This is from the Kent News, go Virginia! I know quite a few Lactivist readers have contacted her about being in the film, can’t wait to see it!
A midwife is planning to launch a DVD that “glamorises” breastfeeding in a bid to get the Government to sit up and listen to her passionate campaign. Virginia Howes, an independent midwife working across the county for the Kent Midwifery Practice, said she wants breastfeeding to be seen as the “normal” way to feed babies and lose any association with being either “elitist” or “hippy”. Filming was set to begin on the DVD last Saturday at Fernhurst House in Sevenoaks, but had to be cancelled due to the snow and icy conditions. However, Miss Howes was undeterred by the set back and said the Christmas theme would be swapped for a spring one and a new script and concept would be ready for April next year. “I think breastfeeding needs to be normalised,” she said. “In order to make people sit up and take notice I want to glamorise it, in an effort to normalise it.
“The DVD will be sassy and funny, very tongue in cheek, with young women dancing while holding babies. “They will be breastfeeding showing it can be normal for a young, trendy woman and not just something that is elitist or hippy. It is a normal and mainstream.” Miss Howes said the film will feature six main “sexy and sassy” breastfeeding mothers as well as up to 100 other women who want to take part and have contacted her via the social networking site Facebook. The Government has said that it wants to see more women breastfeeding their babies.
Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, said workplaces should offer mothers private rooms where they can breastfeed or express milk, when he launched the coalition’s public health white paper last month. But Miss Howes believed that much more needed to be done to improve the UK’s low rates of breastfeeding and boost children’s health. So far, Miss Howes has funded the project out of her own pocket and intends to use social networking sites such as Facebook and online video site YouTube to promote the DVD. But she is hoping that decision makers will take note and that the Government will commission her to produce more. “We believe seeing happy, smiling, formula fed babies on TV advertising should be banned,” she said. “There is a need for a strong breastfeeding campaign as was seen with the anti smoking and seatbelt drive. Breastfeeding is a public health issue and needs urgently addressing.” She said the National Childbirth Trust was behind her project and would be putting the film on their website. “I want as many people as possible to see the demo so that we can go to the Government and say this is what we want to see more of – that breastfeeding is normal and not formula,” she said. Miss Howes shared her strong views on breastfeeding, adding: “When people say ‘breast is best’ it makes it seem like an elitist thing. “You cannot always do the best for your child, so you can settle for what okay, which is the way women think it is okay to use formula. But it is risk behaviour and you are taking risks with your child’s health.”
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