Request MN Towers - Breastfeeding Calendar for Developing Countries?

[ruty]

I dropped MN Towers an email, but just putting it here in for everyone, including Justine and co. In light of NetMums acceptance of Nestle sponsorship and the resulting threads about it here, i was wondering if we could do something positive to counteract the aggressive marketing of formula to developing countries.
One idea might be a calendar, made up of Mnetters who are currently breastfeeding [they could be shot so anonymity doesn't have to be totally lost if need be], maybe sponsored by a nice company with donations to Save the Children. And perhaps with a bit of publicity we could get the calendar distributed to maternity hospitals in places like Bangladesh.

Any thoughts? Anyone with the right background to help out/advise?

thanks...

[lissielou]

what a fab idea!

[MamaG]

Great idea

[JodieG1]

I'd be willing to take part with bf pics if needed.

[ruty]

Great! hope for more interest in the morning...

[VeniVidiVickiQV]

Its a fantastic money-raising idea.

I'm not sure about Calendar's being distributed to Bangladesh (dont know if Gregorian calendar is widely used or not).

Certainly b/feeding promotional posters would be excellent to distribute.

[kiskidee]

i would do it. with 2 yr old.

[DimpledThighs]

baby milk action do a calendar - no reason why you shouldn't as well though as I think there will be a market on mumsnet - thought you might want to know about this one though - I have it if you want to borrow it for a proper look.

[TooTicky]

My 22 month dd2 is still bf.

[Astrophe]

Brillint Ruty. I read the link on the other thread and thought "I can boycott Nestle, but its not enough!" - especially as its not just Nestle who is acting in this appallingly unethical way.

I don't know what I can do to help - not particularly skilled or well connected I'm afraid! I'll have a think. Actually, come to think of it, I do have a friend who has done a fair bit of OT work in India and Bangladesh, she might have some contacts.

Regarding photos of Mums breastfeeding, would pictures of anglo mums BFing be the most encouraging to Bangladeshi Mums? Or would it be better to photograph local Mums? Not a leading question btw - perhaps they would b encouraged if they saw that even in the wealthy west, Mums are BFing. I don't know.

[kiskidee]

it could also be sold in the UK and money donated to bf causes in developing countries.

the philippine gov't is currently being taken to court by US pharmaceuticals over the gov't's decision to tighten regulation to bring it in line with the WHO code.
nestle isn't part of the lawsuit but they sure stand to benefit!

[Astrophe]

Oh and am BFing my 14 mos old - would get my boobs out of course, if that will help!

[Astrophe]

I'm trying to think of what would have helped me tp feel positive about BFing if I were a new Mum and was planning on BottleFeeding (I bit hard to imagine, as I wasn't...but there must be some MNers who changed there minds???).

I have seen lots of posters in clinics etc showing mums BFing, but always in a kind of arty, portrait shot, as opposed to a Mum BFing in her house, in the park, at a cafe etc.

I think whats missing is photography and text that puts BFing in context: Normal Mums, having normal lives, out and about while BFing their kids. Also, Mums telling about how they have made BFing work for them - ie, their struggles and triumphs.

I'd love to see a nice little book where lots of different Mums are pictured in their normal environment, and tell in a personal way about their BFing. I'd buy that! Something like this could (I think!) raise awaremess of BFing in this country, and money raised could help mothers and babies in other countries.

Phew! Off to bed for me.

[tiktok]

ruty - not wanting to rain on your parade, but there is a calendar produced every year by IBFAN that shows breastfeeding 'around the world' .

Also, Little Angels bf project in Lancashire have done one, with local mums.

You'd have to be sure there is room for three breastfeeding calendars

Can't find IBFAN's on the web, but the LA one is here

[DimpledThighs]

It dpends how big the mumsnet market is I suppose (the BMA one is wonderful!)

[ruty]

can't sleep thinking about it...you're quite right tiktok and Dimpledthighs - i hadn't realised about those other calendars. If not a calendar what might be good? any ideas? Surely we could do something useful photographically or not...

[ruty]

mind you, Mumsnet may have some news clout at the moment, [surfing on the back of the SWMNBN press] and it would serve as a good juxtaposition against Netmums and Nestle sponsorship, I still think it might work....

[shonaspurtle]

Googling brought up an organisation called the Bangladesh Breastfeeding Foundation - might be worth contacting them for ideas?

[ruty]

i'll have a look tomorrow shonaspurtle - thankyou.

[mrsmalumbas]

I think a calendar is a great idea and posted some links to the australian version in yesterdays thread. As much as I love the stylish black and white photo versions, I also really like the idea of making it a less arty thing and more about normalising breastfeeding. So showing an everyday mum breastfeeding on a park bench, or in Starbucks, or on a bus, could be kind of cool. I think even just selling it among the Mumsnet crowd we could make a fair bit of money for charity or whatever as they are fairly cheap to produce. And we are early enough to make it doable for 2008.

However - is our target audience mums in the UK or mums in Bangladesh/other developing countries?

If it's mums in Bangladesh then I guess we do have to think about how useful they would find a calendar. Maybe we should be working with a local organisation as somebody suggested to identify what healthcare workers there really need to promote breastfeeding locally.

The problem is that probably the healthcare workers (apart from one or two enlightened souls like the one in the article) believe that the babies really do need formula and don't think they are doing anything wrong in telling women to give it to their babies. That's the problem really, educating the healthcare workers as they are perceived to be the experts.

Even in Singapore, a very highly educated and well developed country, I saw this ALL the time - nurses routinely giving glucose to newborns, formula feeding them in the nursery when their mums weren't looking, giving free samples of formula away to new mums, leaflets on aptamil on the tables in doctors waiting rooms, aisles and aisles of formula in the supermarkets - outrageous, and that is not illiterate mums in bangladesh we are talking about but modern well educated ones in one of the richest countries in the world.

Anyway, off my soapbox, I LOVE the calendar idea and am happy to do whatever to get it off the ground (I have access to 400 doula students around the world I could sell it to!) but we just need to think about the target audience and the overall goal of what we are doing.

[fryalot]

According to the Guardian's article, the formula milk companies use pictures of lovely bouncing white babies as adverts, so that the local mums will think that it is the "western way" and go down the formula route.

I think it is a fab idea. Couldn't contribute pics as am not bfing, but would deffo buy one.

[diplodocus]

Don't mean to be a misery and rain on anyone's parade, but I've been involved in child health in developing countries, and at one time produced a flyer with a lovely picture of a breastfeeding mother to promote something. Howver, got into quite hot water as in many more conservative countries (particularly muslim ones) this is considered very innapropriate and offensive (despite the fact you could hardly see anything). I think you need to consider these issues, and maybe take advise from someone like babymilk action or Healthlinks (who are a charity specialising in health promotion in developing countries). As I said, sorry to be negative, but would be a shame if the idea caused offense or was counter-productive.

[diplodocus]

Obviously my comments are aimed at the Bangladesh / overseas idea - not the idea of selling on Mumsnet!

[purplemonkeydishwasher]

fab idea!
I'm in!

[Tatties]

I think there would be a MN market for this. I am still feeding ds (2)

[ruty]

that is an interesting point diplodocus - one worth bearing in my mind when thinking about the best way to go about it. I like the idea of 'ordinary' shots, mums going about their business rather than arty black and white pics - good idea. All we need is 12 mums now and a photographer...Anyone good at that here? Must do some research.
Bumping for the afternoon...