Sometimes I, like most people, can get a little carried away on the internet. But in my own small way I’m trying to make the world a better place, and to that end I’ve made an informal pact with myself that when I rant on the internet, I have to do some data analysis to back up or complement whatever it is I ranted about.

This week’s edition: the current shortage of formula milk for babies. I’ll link to my rant below, but the gist is: we should take a critical look at the systems we set up for feeding our infants, and who is accountable for ensuring that we can.

Some background on me: I lived in the UK for half my life, and I birthed and raised two babies there. I benefited from a system of socialized medicine where childbirth is, largely, midwife-led. So the institutions we have in America baffle me (to say the least). So to supplement my Twitter rant, I decided to look at the rate of breastfeeding in the US, as well as income levels (because I was curious) and the type of care we offer new mums (because the data was there).

The CDC and the Census Bureau have good, relatively recent data on these subjects, so the datasets were robust.

It’s worth noting this is the first time I have used Alteryx to get the data into shape before doing a Tableau Public viz. It’s an understatement to say: I’m a fan.