October 24, 2010 by Maman Poulet
The New York State Department of Health says in a campaign targetted at women on low incomes that it can help them lose weight. Some focus group somewhere came up with this or some patronising public health professional?
h/t Sociological Images and more on the NYT Motherlode blog.
Anthea McTeirnan
Croí na Duibhlinn
Aoife Barry
Aoife McLysaght
Arlene Hunt
Attracta McCarthy-McKenna
clairehennessy
Ann Cronin
Amanda Brown
Eleanor Fitzsimons
Edel Coffey
Anna Carey
Lauren Murphy
Jennie Ridyard
Jude Leavy
Hazel Katherine Larkin
Léan Ní Chuilleanáin
Leigh
Lisa McInerney
Laura Slattery
Maman Poulet
Megan McGurk
Clare Kleinedler
Molly
Rosita Boland
Catherine Crichton
Sinéad Gleeson
sarahefranklin
siobhandowling
Susan Daly
theantiroom
Nuala Ní Chonchúir
How many reasons can you think of for breast feeding? Quite a few I would imagine. I have never tried but I know several wives who did. Are there good reasons for avoiding being fat? Some 30 percent of women in the USA and 20 percent of women in Britain and Ireland are obese. I can think of good reasons for losing a little weight. Do women tend to have put on weight as a result of a pregnancy? Yes. Does it help the baby if a women puts on a lot of fat during the prenancy? Probably not.
It’s not just the US – we’ve had posters aimed particularly at young mums in Scotland that emphasise weight loss. Same as the anti-smoking ones which de-emphasise not dying of lung cancer and emphasise having nicer skin. Yes, it’s patronising, but then how’s that different to any other public health campaign, really? Other than the best one ever.
Compare and contrast to this pro-breastfeeding ad, though. Love this.
This is just one of the many benefits of BFing, so is this ad a bad thing? Of course not. Breast feeding IS better for mother and baby, so if you’re able to do it, great.
Kate, isn’t that ad so beautiful? So ridiculous that it’s over 18s on Utube.
In my opinion, any ad that encourages even one more woman to breastfeed her child is worth showing, patronising or not. I find it deeply upsetting that we live in a world where the completely natural bodily function that defines us as mammals has to be marketed to us in an attempt to fight the billions of dollars that have been spent and are still being spent to market us a substandard product that puts babies’ health and lives at risk.
Breastfeeding isn’t good because of anything. Breastfeeding is normal.
It is such a shame that for so many years we have been told otherwise for commercial purposes that it has become an issue at all.
I think it’s almost funny in its inauthenticity. It’s cheap as chips yes, but everything about it is unconvincing. It has a shopping channel tone, so for that reason I think it’s a tad patronising.
Worse, I don’t think it gets its intended message across.
You know what, it is patronising but if it makes more women BF than otherwise wouldn’t then that’s alright by me.
I think it does come across as patronising/twee but possibly only to our Irish sensibilities.
I’m 100% pro BF and if American women find this ad encouraging and informative, well that’s to the good.
It would have to be much more subtly done here, with a better range of the benefits of BF explored.
Weight loss is a benefit, I have found, especially as sweet cravings go hand in hand with breastfeeding. You eat the goodies, baby removes the calories. It’s a good deal!
coming as I do from a diabetic family and having had
numerous Gloucose Tolerance Tests myself (GTT),
I can only say that the Ads should emphasise the
benefits to children of diabetics.
There is a proven reduction in Mature Onset Diabetes
(type II) for infants of diabetic mothers and this is not
emphasised enough- which means that snacking on
carbs ain’t always good (btw)….
I recommend anyone with hypoglacemia to get the GTT
if pregnant, its a pain in the ass tbh but it is very necessary
for borderline and pre-diabetics in terms of birthing plans
and big babies: diabetics and pres tend toward huge babies.
Hilarious – I won’t be hurrying to get pregnant so that I can breastfeed and lose the pounds tempting as it might be. Not really.
Losing weight from breastfeeding (or was it post difficult birth digestion problems?) was one of the brighter things to think about while in post difficult birth, sleep deprived, new mum life turned upside down, parenting alone mode. Might be superficial, but superficial is good to cling to when everything else is crazy.
I breastfed but it can be a very difficult thing to do if for example your baby feeds every half hour or you’re parenting alone like I was. Its incredibly emotionally as well as physically demanding. No new mum should feel guilt tripped into doing it. Bottle feeding is fine too, sanity post-birth is a fine line. Sanity for one woman is breastfeeding and for another is bottle feeding and a baby needs a sane mum more than anything else.
The weight went back on of course though never quite as much. Not having the chance to eat through a full meal sitting down for the first few years helps with that – that could be the follow-up ad.
Let me hold my hand up here and ‘out’ myself as a mother who breastfed both her babies until they self-weaned. In the case of my youngest child, that was at age 5 years and five and a half months.
Like some of the others who have commented here, I feel that *anything* that encourages women to breastfeed is a good thing, but I also agree with Sinéad that the shopping channel tone is a bit off-putting. That tone alone might mean that the ad is not taken seriously by the people at whom it is targeted.
I firmly believe that the best way to get more women to breastfeed is to stop being bland about it. ‘Breast is best’ clearly isn’t working. Might ‘Formula is poison’ work better? Both statements are true. Formula is poison if it is not re-constituted properly, if it is not stored properly and if it is given to a child who is allergic to any of the ingredients. How about a breast-feeding campaign that is as honest as the anti-smoking or anti-drink driving campaigns? That might work.
Hazel Katherine