Appallingly irresponsible article on BF babies and dehydration

[Claire and Boys]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/ar...ion-death.html

I posted a comment. .. breastfeeding rates are very low here without this kind of rubbish :

[Sagesgirl]

Honestly, I don't have a problem with the article itself, though some of the comments are...well, let's just say they're exactly what I've come to expect.

Throughout the article the authors are very careful to say again and again that no one should stop breastfeeding. That it is the proper thing to do.

A couple of the commenters, I think, get to the heart of the matter. There are two huge things going on: Mamas who want to breastfeed now probably weren't breastfed as children, and so their own mamas cannot help; and there is a lot of piss poor advice being given out, much of it by healthcare workers who really ought to know better. We have the exact same issues in the US, and if articles/studies like this lead to better training, then all the better. It's horribly necessary. I can't say how it is in the UK, but when I had my first two daughters, my postpartum nurses were almost uniformly clueless about breastfeeding (I got lucky enough to have one who had somewhat of a clue).

Yes, some people will take this article as an excuse to say "See, formula's not that bad" (as, well, they have), but those are the same folks who have that as their battle cry anyway.

[PatioGardener]

The article definitely had a sensational spin to it - it should say that not feeding well at the breast is putting babies at risk, or not having breastfeeding support and follow-up is puitting babies at risk. The bias of the author was clear int he first paragraph (although the headline at least was better).

But even with that bias, I found the comments from the health care professionals to be very responsible. I felt they were 100% supportive of both breastfeeding and increasing support postpartum. Hypernatremic dehydration is a completely preventable condition caused not by breastfeeding baby, but by not breastfeeding baby and not realizing that baby isn't getting any milk. If they are seeing more and more cases, perhaps this planned study will strengthen support for new mothers and babies to make sure that breastfeeding does go well - LCs, home visits, education for new mums and their health care professionals etc.

[Claire and Boys]

While I felt there was some good parts to it - but didn't like the sensational spin, and the way they referred to breastfeeding as a recent trend, I could see new mothers reading it and freaking out that breastfeeding might put their babies at risk and doing formula instead.

I think that a better headline would be "Lack of breastfeeding support is putting babies at risk"

I live in the UK, and while I found the initial breastfeeding supprt very good (all postpartum nurses are trained LCs) the aftercare is woefully lacking, I had a problem and it took them 5 days to return my call by which time I'd sorted things out by asking on MDC, lol.

[annettemarie]

We can't discuss the comments or invite others to comment, as per the UA:

Do not post to invite MDC members to other boards for adversarial purposes or post inflammatory information about MDC discussions at other boards, or about communities and discussions elsewhere, regardless of whether or not you link to that discussion or community. This is to maintain and respect the integrity of our own and other communities.

Thanks!

[PatioGardener]

Originally Posted by Claire and Boys

I think that a better headline would be "Lack of breastfeeding support is putting babies at risk"

: Exactly! You're right - this could go one of 2 ways. My hope is that the study shows that more postpartum support is needed and resources are made available for that. Hopefully there are people on the study or linked to the study (LLL or NCT) who can make sure the results get the 'spin' they need!