July 19, 2010

The Feds' $95-million Breastfeeding Boondoggle

By Peter Wilson
Michelle Obama's speech to the NAACP convention last week introduced a new healthy food topic of interest: the federal fight to "support" breastfeeding. This does not involve federal subsidies for nursing bras. As Mrs. Obama explains:Forty percent of African American babies are never breastfed at all [in other words, 60% are], not even during the first weeks of their lives. And we know this isn't possible or practical for some moms, but we've got a WIC program that's providing new support to low-income moms who want to try so that they get the support they need.For the record, infant formula is a useful product, but breastfeeding is better, especially "during the first weeks" of a child's life mentioned by Mrs. Obama, when breast milk contains immunity-building colostrum. And if you don't have clean water to reconstitute the formula, it's a no-brainer that you should use the free, clean source on tap. Unfortunately, this obvious bit of common sense has been...(Read Full Article)