News Bulletins - April 2009

Breastfeeding Community Responds to Hanna Rosin

Members of the United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC) have read with interest ?The Case Against Breast-Feeding? by Hanna Rosin, published in the April 2009 issue of the Atlantic. We respect Ms. Rosin's personal opinions and observations regarding her breastfeeding experiences and appreciate her historical overview of the history of infant feeding. We must disagree, however, with the premise of the article that the benefits of breastfeeding are not scientifically validated, and therefore, what Ms. Rosin describes as the ?burden of breastfeeding? often outweighs its value.

The online review of the medical literature described in the article misrepresents the evidence on a critical issue for both women's and children's health. Ms. Rosin claims that many studies did not show significant benefits of breastfeeding, but her online research appears to have missed more recent information. In 2007 the DHHS Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality published an Evidence Report conducted by independent experts who reviewed only high quality studies. The report found that a lack of breastfeeding was associated with a statistically significant increased incidence of several acute and chronic diseases affecting both mother and child.

To read the article in its entirety, please visit the USBC website at www.usbreastfeeding.org/News-and-Events.html.

You may also want to read MotherWear's response to the Atlantic Monthly article here, breastfeeding.blog.motherwear.com/2009/03/the-case-against-breastfeeding-a-response.html.