Have you seen this article in slate.com??!!!

1077 Views 11 Replies 7 Participants Last post by eleven, Apr 1, 2006

RomanGoddess

Discussion Starter · Mar 29, 2006

I found this article really interesting. The author is a Yale Medical School professor of pediatrics and a father of breastfed children. He questions the science behind traditional arguments as to why "breast is best", while still basically saying that he finds breastfeeding a great thing to do, if (and he stresses this) the mother wants to.

The piece is too long to cut and paste, but here's the link and the first paragraphs:

http://www.slate.com/id/2138629/

Tales From the Nursery
The health benefits of breast-feeding may not be what you think.
By Sydney Spiesel
Updated Monday, March 27, 2006, at 6:12 AM ET

"Like almost all new parents, when my wife and I were in the first flush of parenthood four decades ago, we were possessed to do the best we could for our babies. We were also skeptical of conventional wisdom. In those days, that combination meant we would opt for breast-feeding. It's a little shocking to say this now, but at that time almost no one chose to breast-feed. Our pediatrician gently tolerated our eccentricity but told us, apologetically, that he couldn't help-he knew nothing about it. Fortunately, both grandmas were knowledgeable and supportive and things worked out.

Our reasoning about the merits of nursing was pretty simple: Humans are closer to humans than they are to cows or soys, so evolution would surely produce a better-fitting product in breast milk than manufacturers have with infant formula, which is made according to recipes based on cow's milk or soy proteins. That reasoning still seems pretty plausible to me. Like most doctors-and the American Academy of Pediatrics, which strongly recommends nursing for the first year of a baby's life-I have a strong suspicion that breast-feeding is preferential. But because it is inherently difficult to do research on humans, especially infants, good data in support of this position are harder to obtain than you'd think. The often-exuberant claims that breast-feeding makes babies smarter, sleeker, and healthier may be right. But we don't really know."

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RomanGoddess

Discussion Starter · #2 · Mar 29, 2006

Noone finds this article shocking? It contradicts almost everything else I have heard or read about breastfeeding and it is written by a pediatric specialist at Yale Medical School!

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p1gg1e

· #3 · Mar 29, 2006

Most mammals are born without any antibodies, or only the tiniest amounts, circulating in their blood. That leaves them defenseless at birth against viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens. Fortunately, for a brief period after birth, the antibody molecules in colostrum can easily pass through the bowel walls of babies of each of these species.

Um I thought a childs guts cell walls were open for the first 4 months? What about lack of Ear infections? and shorter illness? I'm confussed.

In the end, though, I find myself falling back on the same logic (or lack of logic) that appealed to me when my babies were born. Biologically speaking, it seems as if breast-feeding ought to be better for babies. At the same time, I am strongly convinced that there are two kinds of nutrition, physical and psychological, and that both are equally important. This conviction persuades me that it's better for a mother to formula-feed her baby pleasurably than to breast-feed and hate it. Fortunately, the majority of mothers enjoy nursing. But not all. Some women don't like to nurse, and others, even with the best help, find it physically difficult or daunting or intolerably uncomfortable. Sometimes, also, babies just aren't good nursers. In the end, I always encourage a mother to choose the feeding method that is most satisfying to her.

Um yeah this is stupid. If she has proper instuction and support RARELY do woman have low supply.

Should I find the Cell wall info and Email it to him so that he knows that we do absorb antibodies?

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RomanGoddess

Discussion Starter · #4 · Mar 30, 2006

Quote:

Should I find the Cell wall info and Email it to him so that he knows that we do absorb antibodies?

Yes, and post it here too, please!

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p1gg1e

· #5 · Mar 30, 2006

http://www.naba-breastfeeding.org/images/Just%20one.pdf

If anyone elsehas more info LMK I wanna have my ducks in a row but come off as educational.

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sapphire_chan

· #6 · Mar 30, 2006

Off topic question: That article says that c-section babies have disturbed gut flora for 6 months, do they also have a higher incidence of reflux and similar problems?

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velcromom

· #7 · Mar 30, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by p1gg1e
http://www.naba-breastfeeding.org/images/Just%20one.pdf

If anyone elsehas more info LMK I wanna have my ducks in a row but come off as educational.

ok here you go, have at him! lol

Outcomes of Breastfeeding: www.lalecheleague.org/cbi/Biospec.htm

a forty page summary of how breastfeeding affects every aspect of health for baby AND mother (did he mention how good it is for the mother or does he doubt that too? I haven't read the article and probably won't.)

tell him about how formula isn't regulated, how we depend on the (oh so reliable) promise from the manufacturers that it's healthy and safe:
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/qa-inf22.html

More on formula:

Breastfeeding and the Risk of Postneonatal Death in the United States
Aimin Chen, MD, PhD and Walter J. Rogan, MD

http://pediatrics.aappublications.or...ull/113/5/e435

Dr. Palmer's key finding: Using formula DOUBLES THE DEATH RATE for
American infants.

http://www.naturalfamilyonline.com/...mula-report.htm

An examination of research on infant mortality rates and feeding practices:
http://www.naturalfamilyonline.com/B...la-report2.htm

Virgin gut:
http://breastfeed.com/resources/articles/virgingut.htm

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MaryJaneLouise

· #8 · Mar 30, 2006

Quote:

Our reasoning about the merits of nursing was pretty simple: Humans are closer to humans than they are to cows or soys, so evolution would surely produce a better-fitting product in breast milk than manufacturers have with infant formula, which is made according to recipes based on cow's milk or soy proteins. That reasoning still seems pretty plausible to me. Like most doctors-and the American Academy of Pediatrics, which strongly recommends nursing for the first year of a baby's life-I have a strong suspicion that breast-feeding is preferential. But because it is inherently difficult to do research on humans, especially infants, good data in support of this position are harder to obtain than you'd think. The often-exuberant claims that breast-feeding makes babies smarter, sleeker, and healthier may be right. But we don't really know."

He is right that good data on any medical treatment that you can't randomize (like feeding human milk vs. alien species milk) is hard to analyze. But that's what the tools for epidemiology are for.

When the data are hard to collect, MORE FUNDING is needed to conduct this lifesaving research. Why isn't he out there campaigning for more National Institute of Health (NIH) funding for bfing research, instead of writing snide anti-bfing articles in the popular press?

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p1gg1e

· #9 · Mar 31, 2006

OK I'm going to write my letter today through monday. I'm dyslexic so it takes me awhile

. My family is getting over the flu so I havent worked on it yet. Mis information form a "Dr." really

: me

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sapphire_chan

· #10 · Mar 31, 2006

There are a lot of fabulous editors here at MDC, so don't struggle through the proofreading process on your own. A second set of eyes can do wonders for a document, even one that's virtually perfect as I'm sure yours will be.

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pdx.mothernurture

· #11 · Apr 1, 2006

If anyone else has any other responses/insights on this, that would be great. This article has been posted on a mainstream debate board I frequent, and I want to gather as many thoughts/ideas/responses before I formulate my own. ;-)

Jen

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eleven

· #12 · Apr 1, 2006

Honestly, I think the digestive system plays a larger role in our immune function than we give it credit for.

It wouldn't make sense for colostrum and breastmilk to be full of antibodies if they're not serving much of a purpose.

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