guess what the paediatrician said?

[calpurnia]

amongst other criticisms of formula healthwise, he said he considers formula advertising akin to cigarette advertising.

my partner's a med student & they are being taught such a pro-breastfeeding curriculum. they had a lecture on infant nutrition from another paediatrician that didn't even mention formula once, was just about breastfeeding & the introduction of solids.

[PatioGardener]

Are you in the UK? I wish those lecturers would teach at Canadian medical schools!!!

[2lilsweetfoxes]

And in American.

[mauri456]

Well, I am in a Family Nurse Practitioner program currently and just finished a bunch of breastfeeding modules. They said pretty much the same thing. That is here in the U.S. I think slowly those ideals will make their way in.

[JamesMama]

Awesome!!

I will say for all his faults the pedi I had with my DS (before we stopped vaxing) almost threatened me with death if I were to choose not to bf...DH is type 1 diabetic and he flat out told me if I ff'ed by choice I'd more or less be ensuring my kid got diabetes. Children of diabetics have a higher chance already, add ff'ing into that and the risk skyrockets. As it is, since I bf'ed, delayed solids and didn't do cows milk prior to 1 year he said my kids have no higher risk than the general population!

[Meredith&Alexander]

Did you kiss him?

[mambera]

Originally Posted by calpurnia

my partner's a med student & they are being taught such a pro-breastfeeding curriculum. they had a lecture on infant nutrition from another paediatrician that didn't even mention formula once, was just about breastfeeding & the introduction of solids.

That is SUPER.

I am an MD (I attended a very conservative US medical school) and we did not have *one single lecture* about breastfeeding in medical school. We had ONE lecture on the breast and it focused largely on aesthetics and surgical considerations. After that we only heard about breasts in relation to cancers that can develop there.

In fact, the breast is the only organ in the body whose function was not addressed at any point in our four-year curriculum. How ridiculous is that?! We had a six-month block of physiology and left an entire organ out of it.

It only really hit me how crazy that was after I ran into BFing trouble with my daughter and realized I knew a lot about how the body works generally but nothing about the physiology of BF. Now I feel like writing to my medical school and telling them they really ought to address the functions of *all* the bodily organs, wouldn't ya think?


I'm glad to hear things are better elsewhere.

[mambera]

Originally Posted by JamesMama

DH is type 1 diabetic and he flat out told me if I ff'ed by choice I'd more or less be ensuring my kid got diabetes.

Um, that's a little weird since Type I diabetes does not have a very strong genetic component. It's Type 2 that has the strong genetic contribution. ??

[Anastasiya]

Originally Posted by mambera

Um, that's a little weird since Type I diabetes does not have a very strong genetic component. It's Type 2 that has the strong genetic contribution. ??

I think that's the point. Type one isn't genetic. Formula has nothing to do with genetics. Several studies suggest that juvenile type 1 diabetes might be linked to formula feeding....

[petey44]

I think there might be some genetic predisposition type of thing with Type I. My brother has it and the doctor told my mom it was probably at least partly because she ff him (poor mom- she really wanted to bf but was young and had no support in that area- luckily she toughened her resolve when she had me, and i was ebf ). Anyway, because my brother has it, my SIL was adament about bfing her kids. She had horrible supply issues and everything, but stuck it out for an average of 2 years per kid, mainly because she really didn't want them to develop Type I. So, I assumed that being my brother's offspring made them more predisposed towards it, and SIL's bfing was to prevent that predisposition from kicking in.
Anyone have a final word on this? It would be interesting to find out that there's absolutely no genetic link...

[cattmom]

type 1

From what I understand Type I probably has a very strong genetic component. Type I (formerly known as juvenile onset) is probably a combination of bad genes and an environmental insult. They've actually identified some genes that are associated with a higher risk of Type 1, but not all of them. Many people are diagnosed with Type 1 not long after some kind of illness. In a genetically susceptible person, the illness is believed to trigger a faulty autoimmune response, where the body's own immune system attacks and kills the insulin producing cells of the pancreas.

If a child has a father with Type I, that child has a six percent chance of getting Type I. If there is no family history of Type I, a child has a one percent chance of developing Type I.

There is a theory that breastfeeding can play some part in keeping a genetically susceptible infant's immature immune system from going haywire, because it doesn't get revved up by early exposure to cow's milk protein. It wouldn't eliminate the underlying genetic problem, but it would help reduce the ongoing threat of environmental triggers by maintaining a calmer immune system. The results of a giant study (TRIGR) to test that theory are due in 2017.

[ishyfishie]

I'm a little late in seeing this, but wanted to share--one of my highschool boyfriends is now in med school to become a pediatrician (in the US). We were chatting and I said, "Well I hope you'll be one of the awesome ones who actively encourages and supports breastfeeding!" His response was, "Of course! You'd have trouble finding one who doesn't." I pointed out the sad truth and he was really shocked, so let's hope each new crop of pediatricians will learn more about breastfeeding instead of less.

[Heba]

Originally Posted by ishyfishie

I pointed out the sad truth and he was really shocked, so let's hope each new crop of pediatricians will learn more about breastfeeding instead of less.

YES! And let's hope that they don't only learn the importance of breastfeeding, but also practical breastfeeding management so they can actually *assist* mums and babes with problems rather than tell them they have to try harder or something equally unhelpful...

[PatioGardener]

Originally Posted by Heba

YES! And let's hope that they don't only learn the importance of breastfeeding, but also practical breastfeeding management so they can actually *assist* mums and babes with problems rather than tell them they have to try harder or something equally unhelpful...

Even if it is just how to refer to someone who can help...

[Bodhimama]

WOW! That is awesome!