Madam, - "No breasts please, we're Irish." This tongue-in-cheek headline on your report of the Irish rejection of a European Parliament election advertisement conveys Irish society's difficulty in accepting breastfeeding as part of everyday life (The Irish Times, May 22nd).
Most other European countries regard breastfeeding as a perfectly normal and unremarkable part of having children. It is, therefore, not surprising they have little difficulty with the light-hearted portrayal of a baby's presumed dilemma about which breast to choose first as a way of encouraging people to vote in the forthcoming elections.
Because of the overwhelming evidence for the long-lasting health and nutritional advantages of breastfeeding, the Department of Health and Children, along with health professionals and voluntary mother-to-mother support groups, is trying to achieve this level of acceptance for breastfeeding in Ireland also.
Unlike the portrayal in the advertisement, breastfeeding does not require any exposure of the breasts to public view. Nevertheless this particular advertisement, unlike many others, rightly emphasises the primary nurturing role of breasts. - Yours, etc.,
AISLING WILSON, Clinical Midwife Specialist in Breastfeeding, Rotunda Hospital, Dublin 1.