Fear gives bad advice

In oktober 2011 dr. Raymond de Vries starts as special professor  ‘Fysiologische Verloskunde/Midwifery Science’ at the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University. I his inaugural speech he addresses the fear for normalness in normal conditions: the hyped idea that a healthy woman with a healthy pregnancy might be at great risk if she has her baby at home. In the USA, where practically every woman births in a hospital and where in some states C-sections compose more than half of all deliveries, more mothers and babies die around delivery and early postpartum than in The Netherlands. The normalness of breastfeeding is as much a victim to fear and dread. Throughout human history mothers have without doubts shared their breasts and their milk to feed each other’s children; still in the last decennia this is viewed as scary, yucky and possibly dangerous. And here as well, fear gives bad advice, because the alternative for a child whose mother for any reason can’t breastfeed (or has too little or no milk for the short or long term), is something that in fact is even more scary. The risks of sharing mother’s milk can almost completely be prevented by good methods for harvesting, storing and handling, where most of the risks of formula are inherently bound to the product itself and cannot be prevented nor erased even with the most secure ways of handling. Governments and (breastfeeding) organizations who are strongly opposing against informal milk sharing, had better put their energy in promoting safe ways to do so and in educating about the real and not preventable hazards of formula feeding.
Prof.dr.  G. de Vries : Midwives, obstetrics, fear and trust. A four-part invention. Inauguratie rede ter gelegenheid van de benoeming tot bijzonder hoogleraar ‘Fysiologische Verloskunde/Midwifery Science’ aan de Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences van de Universiteit Maastricht. 26 mei 2011.
Thorley V: Mothers' experiences of sharig breastfeeding or breastmilk co-feeding in Australia 1978-2008. Breastfeed Rev. 2009 Mar;17(1):9-18.
phdinparenting: Risks of Informal Breastmilk Sharing versus Formula Feeding. http://www.phdinparenting.com/2010/11/28/risks-of-informal...-breastmilk-sharing-versus-formula-feeding/