[JuliaDH]

Still struggling with what would I do. I would prefer to express my milk and bottle feed. But if there was no pump and no bottle available. I would probably JUST DO IT!

[LisaMarie71]

Originally Posted by nelie

I don't think formula is a better option than human milk. As I said I think its an odd concept and granted I didn't watch the full clip (I'm at work). I would think that yes you can feed a hungry baby with your own milk but you can only feed so many children. If there are tons of hungry children, then I think handing out formula (mixed with clean water of course) would be an option.

I hope (and assume) that they were giving out food and formula as well, as needed. The Salma Hayek thing was just newsworthy because she whipped her breast out, I guess, and it wouldn't be so newsworthy if we didn't have so many hangups in our culture about breastfeeding. I'm a little annoyed when the answer is handing out formula instead of teaching women about breastfeeding, though (not that you're saying that's what should always happen). I believe there was something going on in Sierra Leone where men were telling their wives not to breastfeed because they didn't believe you should have sex while breastfeeding. Pretty horrible. And then there's the whole Nestle thing that happened years ago where they gave out formula in 3rd world countries a few years back and the women's milk dried up so they HAD to use formula. They couldn't afford to stay on it, of course, so they had to dilute it, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of babies. This is why we have to be careful about handing out formula, as long as there IS an option for the mom to breastfeed. I believe the mom in the Salma Hayek video was unable to for some reason, but I could be wrong.

[ProteinGal]

Keep in mind that many sick babies are allergic to formulas, its a wonderful gift from those who can donate.

[nelie]

For some reason, and it may not be true, I was thinking that the mother may have been starving herself. I've read a lot of stories recently about how food is becoming a huge issue, even more so than in the past, in impoverished countries. Mothers are giving their children and husbands food and starving themselves which I can't imagine is a good thing for those mothers that are breastfeeding.