Last week the bees created the buzz.
This week, it's the babes.
Here's a question to kick off the conversation: Can you guess which packaged food contains:
43% corn syrup
15% soy
28% oil
10% sucrose...??
Answer: that's one of the popular brands of infant formula that's been newsworthy this week.
Let's just get a few points on the record:
1. Breastmilk is perfect food for baby. Formula is imperfect food.
2. Breastmilk is a wonder-drug, giving the child a lifetime lower risk of obesity, diabetes, asthma, respiratory disease, SIDS and other bad things and lowers the mother's risk of breast cancer and high blood pressure.
3. As the baby grows, mommy's breastmilk chemistry changes, commensurate with the baby's developmental needs.
4. Most babies get some breastmilk, but for the majority it doesn't last long.
5. The total out-of-pocket cost of breastfeeding a baby is less than $100. The cost of bottle-feeding is $250-300 per month.
On yesterday's On Point radio program it was argued that the current shortage is a result of monopolizing forces in the market, distorted by the WIC program's rules limited which brands of formula may be bought with food stamps.
Question for your table - Why are we spending billions to give poor families inferior baby food when we could spend a fraction of that to teach/help more women to breastfeed?
(It seems to me the answer is obvious - some people haven't heard the message that the purpose of life is "love your neighbor", not "love your net worth".)
Shabbat Shalom
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