To the editor:

As an avid reader and a mom who reads to her children, I was thrilled to see your Sunday article about the Mom’s Club South and Altrusa International donating books to every baby born at Lawrence Memorial. Being read to is essential to every child’s development and you can never start too soon.

However, by choosing to “include” a diaper bag from formula companies, that baby may never get the best start any child can get in life: being breastfed by his/her mother. Even if there wasn’t a formula sample in the bag (I bet there was!), there was undoubtedly a coupon for formula. By handing out this “freebie” with the books, the message is, “Reading to your baby is a good thing and formula feeding is also a good thing.”

While the studies show reading to your baby is a good thing, they also show breastfeeding your baby is a GREAT thing! Breastfed babies are less prone to illness and doctor’s visits, less prone to allergies, have higher IQs, are less prone to obesity, and are less likely to develop reproductive cancers as adults (“The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding,” sixth edition). Breastfeeding moms save time by nursing, are able to lose weight gradually without dieting, are less likely to develop breast cancer, and have an easier time learning how to mother their babies during that special bonding time.

While I admire Moms Club South and Altrusa International for their effort to get parents to read to their babies, they missed a chance to encourage moms to breastfeed their babies, which is the best start any child can get in life.

Chris Munson,

Lawrence