Breastmilk "no better for children over 2 years than cola"

[Claire and Boys]

This has sparked a big debate here in the UK, lactivists up in arms.

A midwife and breastfeeding "expert" making ridiculous and offensive claims about breastfeeding older children.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dcQc7eTJ9s

[lovebug]

the link will not load for me and any rate it sounds totally ridicules, absurd and down right miss information to me. Its really sad!

link loaded and i think the other women there did well in defending it! and what i said above still stands!

[haydn'smommy]

I couldn't even watch to the end of that. I have nothing nice to say at all.

[jazzharmony]

I actually thought it was pretty good, as far as those things go. Two guests were intelligently supportive of full term nursing and one who was obviously completely ignorant, and didn't end up saying much.
I think it had to be pretty clear to anyone watching, that the midwife's assertions were just plain silly. Too bad she was a midwife, though.

In the US, most of those types of shows heavily weigh the guests on the opposite side of breastfeeding, in my limited tv experience.

[Claire and Boys]

GMTV also put up a survey on their website on breastfeeding in public, looking for views. I am guessing there will be slot on this soon as well. But the questions were horribly loaded "Do you think women should expose their breasts in public to feed their children?" was just one of them. Just very negative language.

Also should be mentioned that their weather segment is apparently sponsored by N*stle.

I suppose considering that, it wasn't so bad. It rankled with me that the supposed "expert" was SO ignorant and spouting unsubstantiated rubbish.

[velveeta]

Wow! Did we watch the same segment? I loved it! That Ann Sinnott is wonderful! We contributed to her book about extended nursing. And I loved the mom, too. She seemed so normal and sweet and kind. The "expert" came off as grumpy and with an ax to grind.

The host didn't seem biased either way to me, and at the end, she supposed they would get a lot of email, and asked all the ladies to come again for another discussion. Really, the "expert" didn't get very much in.

She kept saying that breastmilk is too sweet for older kids! I cracked up. Even very basic research reveals that breastmilk is only *slightly* more cariogenic (cavity-causing) than water. For me, that just makes her seem incredibly uninformed.

We all know from nursing our kids that we are not doing it for ourselves! I have to emphasize that they picked a great mom to represent nursing mothers. I would love to be friends with her!

[lovebug]

Originally Posted by velveeta

Wow! Did we watch the same segment? I loved it! That Ann Sinnott is wonderful! We contributed to her book about extended nursing. And I loved the mom, too. She seemed so normal and sweet and kind. The "expert" came off as grumpy and with an ax to grind.

The host didn't seem biased either way to me, and at the end, she supposed they would get a lot of email, and asked all the ladies to come again for another discussion. Really, the "expert" didn't get very much in.

She kept saying that breastmilk is too sweet for older kids! I cracked up. Even very basic research reveals that breastmilk is only *slightly* more cariogenic (cavity-causing) than water. For me, that just makes her seem incredibly uninformed.

We all know from nursing our kids that we are not doing it for ourselves! I have to emphasize that they picked a great mom to represent nursing mothers. I would love to be friends with her!

i do agree with this...

however, 'most' women wont look at studies. they get their info from mainstream TV. so while us here on MDC understand the lady is off her rocker, some may use the little bit she did say as the truth because they may already have a stance leaning that way for their own views

i dont know the stance of CLW in the UK and can only speak for it here in the USA, but i think the "expert", as little as she did say, would be enough to sway some women. i really liked that they had 2 women there that supported CLW because i think it 'watered' it down a bit making it easier for at least, me to stand.

[ScarletBegonias]

that is asinine!

ANY animals milk is better for a 2 year old than soda! same for adults.........milk has actual nutrients, soda does not.

geesh people!

how ignorant can you be?????? i can't believe people think stuff like that, let alone say it to other people!

[haydn'smommy]

Originally Posted by velveeta

Wow! Did we watch the same segment? I loved it! That Ann Sinnott is wonderful! We contributed to her book about extended nursing. And I loved the mom, too. She seemed so normal and sweet and kind. The "expert" came off as grumpy and with an ax to grind.

The host didn't seem biased either way to me, and at the end, she supposed they would get a lot of email, and asked all the ladies to come again for another discussion. Really, the "expert" didn't get very much in.

She kept saying that breastmilk is too sweet for older kids! I cracked up. Even very basic research reveals that breastmilk is only *slightly* more cariogenic (cavity-causing) than water. For me, that just makes her seem incredibly uninformed.

We all know from nursing our kids that we are not doing it for ourselves! I have to emphasize that they picked a great mom to represent nursing mothers. I would love to be friends with her!

I see your point, but no matter how good the mom and author came off, it's the "expert" that most women will listen to. The problem, for me, is that they are touting this woman as an expert when she obviously has no idea, and most women (outside of MDC) are going to take what an expert says at face value and are going to believe this rubbish. It makes me angry that they couldn't have a real breastfeeding expert on there to say how wonderful CLW can be.

[Belle]

I thought the segment was mostly positive. I think the mother and the author got a lot more in than the midwife. and the midwife comparing breast milk to cola immediately discounts anything else she said.

[annekh23]

At least the "expert" was still using over the age of two as her cut off. If a mother gets to age two (and for various reasons, I haven't, yet!), she's probably learnt from her own experience that nursing is more than just food.

To say in the instance of feeding after a child has hurt themselves is no different to giving them a can of coke is loony, but at least it wasn't a comparison to all breastfeeding after age 2, just in a comfort setting. But in a comfort setting, nursing toddlers don't usually eat very much, just because daddy can comfort them without doesn't mean mummy can, the fact they are there makes a difference!

Even the expert who considered it "bad" still said it was private, which implies choice, not that it shouldn't be done, though that came before her stronger negative statements about it.

Being a Brit and having had 2 kids in the UK and lived in the US for 3.5 yrs now and having a kid here. I found in the UK that extended breastfeeding was no big deal, in my area, it was a low income community with low breastfeeding rates, but also a few mums breastfeeding beyond age 1 or 2, I never heard a bad word said against any of them, even mums who were strongly adamanant that breastfeeding was not for them and not something they were even going to try never had anything negative to say, they just didn't say anything at all.

Here, it seems everyone has something to say, when we moved here I was nursing a 16mth old, she weaned shortly afterwards against my desires, but very few people knew I was doing that then or now, I'm currently nursing an 8mth old, so no where near the realm of extended breastfeeding, but it seems like it comes up an awful lot, without me even mentioning I'm intending to do it, more that it comes up and people are then surprised if I pipe up that I nursed beyond a year. I feel like I need LLL a lot more here, wouldn't survive without it. I knew a couple of leaders in the UK, but never went to a meeting.

[proudmomof4]

Unfortunately, the link doesnt open for me (Chinese internet, I guess). As we probably all agree that it's complete nonsense to compare breastfeeding a 2y old with handing her a can of coke: has anyone commented on the site (TV channel?) where this first appeared?

[mamazee]

I think that the comment about cola will make most people dismiss most of what she says. One of the big reasons cola rots teeth is acid content. And breastmilk is sweet, but it doesn't have HFCS. And breastmilk is chock full of nutritional content, whereas the world of soda is a nutitional wasteland. There's really no comparison. I'm glad she made that comment because it made her sound much less reliable.

[NoraB]

OMG, that "expert." I can't say anything nice so I just won't say anything at all.

It's amazing that the same myths get repeated over and over as truth. And so many believe it. If something gets repeated loudly enough and often enough it tends to be accepted as gospel truth and rarely gets tested again. Sigh.