BACK OFF!!!!!!

And now we organize-- literally.

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This morning a group of over 20 moms, with over 250k followers between them all posted the same message on our Instagram accounts. These women run the ENTIRE political and cultural gamut: we got Catholics, pagans, hospital nurses, doulas, homesteaders, apartment dwellers, trad wives, lefties, free birthers, service members, military wives, San Francisco elites, Tim McGraw fans, observant Brooklyn Jews, vegans, raw-milkers, working moms, stay at home moms, blue staters, red staters, anti-staters, a sprinkling of Muslim moms, and one mom who literally slaughtered her own rooster this morning and we’re all saying the same thing:

It’s been six months of Andrea and I putting out our fiery little newsletter DEMANDING that SOMEONE do SOMETHING about the way corporations profit off separating the motherbaby dyad. Specifically the way formula companies have invaded our digital village, hijacked our postpartum conversations, and re-framed breastfeeding advocacy as “mom-shaming".

We kept looking around for an adult, a cop, a politician, a non-profit to step in and put a stop to this outrageously unethical marketing that floods our feed.

A formula ad promising sleep, career, and me-time.

HAVE YOU SIGNED UP FOR OUR PROTEST ACTION YET?

And, of course, we came to understand that the only people who will fight on behalf of the dyad are mothers like us. Allow me to get rabbinical on you, we asked ourselves:

“If I am not for myself, who am I?

When I am only for myself, what am I?

And if not now, when?”

We’ve spent the last number of weeks meeting with other mothers we admire and respect to connect with them about this crisis. These are women who have led by example through creating an unmedicated birth academy, starting their own lactation practice, trying to bring down the infant mortality rate at their hospital, collecting breast milk donations, or just bringing women together to talk openly about motherhood. We found a shared set of values and absolute willingness to act on behalf of those values.

As of today, the most direct threat to the dyad is the rampant, predatory marketing of baby formula, particularly by media-darling Bobbie. Their core messaging is that while breastmilk maybe superior, breastfeeding is not. Their ads position breastfeeding as bad for mental health, incompatible with career, and impossible if you want to sleep.

From Bobbie’s Instagram

Bobbie recently teamed up with breast pump company

YOU HAVE SOMETHING MEANINGFUL TO CONTRIBUTE TO OUR CAMPAIGN

Unlike the three major formula manufactures which operate as giant food conglomerates with huge government contracts, Bobbie is small, boutique, and digitally savvy. That means they can easily partner with influencers who push a message that formula feeding is simply another consumer choice made to ease the friction points of modern parenting. Thanks to a large online following, Bobbie incentivizes new moms to promote their formula for free in the hope of getting a shout out from the brand and more followers. Here are some examples

I AM ONCE AGAIN ASKING YOU TO CLICK THIS LINK

The messaging is working.

Most notably, Bobbie launched during breastfeeding month in 2022, with this ad:

Someone is going to own breastfeeding week in 2023. Is it going to be the multimillion dollar corporation that makes money off the destruction of breastmilk or will it be moms like us?

No one will fight this battle for us.

Only mothers can fight it.

And only mothers can win.

Will you join us?