Green Options

Can’t get that baby to sleep through the night?

Want those full 9 hours of sleep you remember?

Pump your baby full of Enfamil’s “Restfull” formula! It’s,

Specially designed to help babies feel full longer and sleep better…[It] thickens gently in baby’s tummy and digests slowly.

Because didn’t you hear? Formula-feeding is apparently,

A natural way to help keep your baby feeling satisfied.

Ri-ight. Because as a natural parent, when you’re not forcing your baby to sleep through the cry-it-out method, certainly you’re hoping to find something that will stick in their bellies. Or even better, something that will magically “thicken” in their bellies.

The breast versus bottle fight has taken a turn, now that an evolutionary scientist has gotten involved. Most of the debate thus far has focused on the physical benefits of breastfeeding, both to mama and baby.

But what if evolution designed us so that breastfeeding is emotionally, psychologically preferable to formula-feeding?

Intriguing new research suggests that some women develop postpartum depression due to reaching for the bottle instead of pulling out the breast.

You’ve heard of “Greenwashing.” My favorite posts on this matter are at The Good Human.

But what about a fraudulent “breastfeeding support kit” from a formula company? Wow! Ain’t nothing like finding this crap offer during World Breastfeeding Week!

Today’s specimen: Enfamil. It’s offering “support” in the form of formula samples, among other things:

A sample of the NEW Enfamil® PREMIUM™ with Triple Health Guard™, our closest formula to breast milk, should you choose to supplement.

The “closest formula to breastmilk,” you say? You mean it comes out warm in human skin and chock full of immune system boosters that can’t be replicated in a factory? Gee whiz! New mothers struggling to breastfeed: Sign up now! Wait–no. Here are the considerable problems with this:

The FDA has come out with a “safe” level of melamine in Infant Formula. Just weeks ago, the FDA stated it couldn’t determine a safe level of melamine for human infants (Oct. 3, 2008- “the US FDA cannot establish a level of melamine and its analogues in [infant formula] that does not raise public health concerns.”).

Of course there isn’t a safe level, look what happened in China. (Melamine was added in China Formulas to fool protein content tests and was at a much higher level than what was found in U.S. Formula Brands. At least 3 infants died from contaminated formula in China.)
While watching CBS news this evening, I was SHOCKED to hear Dr. Daniel Rauch, a pediatrician at New York University’s Langone Medical Center state “We think it’s safe.” Since when is THINKING something is safe okay? Is this an innocent until proven guilty situation? Do CHILDREN HAVE TO DIE before our government steps up to the plate?