Yesterday, on the Full Cream facebook page, I shared a photo of a woman breastfeeding her baby in a field in front of a smoky, bushfire tinged sunset. The photo was accompanied by a post from internationally respected infant nutrition expert Ted Greiner, who was discussing the life and death importance of breastfeeding in emergencies and the urgency of protecting breastfeeding in a changing climate:
The woman in the photo (a blogger, who had publicly shared her photo image on social media in a post with over 4000 shares) contacted me requesting that I remove my post. She stated that she did not agree with Greiner’s commentary and did not want her photograph being used to support his message. As I know that this blogger considers herself a breastfeeding supporter, I asked her to reconsider, explaining the advocacy aspect, but she replied that she did not consent to her image being used to ‘traumatise’ evacuated mothers who don’t breastfeed or cause them worry their babies might die on top of everything else going on.
I don’t think it’s reasonable to police the way in which people on-share images which have been intentionally publicly shared, particularly when your online presence is a monetised parenting blog with 18,000 followers. But it’s a stressful time for us on the east coast of Australia right now and we can have discussions about social media etiquette some other time when our country isn’t burning. I removed the post and note that Ted also updated his to replace the photo with a link to the original post.
I’m not naming or linking to the photos because really, this is not about this one particular person. If you want to go sleuth it out on Facebook, fill your boots, it’s easy to find, but it’s really not the point. The point is that Australia is on fire and right now as I type babies are isolated in precarious feeding situations and more will suffer this way over the coming months as the unstoppable fires continue to burn and families flee. And I am so damn furious at the way in which necessary and urgent discussion and action which could have prevented that suffering and distress – and ensured babies were better protected and provided for – has been and continues to be stymied because sharing information about safe baby feeding doesn’t get beyond the gatekeepers who think that it is too much of a risk to the feelings of mothers who don’t breastfeed.
Advocates for mothers and babies have been working for months to improve emergency preparedness ahead of the Australian bushfire season. We saw this coming. But when Dr Karleen Gribble, an Australian expert in Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies (ICYF-E) published a guide to the supplies needed for evacuation kits for breastfed, expressed milk fed and formula fed babies – accusations flew of ‘bottle shaming’ and ‘judgmentalism’:
Dr Gribble’s agenda, apparently, was not to create a resource which would enable families to care for their baby, no matter how that baby is fed, under emergency conditions. Nah, she was just sneakily showing off about breastfeeding being superior and trying to make formula feeding families feel terrible. This is where the endless bickering about choice and ‘just as good’ and breastfeeding bullies has gotten us, to the point where life saving information is rejected outright because talking about how to prepare formula in a way which will keep your baby alive and healthy is seen as kicking mothers while they are down.
But far worse than the public response was the utter disinterest shown by organisations and officials who should know better. The lack of traction was astonishing. Ahead of Australia’s deepening bushfire crisis, government, emergency services, and various relevant national bodies were contacted with this information and did not update their evacuation advice. They published lists for what your pet will need – but human infants were left to rely on whatever happens to be nearby or thrown in the car when their family evacuates.
Even the media showed barely a flicker of interest. Our national emergency broadcaster, the ABC, practically had to be begged to discuss the issue. Last week, on a day before predicted extreme conditions when thousands of people were leaving ahead of the fire danger, I rang ABC Illawarra – whose broadcast zone covers some of the most seriously fire threatened areas in NSW – twice to ask them to share this information before families who were evacuating left potentially without adequate feeding supplies. Nothing was broadcast.
As the stories of bushfire refugees are coming out, we are hearing of mothers washing bottles in toilet handbasins, towns without safe water, fuel shortages, families with babies stranded in cut off towns or sleeping by the side of the road due to traffic queues. There is a photo from Malua Bay which shows among the evacuated crowd a family with a tin of formula and a couple of bottles on the beach, watching the town burn. Can you imagine preparing a bottle in 40 degree heat and strong winds, on sand, every breath filling your mouth with smoke and ash, with no running water to clean your hands or the bottle and no idea how long the bottled water you brought with you is going to need to last?
In Australia at the moment we are becoming weary of being sanctimoniously told that we shouldn’t discuss climate change while people’s houses are burning down. It’s not the time, it’s too political, it’s exploiting tragedy for an agenda. Many are resisting this. We know that the time for action and change is while the worst is visible, because once it is over, the adrenaline wears off and we adjust to our everyday lives again. It is the same for infant feeding in emergencies and a changing future climate. If not now, when?
With disaster unfolding, this is exactly where we are at. Pictures are emerging of mothers caring for babies and young children amidst flame and ruin but instead of allowing those stories to inform proper future planning and protection we are making it worse by the pretence that it is unkind and inappropriate to call for action. We know that mothers do struggle with guilt and grief when they aren’t enabled to breastfeed which surely makes it all the more urgent – if we do actually want fewer mothers to have that trauma deepened under the deprivation and stress of emergency conditions we need to act swiftly.
Consider whose interests are served by accusing the people who are working the hardest to protect the lives of children of causing harm. Consider the consequences of allowing things to return to business as usual. And for goodness sake, stop pretending that mothers are too fragile to be able to cope with reality. Time is too short and babies are too precious.
Breastfeeding Advocacy Australia will be holding a workshop on Infant & Young Child Feeding in Emergencies in Brisbane on 24/2/20, presented by Dr Karleen Gribble, Jodine Chase and Carole Dobrich. For details or to register, click here.
Full Cream 
January 6, 2020 at 5:22 pm
Powerful stuff, Nic. We cannot believe the terror and fear Australians are going through….your words resonate with those feelings and the frustration at seeing sensible, evidence-based information being ignored and misinterpreted as shaming.
But.
There’s a but.
This is what happens. It’s testimony to the huge power we have to turn away from or deny or otherwise ignore truth even when it comes to the most precious, fragile, loved parts of our lives…our babies and small children. I think it’s utterly ridiculous that people are wondering if all this preparedness is necessary. Of course it is. Of course ff in the conditions you describe is massively risky. Of course babies will starve and suffer and even die if they are reliant on formula. But this is what happens – the tone of the advice is analysed and disliked as ‘shaming’. And when it’s analysed and disliked, it’s ignored.
That’s how much we as humans protect our mindset and our expectations.
It’s crazy.
But that’s the way it is.
The answer if there is one is to shout out loudly that this is not criticism, or accusation, or judgment. Spell it out. Again and again.
Ted’s post was easily misinterpreted as shaming – note I say ‘misinterpreted’. I don’t know what other public health messages have been circulated, but if those have had any slight hint of ‘you know you should be breastfeeding instead’ , then there will be a backlash.
It’s human behaviour, entirely predictable. We see it all over. Especially in the field of infant feeding.
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January 6, 2020 at 11:57 pm
Thanks for those thoughts Heather. I very much agree. And as I know you’re well aware, one of the things which continues to present a challenge is that there doesn’t really seem to be any way of framing information and advocacy which is not defensively received and reframed as shaming/judgment, unless the message is so watered down as to become meaningless. It’s a real conundrum. People didn’t even read Karleen’s evacuation information sheet before leaving angry comments on the Conversation facebook page!!
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January 7, 2020 at 3:35 pm
What do you think of my suggestion that we flag all public health info with a ‘this is not to shame you’ notice??
I must say, your point about people accepting the need for detailed emergency info about their pets, but not about their babies, was so telling. That’s how defensive and sensitive people are.
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January 7, 2020 at 4:43 pm
There’s just no tone, no word choice, that will make it easy for people to examine their choices–personal or group choices–that result in unnecessary risk. Sadly, virtually all women who “choose” not to breastfeed do so as a result of having information and support withheld–a group choice in most countries–and yet they still take it upon themselves to feel guilty, and to reject more accurate information after the fact. The appropriate response to having critical medical and safety information withheld, and misinformation substituted, would, one would think, be anger at being manipulated into a higher risk position. Imagine if we were all intentionally given deeply inaccurate information about food safety or car safety, or if the information we needed was withheld, as a group decision by society, government, and corporations. Don’t shoot the messenger. Demand that correct information and support be offered, across the board, to every single person, so that we can be prepared to make low risk choices, instead of choosing high risk unknowingly.
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January 8, 2020 at 4:16 am
This is a timely piece. Food security for infants is a serious issue, and it would be prudent to encourage women to breastfeed for that reason.
Also, it’s about time women took back control of the birthing and feeding of infants. By all means, make good use of the advances in technology that can assist you, but be prepared to trust your body and your instincts. Giving birth and feeding are painful, messy female bodily functions, but don’t be shamed (or conned) into thinking you need to do them according to an unrealistic script. And, once established, a breastfeeding relationship with your baby is one of the best things ever.
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February 17, 2020 at 8:16 am
Why are ready-to-feed single use bottles not available here, as they are in the US and UK? Not being snarky, a genuine question. They seem like the obvious solution for formula feeding in emergency conditions.
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March 12, 2020 at 4:07 pm
Because formula represents a higher risk than breastfeeding, when breastfeeding is available, and single use bottles are incredibly expensive, heavy, and space consuming, as well as having transportation needs that compete with higher value uses, such as transporting people out of danger zones. The relatively short shelf life makes them a poor investment for most families.
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