International declarations and human rights instruments

There are at least 11 international declarations, resolutions and conventions which support parents, mothers and their children. These uphold vital rights relating to for example natural birth, extended breastfeeding, cue breastfeeding, and safe co-sleeping with baby. They do this through codifying human rights such as the right to life, the right to health, the right to freedom of information and expression and the right to have or to adopt a belief of one's choice.

In spite of human rights legislation, society does not necessarily advocate what is best for babies or those who care for them. 'Experts' have given rise to unprecedented rates of cesarean sections, advised us to leave babies to cry themselves to sleep in their own room, be weaned onto solid food prior to 6 months and prefer pushchairs to carrying and holding.

Western society demands the forced independence of babies and infants, and the sexualisaton of children, way before they are emotionally or biologically ready. Instinctive and healthy parenting methods are denigrated as is a parent's capacity to support their child without recourse to corporations and medicalisation. Some examples are listed below.

For further discussion, please see my blog.

Motherhood: a labour of love, a career of choice

The non-economic contribution of motherhood should be valued as highly as paid work. Instead, Western society sees motherhood as a cop-out, with mothers viewed as dependent leeches within a social framework obsessed with consumerism, corporations and financial wealth.

When given the right support and encouragement, for example to breastfeed and take extended maternity leave, mothers can feel honoured in investing in the job of mothering, in creating tomorrow's citizens and impacting positively on the economy. Their children become citizens with good mental and physical health, and empathy, which add to the balance sheet of both life and economics.

Please see my article Women's work invisible on the balance sheet of global economics.

Motherhood however is choice not destiny, despite the huge cultural and social pressure to have children. Remaining childless is often condemned as selfish, rather than being seen as selfless, when for example seen through the lens of environmental sustainability.

Please feel free to use my motherhood logo to support your motherhood advocacy. For a large version of the logo, please click here.

The crisis of childbirth

The World Health Organization (WHO) notes that "Rates of caesarean section in many countries have increased beyond the recommended level of 15%, almost doubling in the last decade, especially in high-income areas such as Australia, France, Germany, Italy, North America and the UK. Similar trends have also been documented in low-income countries such as Brazil, China and India, especially for births in private hospitals."

In the USA, caesarean sections are at an all-time high of 31 percent and according to Amnesty International "more than one-third of all women (1.7 million) who give birth in the United States experience some type of complication that has an adverse effect on their health". The USA spends more than any other country on health care, with hospitalisation related to pregnancy and childbirth costing $86 billion a year. However women in the USA have a higher risk of dying of pregnancy-related complications than those in 40 other countries.

As Amnesty International said of its report Deadly Delivery: The Maternal Health Care Crisis in the USA, "This is not just a public health emergency - it is a human rights crisis".

A study on caesareans in China by the World Health Organization noted the existence of "performance-related incentives for staff in some hospitals, depending on the number of procedures and the revenue that physicians generate for their hospitals".

Breastfeeding exclusively and for longer

The World Health Organization infant feeding recommendation advocates that infants be exclusively breastfed for the first six months and for breastfeeding to continue up to two years of age or beyond. Breastfeeding past two years has a range of scientifically proven benefits for children. These include nutrition, being sick less often and for shorter duration, and having fewer allergies.

Research by anthropologist Kathy Dettwyler "suggests that the normal and natural duration of breastfeeding for modern humans falls between 2.5 years at a minimum and about 7 years at a maximum".

See the KellyMom extended breasfeeding factsheet and for information about exclusive breastfeeding beyond 6 months see Heed Natural Timing before Infant Introduction to Solid Food.

Please also see my articles Breast Intentions; Toddler breastfeeding: society says no; and for mothers, worst place in world is breast place.

Safe co-sleeping prevents infant deaths

Babies sleeping through the night in their own room is a western model created since the industrial revolution. It devalues the role of mothers, the needs of their babies and the support of the father and extended family, placing a premium on forced independence. Meanwhile, the huge benefits of safe co-sleeping with baby have been lost. Safe co-sleeping for example, actually helps protect against Sudden Unexplained Death in Infancy (SUDI, also known as SIDS or Cot Death).

Co-sleeping is surrounded by myth, with all co-sleeping branded as irresponsible, when it is actually unsafe forms of co-sleeping which lead to harm. For more information on the benefits of safe co-sleeping see my Baby Co-Sleeping Fact Sheet

Babywearing fosters attachment

Many studies have looked at the benefits of babywearing, which include reduced crying and increased attachment.

For further information, please see The Baby Wearer for links to various studies, my baby wearing tips for a brief summary of the five types of baby carrier I used and New Research Shows “Kangaroo Mother Care” Reduces Newborn Deaths More than 50 Percent.

Controlled crying is harmful

Controlled crying "is not consistent with what infants need for their optimal emotional and psychological health, and may have unintended negative consequences".

See Australian Association for Infant Mental Health, Position Paper 1: Controlled Crying March 2004

The sexualisation of children

Child sexualisation degrades childhood through, for example, sexualised clothing for girls, the presentation of children in advertisements as sexual beings and their exposure to sexually explicit music videos.

Its effects are far-reaching and include risk factors for early pregnancy, abortion and sexually transmitted infections, low self esteem and self-justification for sexual offenders. Children as young as five suffer from early onset eating disorders, one of the many harmful effects of child sexualisation.

Please see my article Stepping up the fight against childhood sexualisation.

Vaccination

I am not against vaccination, but I am against the vilification of non-vaccinating parents and the violations of the rights of freedom of belief, information and expression by the pro-vaccine lobby.

Vaccination is not 100 per cent effective despite persistent claims of "full immunity", with studies showing that vaccinated patients are highly susceptible to diseases they are vaccinated against. The known side-effects of vaccination means it can breach the right to health and the right to life, as well as the right to education, as unvaccinated children are routinely excluded from school.

The US government's National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), part of the US Department of Health and Human Services “lists and explains injuries/conditions that are presumed to be caused by vaccines” including anaphylactic shock, chronic arthritis and death.

The VICP covers 12 vaccines and in the period 1989–2010 paid compensation to 2,428 vaccine victims totaling $1,840,643,000. During the 21 years October 1988 to November 2009, 13,192 claims have been filed, 1,019 of which concern the death of the victim. As of February 2009, there were over 5,600 cases filed with VICP, alleging a causal relationship between vaccinations and autism disorders.

In the UK, one mother received £85,000 government compensation after it was confirmed that the brain damage suffered by her daughter, 2, who later died after a violent fit, was linked to her MMR vaccine. In 2011, the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina started examining 275 children with regressive autism and bowel disease. Of the 82 tested so far, 70 prove positive for the measles virus. All are vaccine strain and none are wild measles.
 
The vast majority of lives which have been saved have been in the developing world, and could equally have been saved through the provision of nutrition and sanitation.

For further information, please see my article Vaccination: Immunity from Persecution.