It’s not often I am appalled enough by something to vent about it on my blog, but recently a blurb in Life & Style Magazine by columnist Wendy Williams has me wondering what on earth they were thinking!
I am a pretty non-judgmental mom. I really don’t care if you breastfeed or formula feed, baby wear or use a stroller, vaccinate or not. I use my blog as a platform to share the choices that work for me and my family in an effort to provide support to others looking for it, but I believe no matter what choices you make, there is no one way to be a good parent. I believe in doing research and making educated choices for what works for you and your family, so perhaps that is why I am so upset by this.
In the recent Life & Style Magazine, columnist Wendy Willliams denounced Alicia Silverstone’s milk-sharing program asking readers “CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?” Stating that if something hasn’t been popular since the civil war then it is clearly not a good idea in 2013.
Photo credit Facebook via Jessica of The Leaky Boob
Wet Nursing is not new. It has been around for thousands of years. Ancient Rome, Greece, and Victoria England have often been referenced when discussing wet nursing but it has been used by many cultures and countries including the US. It continues to be a much used practice today by many families seeking breast milk for their child. The most recent public sharing of it being Selma Hayek in 2008 who nursed an infant publicly while on a goodwill ambassador trip in Sierra Leone.
In a recent post on her blog, Alicia Silverstone called moms to action and named the program the Kind Mama Milk Share. Milk sharing or breast milk donations are not only still very relevant today, but often babies lives depend on it. Programs like Eats of Feets, Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA), and Human Milk 4 Human Babies Global Network help connect parents with other mothers who are willing to donate their milk. People looking to receive donations can ask that the donors be screened and can pasteurize the milk. Participates can choose to receive expressed milk for their child or seek out a wet nurse. Milk donation is a great gift to parents who wish to have their children receive breast milk but for a variety of reasons can not provide it themselves.
I am mostly upset my the lack of responsible journalism on the end of Life & Style Magazine. While everyone is entitled to their opinions, this kind of post only sheds negative light on breastfeeding and milk sharing. This photo and blurb was uneducated and clearly lacked any research at all. Had Wendy Williams appeared to have done any research or background I may have been able to understand it more.
Can I believe this?
Yes, I can.
I believe in the ability to have options to make the choices that are best for my child. I appreciate the companies that facilitate the connections for parents who are seeking milk and the parents who are donating milk. If it was needed or asked of me I would donate my milk. I also think that that it is okay not to want to use these programs. I think Wendy Williams could have expressed her opinions in a more educated manner.
Regardless at this point, I will not be purchasing your magazine again.
Life & Style Magazine – What Were You Thinking?
How does this photo make you feel?
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Wow! I can’t believe they printed that!
A huge editor fail in my opinion!
Given the magazine and the author, I guess it’s not really that surprising that something of this caliber would be found there. I still just want to ask them if they *really* meant to publish that for others to read though. I’m also pretty surprised that there aren’t more people commenting about it on her facebook page. L&S’s page doesn’t appear to allow comments from fans unless it’s on a post they made.
I know it is a tabloid style magazine, so I too don’t have high expectations, but there just didn’t seem to be a need to say anything on it at all. I tweeted them my disappointment @Life_and_Style.
I’m appalled that they would publish something discouraging for women, when it’s such a great thing! I’ve wet nursed a friends newborn before, and I’d choose that over formula for my child any day!!
Good for you Hanan! Thank you for sharing – I think that empowers more women!
Well I for one had no idea there were even programs like this out there. I admit that I would probably not choose to do so for my child and if I couldn’t or didn’t want to breastfeed I would go the formula route instead. That being said, I agree with you. Since I didn’t know such programs existed, I feel that she put a negative spin on something that especially for people that need or want alternatives for breastfeeding themselves. Not cool.
Tammy – I couldn’t agree with you more. I think that parents need the info to make the best choice for their child. After it wasn’t too long ago there wasn’t such a thing as formula!
As a mother who breastfed for over five years–up to the age of 3–I’m saddened that anyone cares enough about what other people do with their own children. It’s food, plain and simple. You can buy it from a can or make it yourself! If you can’t make it yourself, and someone is willing to give you their own homemade milk–think of it as farm direct over mass produced.
Yes! It should be that plain and simple!
I don’t like Wendy Williams.
I agree that no way is the best way and personally don’t see a problem at all with the share program. That is why we all have choices.
Exactly – and well said. 🙂
It sounds like Wendy Williams is a bit out of touch on this topic.
Obviously, this person made no effort to find out why most recipient families were doing this. I don’t even want to know what she would say about surrogacy.
I agree. It really just came across as she ran out of things to talk about, so decided to spout off about something that she’s not really educated on and the magazine published it.
Sometimes when I read things like that I just shake my head. Its one persons silly opinion obviously not the opinion of breastfeeding moms. I would hate to be the person to of approved that article to go out.
I seriously CANNOT believe this got published. It’s really distasteful. Hopefully there will be some sort of formal apology in the next issue.
I am also typically very much of the “to each their own” mindset but I typically ignore people when they are judgmental about other styles because I know most people are just like that. That said, this article/blurb is totally offensive, super not okay, and unable to be ignored.
If it’s the Wendy Williams of the talk show, I’m not surprised. She’s not a very accepting or sympathetic (or even maternal) type of person.
I am not surprised at all. People do and say some pretty idiotic things.
Um, ok…that was nasty. But I don’t read that magazine anyway, and their stupid views are the reason.
Ugh. Major fail.
I was really disappointed by this as well. As a nurse in the NICU for over 7 years I know how important breastmilk can be for sick babies and sometimes mama’s can’t produce the milk they need.
This drives me crazy. Breastfeeding is natural. There are no genetically modified ingredients, no high fructose corn syrup…or other mishappen additives (bug parts…yes Similac was recalled a few years ago because of this). I know that formula companies are probably rejoicing in the fact that formula is the norm now, and breastfeeding is not looked at being the best for baby.
I will definitely NEVER buy their magazine.
Well, this sounds very Wendy! Celebrities despise her for a very good reason. 😉
I’m glad I don’t get my info from Life and Style Magazine! Too bad that reporter doesn’t have an open mind!
Wow, that is just appalling. When the Little was born my milk didn’t come in for, I think it was 8 days but thankfully, I had breastfeeding moms who donated milk to him. I can’t believe they would make a correlation between her program and slaves who were wet nurses.
I didn’t want to really go there in my post – because I think people reading it would feel that way right away – but it was really appalling! I’m glad you were able to use donated milk. It really is such a great thing to do for a friend!
I’ve never heard of this magazine and it sounds like I’m not missing anything. Maybe now they will actually do some research on the subject.
I can’t believe a magazine would print that. From what I’ve seen, Alicia Silverstone is a really good mom, so what’s the big deal? She’s not hurting anyone by what she’s doing.
I know she influences many people and has a huge following so for her to come out like this is disappointing. On the other hand, would you call her a journalist?