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The Daily Tar Heel

Letter: Don’t force women to breast-feed in public

TO THE EDITOR:

I am writing about the recent article, “Feed your babies, says Chapel Hill, Carrboro.”

Although having a Breastfeeding Friendly City is a worthy goal, I think that this initiative might go a bit too far.

Miriam Labbok, of the Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute, said she doesn’t expect all stores to stop selling formula after the launch of the initiative.

Is this initiative requesting that stores stop selling infant formula? Is this correct? Most women who are buying formula have already made the decision not to breast-feed, or have been unable to. Most women start out breast-feeding, but many do not make it for the full year.

Should it be made difficult for parents to buy this basic necessity in order to feed their infants?

I looked at the actual initiative, and I did not see that stores were being discouraged from selling formula, but it did state that pamphlets on the benefits of breast-feeding were to be available in stores where formula was sold.

It is not as though a mother can decide at any time to breast-feed her child after she has been feeding her child formula. As I said, most women looking for infant formula have already made that decision.

Although most of the Baby Friendly City Designation is a great idea, limiting access to infant formula, and informing women of the benefits of breast-feeding, when the choice to breast-feeding is past for most women, seems a little counterproductive.

Anne Risch

Grand Rapids, Mich.

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