Support with Integrity Breastfeeding Pledge

by mamafier on January 3, 2012

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Over the past 10 years, Earth Mama has worked closely with, and supported, a tremendous cadre of knowledgeable, generous, and loving advocates who support breastfeeding women with evidence-based research: professionals, non-profits, educators, manufacturers of breastfeeding products, and breastfeeding mothers, both experienced as well as first timers. They all want the same thing – to offer support. But too often we’ve seen these breastfeeding supporters need to defend themselves  — or their position, method, techniques, organization or beliefs about breastfeeding — against judgment and criticism. Their time and energy is wasted defending themselves, instead of focusing on helping nursing mamas.

At Earth Mama, we believe that breastfeeding a baby is the consummate gift of a mother’s love. We think that the same loving generosity can be extended within the community of breastfeeding advocates. The Support with Integrity Breastfeeding Pledge  acknowledges that there are lots of ideas, and that we can all stand by our own ideals and beliefs without denigrating the ideals and beliefs of others.

The goal of the Support with Integrity Pledge is to strengthen and to unite the efforts of breastfeeding supporters who focus on getting the baby fed, and not taking sides about how it’s done, or being right. We each may prefer one organization, technique, method, schedule or position, but we believe that a mama who is breastfeeding deserves support with whatever technique she chooses, and whatever works for her and her baby.

The ultimate goal of all breastfeeding advocates is that the breasts are making milk, the baby has a good latch, the nipples are happy, and the baby is getting what she needs to grow and be healthy. We’ve asked our colleagues to help us spread the word to promote civility and diversity of beliefs about breastfeeding. Now we turn to you, the mamas, and ask you to sign the Support With Integrity Breastfeeding Pledge.

To be clear, this pledge isn’t about breastfeeding vs. formula feeding. It’s simply about uniting breastfeeding supporters who have a common goal: to help normalize breastfeeding, to help remove the barriers to breastfeeding, and to provide a peaceful village of supporters united in their desire to help women successfully breastfeed.

We hope this pledge will remind us all to hold hands and stay focused on that goal, and offer the same generously loving support to breastfeeding supporters that we offer to mamas feeding their babies. Please sign the pledge and spread the word!

Tagged as: breastfeeding, pledge, support, Support with Integrity

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