Breast Really is Best: The Nestlé Boycott

Many women’s choice to breastfeed or not depends greatly upon current fads, convenience, or the guidance or support they did or did not receive in the beginning.  This is generally the case in America and other developed countries, anyway. And our babies almost always survive on either formula or breast-milk. However, babies in third-world countries aren’t so lucky.

According to the World Health Organization Authority (WHO), 1.5 million babies die every year as a result of inappropriate feeding.  The main cause for this devastating number is that these babies are not adequately breastfed, which is usually due to the aggressive marketing of companies like the Nestlé corporation. No matter what country you live in and what kind of food and water you have access to, it’s been proven time and again that artificial formulas do not even compare to the healthy components found in human breast-milk, but I’ll leave that topic for another soap-box session.

Today, I just want to talk about the serious problems Third World countries face when it comes to companies promoting artificial infant feeding…the Nestlé Corporation being one of the worst offenders. Get this, to promote their product they provide mothers in poor countries with free formula for the first week of their baby’s life. A week is long enough for the mother’s own milk to come in and dry up. Once mom’s milk is all dried up, the baby is “hooked” on formula, because mom's milk supply can never be replenished and there are no other options. Despite the consequences, Nestlé knows this is what will happen and does it on purpose to ensure they'll have a new customer and more money coming in for the next year. Unfortunately, the company doesn’t bother to inform the mother that this happens and that she will be forced to continue buying their product, if she wants her child to survive. If there are warning labels, they are written in a language she can’t read (if she can read at all). The cost of formula for one baby can easily be 40 percent of a family’s total income.  The formula is usually sold in powder form, and so to make stretch and last longer, these mothers often dilute it with more and more water. And, as we all know, this water is far from pure and sterilization is often unavailable. Also, the antibiotics we easily have access to here in the United States may not be accessible to them at all, which results in sick babies who often die. That’s if mothers can even afford the formula past the first free week. As you can see, Nestlé is responsible for millions of sick, starving and dead babies, who otherwise would have been perfectly healthy and strong.

If only these women weren’t bombarded with aggressive product promotion. If only Nestlé would stop exploiting and destroying these women's lives to make an extra buck. If only someone had told these women they themselves already had the ability to create the best possible and most perfect cocktail of immunoglobulins, antibodies, vitamins, and nutrients AND it’s free!

Regardless of the 1.5 million babies that may die this year because of artificial infant feeding, Nestlé continues to push its product. This is why I’ve decided to boycott Nestlé. And this is why you should too. Here’s a link to all their products: http://www.nestleusa.com/PubOurBrands/Brands.aspx

Wedding Dress Misadventures

Those of you who know me know I love dresses, that I love pretty clothes in general. That I wear skirts and dresses to work more often than trousers and try to wear something vintage at least once a week. And that it takes me thirty minutes and a patient fiancé with a good eye for fashion to pick out an outfit everyday. When I was a little girl, much to my mother’s dismay, I refused to wear anything but white frilly dresses and would change my dress at least three times a day. I think I even insisted on wearing my white lacey Easter gloves to play in the dirt pile with my brother.  And don’t even get me started on my dress-up box…

For all these reasons I thought shopping for a wedding dress would be the best part of planning my wedding. Sooo wrong I was. I’ve been engaged for nearly a year and a half and have been actively looking for my dress since. And to no avail.

I have very strong opinions about what I do NOT want: satin, strapless and poofy. And here’s what’s readily available: satin, strapless and poofy. In the beginning of my hunt I was very specific about what I wanted, and since I have let up a bit, but, the one detail of a dress I will not let go is the sleeves. Why is it so hard to find a wedding dress with sleeves? Try googling, “wedding dress with sleeves,” and you will find either ridiculous Princess Di sleeves or modest cap sleeves fit for a Mormon getting married at Temple. Ridiculous or dull, that’s all there is.  It’s discouraging to say the least.

I am still hopeful and still looking, because I know somewhere out there wedding dresses do exist with attractive sleeves. For example, I was originally inspired by this bride:

I even bought a dress that sort of looks like the one above. With the help my wonderful bridesmaids, I found an Edwardian tea gown in a vintage dress shop in Wicker Park of Chicago. It is 100 years old, it’s white, feminine, pretty AND it has sleeves. It was even a perfect fit. The women from 1910 were a lot smaller than we are now, so sometimes it’s hard finding a hundred-year-old dress to fit my 26-inch waist. Although it fit, it needed some alterations to update it a bit.  This top rated tailor in Chicago was sort of a disappointment, after two rounds of alterations it still wasn't right, and the dress really needed to be altered once more. However, I didn’t have time to have it modified one last time, because we were moving to Albuquerque the day after I picked up my dress. So, I took it home to our boxed up apartment in Chicago, and proudly traveled with it in my backseat across the country to New Mexico. The dress is now hanging in my closet waiting to be altered one last time.

So, what’s the big deal, right? Well, in the beginning, Dickie and I were planning an informal garden wedding to be held in Grandma’s backyard and I thought that a tea length dress would be perfect for that. Since, of course, we have changed our plans and perhaps the dress would still be appropriate, but I’m no longer satisfied with it…now I need a floor length dress. This dissatisfaction with a tea-length dress is my mother’s fault, of course. Awhile back, she said something about wishing I had found a long white dress instead, and well it’s sort of stuck with me. Thanks ma. :)

My mother hasn’t had much say in this whole wedding planning process. Planning her daughter's wedding is not really her cup of tea. But, this is the one detail she seemed to feel strongly about – er, I shouldn’t say she felt strongly about it, but she at least voiced an opinion. So, as every good girl does, she listens to her mama…so I began hunting for a floor length gown.

(Don’t worry, the antique dress will not go to waste, I am wearing the Edwardian tea gown during my April City-Hall wedding. I just need something a bit more dramatic for the “real” wedding in June.)

About a month ago, I found a dress online. An ethereal and elegant looking goddess gown with layers of floaty silk chiffon. It was lovely, unique, and so me. Since the dress-maker got flawless reviews and the dress was custom made for me, with my exact measurements, I wasn’t nervous about buying something online. After placing my order I was thrilled and relieved I had finally found my dress. However, now devastated, it has arrived but it's about three sized too large and a foot too short.  Length, being the critical detail was the complete opposite of what I wanted. It looked ridiculous and I sat in my atrocious dress and cried for an hour. Not because I lost a few hundred bucks, but because I am now on the hunt once more.

I thought I would post my travesties, so that maybe you could help me in my seemingly endless search for the perfect wedding dress. Following are some photos of what I’m looking for:

Soft, flowy, sexy, feminine...

Lacey

Boho, earthy

Cap sleeves

Flutter sleeves

3/4 Length

See, sleeves don't have to be boring or silly. If you can't tell, I'm a super-frazzled-desperate-for-a-pretty-dress-bride. Please help me. I'm a dress size 2. Small bust, large toosh.

Our house is a very, very fine house...

She survived the coldest temperatures Albuquerque has seen since 1976; no fires, no busted pipes, no hypothermic cat. I think our little casa deserves some praise, actually she deserves to be shown off a bit. 

We live in the oldest neighborhood of Albuquerque: Barelas. In fact, it's fifty years older than Old Town. It was first established as a ranching settlement in the late 1600s, but Coronado crossed the Rio Grande here in 1540.  It is one of the only neighborhoods in Albuquerque that has managed to stay culturally intact, while so much has changed around it. Even being so close to the heart of downtown it's kept a unique charm. It's the home of the National Hispanic Cultural Center, Barelas Coffee House, the Red Ball Cafe and the zoo. The Bosque trail system and my work downtown are only a few minutes away. Although there's been several revitalization projects and it's beginning to invite young artists to the  community, I don't think this historical hispanic neighborhood and it's 400 year-old adobe homes will change much...it will only get more interesting. For example, across the street there's an art studio/condo with hipster kids milling in and out, but right next door lives "Abuela" (grandmother in Spanish) who is in her 80s and has lived in the same house since she was 11.

  

Our Little Casita
(It faces East)

Kitchen
(looking West)

Living Room
(notice photos of Indiana, obviously our home needed a little touch of the heartland)

Living Room
(looking South)

Living Room
(looking East)

Bathroom

Bedroom
(looking NW)

The Study
(This room is not finished yet, but here's a general idea)

Bienvenidos!

Welcome, welcome.  I’ve recently purchased my first home with my two best pals: Dickie-the-Fiancé and Stylo-the-Cat, and suddenly I’ve become a comfortable, satisfied person…a grown-up, perhaps? Perhaps. No longer am I planning my next big move or ignoring problems because I know I’ll be moving away from them soon. I’m thinking in terms of years instead of months, I’m only buying things I know I can use for a decade. I think maybe I am even becoming a rational individual, maybe. I’m feeling at ease, settled; a feeling I’ve never felt before, not even as a kid. Anyway, I’ve decided to complement my newly found peaceful life with a little blog to better manage and rationalize my thoughts, ideas and future decisions.

I am sure this blog will be just as rambling and nonsensical as most of the blogs milling around out there, except mine won’t have cute photos of my babies, witty statements, loaded political opinions or vegan recipes. However, it will have some local flavor of my new city, Albuquerque, some wedding talk, as I’m getting married in six months, and probably a few projects I’m planning for my new home. But mostly, I need a forum to keep my mind bright and clever. It’s been nearly three years since I’ve sat in a classroom and been asked to read a book and write about it, and already some of that knowledge is fading. This blog will be a way for me to push myself to think, ponder and write about the things that really matter to me: women’s issues, women’s health, midwifery, history, spirituality, parenting theories, food, societal problems, cultural differences, sustainability, urban homesteading, the invasion of the pine beetle…important stuff.

This blog will hopefully be a way for me to externally deal with my internal conflicts: should I go to law school or start a family? Maybe both? Maybe neither? Should I study midwifery or continue working in a law office? Should I donate all my hair or continue growing it long? And of course, it will likely be an outlet for my venting and grumbling and gushing and the emotional turmoil we all find ourselves in from time to time.

At any rate, welcome to “la femme logique.” Who doesn’t need a little feminine logic in their lives? Even if my only follower is my mom (hi mama!), I believe this will be a satisfying little endeavor for me.