have been badgered by their female relatives into doing it "the way everybody else does it" for as long as there have been female relatives, regardless of whether the conventional way is breastfeeding (usually by a wet nurse if you're middle class or wealthier) or formula.

The formula manufacturers just piggybacked on that:

"Sure, your grandmother breastfed her kids, and look at her now. You don't want to ruin your figure, do you? It's soooo old school. Everyone else is buying Our Brand."

(Never mind that Grandma's 87, had 13 kids, and had lousy nutrition growing up herself. And there's no evidence that breastfeeding makes a woman's breasts sag - breast tissue expands with pregnancy and returns to baseline a few weeks postpartum whether breastfeeding or not, and breastfeeding, in addition to providing the infant with the mother's immunities, has been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer.)

Breastfed babies are also less likely to turn into obese kids, and they have lower incidences of diabetes as adults.

Then there's the issue of pushing baby formula in places where there's no electricity or clean water:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestlé_boycott

It should also be noted that hospitals give out the first can or two of formula for free. Which of you would care to explain how they're obligated to do that?

In the words of James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem.

"Your mild billionaire mayor's now convinced he's a king."

That, too.

Just so everyone's clear: I'm not defending Bloomberg. I think he's an overreaching idiot. A perfect example of why "We should fire all the politicians and let a businessman run the country" is so laughable.

Bloomberg is also actively fighting against an increase in NYC's minimum wage, filing a lawsuit after his veto was overwritten. He's kind of ridiculous.

Which is different, because then it's their family, not the state. It is not the state's job to act as big brother to everyone.

Good. We're going to come by your place at 6pm on Friday and give you a three-hour lecture on what you're doing wrong. We *aren't* going to take away your beer, sweets, fatty food, or salty snacks, but we will be placing them in a lock box that will dispense them on a schedule we deem least detrimental to your health and you will be required to sign a waiver before you're allowed to access them.

At some point, "encouragement" becomes harrassment.

You know what? A doctor can communicate that information to the patient EXACTLY like you just did: with a single sentence. Once informed, the patient can make her own choice.

If so, it should be corrected by doctors, not by mayors sticking their noses into a citizen's medical business.

So it's not the act or the outcome you object to, but the source. Okay.