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Guest blog: 'Breast is Best' - has breastfeeding been oversold?

326 replies

KateMumsnet · 14/02/2013 14:15

Prof Joan B Wolf is the author of 'Breast Is Best?', which argues that mothers are being pressured to breastfeed for reasons that aren't, in fact, based on good evidence.

In our guest blog debate, she explains why she thinks that the science behind the 'breast is best' health claims might be fundamentally flawed. On the same page Anna Burbidge, Chair of the La Leche League, responds to some of her arguments.

Do read both, and let us know what you think. Is breastfeeding being promoted as part of "an ideology of total motherhood that stipulates that a mother can and should eliminate any risk to her children, regardless of how small or likely the risk or what the cost is to her own wellbeing in the process"? Or do you feel that, far from breastfeeding being an orthodoxy, society still feels awkward and uncomfortable about it? If you blog, don't forget to post your URLs here.

We know the breastfeeding/formula feeding thing is a hugely emotive subject on MN, as in real life, so please do remember that Mumsnet supports parents' personal choices on this issue - we're all about making lives easier. Please be kind and respectful towards those whose views or experiences differ from your own.

OP posts:
Liza80 · 15/02/2013 21:07

I have known a suprising amount of people who made the choice to ff way before giving birth. I think that's wrong!

JumpHerWho · 15/02/2013 21:09

Hi Liza. I've decided to ff my second and he hasn't even been conceived yet. Stick that in your pipe.

Liza80 · 15/02/2013 21:10

Good point silver! I did have problems in the beginning too, but I never really considered not breastfeeding, so my only option was to keep going and it did get much easier!

Yes, that is probably a better way to go about it, honest education.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Families
scottishmummy · 15/02/2013 21:11

mothers can legitimately chose how to feed baby and if choses not to bf,up to her
liza condescending attitude of disdain that mums don't bf,how v smug
but actually it's not your place to judge how mums feed,even if you feel so compelled

PolkadotCircus · 15/02/2013 21:14

Some women make the decision to go back to work when their baby is tiny before it's born,do you think that is wrong too(regardless of circumstances,personality etc)?

Some women make the decision to let their kids sit in front of screens too long so they can MN or do something more interesting than play with them.Some women chose to buy fishfingers instead of asking a home cooked meal from scratch,is that wrong too?

Maebe · 15/02/2013 21:15

Why do we have to say things like this are 'wrong' or 'right', Liza?! They're all just making the decision they feel is right. There are plenty of things that people do with their babies that other people don't do, but it doesn't make them wrong, does it?

JumpHerWho · 15/02/2013 21:16

Yay I buy fish fingers too

sunshine401 · 15/02/2013 21:16

I have known a surprising amount of people who made the choice to ff way before giving birth. I think that's wrong!
Because.............. ?

Liza80 · 15/02/2013 21:19

There's nothing smug or condescending about it! It's something I feel very strongly about, and if I inadvertently seem to be judging anyone by stating my opinion then I apologise, but I'm not going to change my views or keep them to myself! Of course, I try to be sensitive and I may not air those views in a one to one with someone who has chosen not to breastfeed, but in an open forum like this, we are all entitled to express our opinions and its nigh on impossible to do that without someone disagreeing or objecting!

PolkadotCircus · 15/02/2013 21:20

Lisa why your obsession with this choice in particular,others choices have a far bigger impact?

Liza80 · 15/02/2013 21:26

Because, sunshine if you are making that decision at that time, then I don't believe you are making it for the right reasons.

Liza80 · 15/02/2013 21:28

Polka it's not so much an obsession with this particularly, but this happens to be what we are discussing! There are lot's of other thing's I feel strongly about that are not relevant to this topic.

scottishmummy · 15/02/2013 21:28

Liza can't you see the zealous tell it like it is,not button it about bf is what upsets folk
by all means express your opinion,but do expect to be called on it called condescending
bf isn't be all end all of parenting,mode feeding doesn't define one as good mother

JumpHerWho · 15/02/2013 21:29

What would qualify as a right reason Liza? Genuinely interested in your response.

Liza80 · 15/02/2013 21:32

just so you don't all think I'm doing a runner... Just dished up some food. Sorry if I haven't responded to anyone.

JumpHerWho · 15/02/2013 21:33

No worries Liza. What did you cook?

PolkadotCircus · 15/02/2013 21:36

I don't get why you feel so judgy about this particular choice Lisa when the benefits really are quite small and a lot of the stats that show these benefits aren't exactly reliable.Sometimes a few months down the lie they get refuted.

thunksheadontable · 15/02/2013 21:46

I think the more interesting point in Professor Wolf's article is sort of being lost in the usual bunfight.

She makes the points that a lot of research relies on correlation in estimating risk and that it is a fallacy that if you do everything "right" you can eliminate risk.

I think it's crazy the way "parenting" has been turned into some sort of pseudo profession based on "evidence" and "research" and how "the plural of anecdote is not data". It's a relationship, not an academic qualification. We are mammals, we always learned from others around us, we have evolved both to learn from interpreting our observations and applying them to our own unique circumstances and to survive, quite frankly, on totally toxic rubbish. We are like rats or foxes, we will frequently survive and thrive on really inadequate nutrition (and I mean really inadequate nutrition) and yet formula is sometimes spoken of as though it were poisonous when it is clearly adequate.

Some of the debate around this is really much more to do with gender identity and the importance of women making the "right" decisions for their children, based on "informed choice" and reason. Sod that for a game of soldiers.

We see but through a glass darkly folks.. there will never be research that applies specifically or categorically to the specifics of individual situations and research on human beings is not like research on the elements in test tubes. I have both loved and hated breastfeeding and have done it for most of the last three years (had a six month pregnancy reprieve). Sometimes it has been loving. Sometimes it has been painful. Sometimes it has been bonding. Sometimes it has been frustrating. Sometimes it has been boring and tedious, other times joyful and amusing. It's just like everything in life. It has the capacity to be all sorts of things depending on my mood, my baby's mood etc etc. There is far too much polarisation and mud-slinging nonsense on these topics.

PlentyOfPubeGardens · 15/02/2013 21:47

Liza80, if women are to have autonomy over their own bodies it's very important that FF is a genuine choice, acceptable for no other reason than the mother simply doesn't want to do that with her body. Making a woman feel bad about not wanting to BF is akin to making her feel bad about not wanting to have sex or to continue a pregnancy.

I say this as someone who loved BF my DC for 2 years each.

PolkadotCircus · 15/02/2013 21:51

Thunks do you think the Internet has caused this?My mum does.She says mums just got on with it in her day(70s),used your own instinct instead of reading every god damn bit of "research" to base decisions on.

JumpHerWho · 15/02/2013 21:53

Plenty - 'making a woman feel bad... ' really speaks to me, thank you Thanks I struggle to articulate just how much I adore being a mother, how much it means to me, how much I love DS, I plan every day around his needs and keeping him stimulated, happy, nourished and healthy - but I don't want to breastfeed.

Sorry cant quote it properly, on iPhone app and can't see the post when typing a reply

PlentyOfPubeGardens · 15/02/2013 21:54

Going back to the blog posts - if men breastfed, it would be part of everyday culture, accepted everywhere. The working world would accommodate it - there would be lovely BF and expressing rooms in every workplace, working hours would be different, it would be a sign of virility, men would proudly BF in public ... there'd be rap songs about how great it was...

scottishmummy · 15/02/2013 22:00

that's utter rot,if only men did it, it would be Olympic sport.
I'm not even sure what point of such quips are
other than us wimmin have it hard type sentiments

LynetteScavo · 15/02/2013 22:09

Of course breast is best for baby.

If breast milk isn't available give formula.

I didn't really like breast feeding, even though I had no problems. But I did it because it's common sense that giving a food biologically designed for my baby would be best for him/her. I didn't need research to tell me that.

And I also hoped it would help burn excess calories

For me, convenience wise, breast feeding was easiest. I have friends who found bottle feeding easiest. Each to their own. I think we should just consider ourselves lucky we have a decent alternative to breast milk. There are still many, many women on this planet who don't have the luxury of clean water and formula if they can't breast feed.

StarlightMcKenzie · 15/02/2013 22:14

Choosing not to breastfeed is not wrong. Choosing to breastfeeding and having to give up earlier than intended because of insurmountable problems caused by lack of support, knowledge and cultural expectations on the other hand IS wrong.