6.22.2008

Police Woman PROMOTED for breastfeeding!

A policewoman who breastfed nine orphaned infants during China's earthquake has been promoted. She is being hailed as a hero, as well she should be! She undoubtedly saved the lives of those babies.

Many babies caught in natural disasters do not die from whatever calamity they find themselves in. They die afterwards due to dehydration, starvation, or disease either because they lost their mothers, like these poor little ones, or because no water (or clean water) was available to mix formula or there was no way to get pre-mixed formula right away.

I briefly blogged about this recently because of the floods the mid-west is now experiencing, but this is one aspect I never thought of. Kati Kim kept her own children alive when her family was stranded in a snow storm and her husband was lost looking for help, but I hadn't thought of how many other children could avoid suffering, even if their mothers were lost, if there were other women around who could provide instant, sterile, prewarmed nourishment.

Wow! Women are amazing!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

If you want to help protect babies in emergencies there are some resources at http://www.ennonline.net/ife/generalpublic/default.aspx
I know that people who know how dangerous infant formula is in emergencies and know that mothers need support to breastfeed to protect their babies feel powerless when they see aid agencies handing out formula or saying that mothers milk dries up because of stress. However, there is a LOT that you con do. See the above link.
Karleen