The 3 Minute Activist
Parents Magazine (May 27, 2020).

To: Parents Magazine CC: Debbie Feit and Jim Franco Parents Magazine has so many wonderful articles on breastfeeding, please try to be aware of the way formula and bottles are still in the minds of writers and photographers as "normal" and help them to be more proactive. In your own April 2005 issue in Kids' Health & Safety you list the breastfeeding trend that at 1 year old, only 16% of kids are still breastfed. Sadly, many babies are not being given the best possible start in life. Part of the reason that more babies are not breastfed is the lack of breastfeeding images in popular media, especially when compared to bottle-feeding images. Consider your February 2005 article "Learning to Talk" by Debbie Feit in discussing 10 to 12 months, she lists "ba" for bottle as a language fragment. While listing communication milestones in the "How Language Evolves" sidebar, bottles are used in the examples of 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12 month old communications. And in March 2005, "Babies and TV" photographed by Jim Franco, the article is very good, discussing television and pre-walking babies. But, why are bottles in 2 out of the 3 photos? The article does not mention bottle feeding at all! When I first saw photo of the bottle on the stack of bills in May 2005, "Smart Money Moves for At-Home Moms", I thought the article was going to point out how cost effiecent it is to breastfeed, but the article does not talk about infant feeding. Parents staff is thoughful and caring; The letters from the editor and the personal articles are often heart touching. I know you believe in the saying by Margret Mead "Never doubt a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has." I encourage you to not just "talk the talk" and say breastfeeding is best in breastfeeding articles, but also "walk the walk" by showing breastfeeding as the normal way to feed babies, by including breastfeeding and breastfeeding images in other articles about everyday issues. And while I understand that it would be unrealistic for you to stop advertising formula, it would seem that you could run some of the Ad Council's "Born to Be Breastfed" print media in your magazine for balance. Thank you,
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