To think breast fed babies are more intellegent

[thecatamongthepidgeons]

Because their parents tend to be more intellegent not because they were breast fed?
More intellegent parents are more likely to choose to breast feed regardless of any dificulties they face if they think it will benefit their children.

I think this is the wrong approach entirely. It should be questioning "are breastfeeding mums more cerebrally challenged" (apologies for spelling), to which the answer would most deffo be "yes", as extension of naughty hormones makes us way more stressed than humanly decent, even worse than PMT, plus all the goodies being sucked out of you on a regular basis leaves you an empty gibbering shell (ask my stunned work colleagues), also socially challenged due to not wishing to expose oneself on more than two occassions in a crowded coffee shop per week.

Bagged, well, duh, and researchers correct for that stuff. If you'd read the thread you'd see this has been mentioned. A bit.

Is it possible to have an MN with all the references to BF (outside of the actual bf board) filtered out?

Because it seems whenever the topic rears its tedious head, no good comes of it.

wellllllllll - I was BF and am thick as shit.

DS1 was BF for over a year - mostly smart - but has great difficulty in thinking outside anything bigger than a dot outside the box

DS2 - totally FF - pretty damn hot at maths, average for everything else - although is seemingly quite musicial

DS3 - too bloody smart for his own good (oh and he was mix fed (]

I question how much researchers can 'correct that stuff'.

Unless you could do a completely random study then you can't draw any absolutely definite conclusions either way beyond 'breastfeeding is associated with higher IQ'.

"Bagged, well, duh, and researchers correct for that stuff. If you'd read the thread you'd see this has been mentioned. A bit."

So people keep saying, but I'm yet to see a study that has explained how this has been done, other than to see that they've corrected for outliers, which isn't the same thing. Links please bf gurus.....

Anyway, I wasn't saying that I necessarily agree with the OP, only that I cant understand why the ff are upset, because actually, she was supporting them.

Actually OP raises an extremely good point.

Silly FF/BF arguments aside - I do believe it's socio-economic factors at play, and not what's in the bottle.

That aside, I'm FF-fed and an official genius despite making stupid decisions at nearly every opportunity. My son is also FF and just babbles incoherently like a baby.

16 years ago this would have really upset me - after I had given up bf due to complete lack of support from health professionals and after struggling for 8 weeks with infective mastitis, a breast abscess and probably thrush of the inner breast. The NCT made me feel a total failure; my hv made me feel a total failure and there was no sense or support to be had anywhere about the transfer to ff. I cried in the darkest hours for months.

Anyway ds was bf for 8 weeks - then formula. Is exceptionally bright, extremely confident, sporty, musical and artistic and on target for 12 A*s. DD who was bf until 1 is top average, not in the least sporty, not artistic but can sing like an angel. Correlation between bf and intelligence - don't think so - it's all in the genes and the nurturing.

OP - your post is potentially hurtful and no woman should ever be made to feel guilty for being unable to breastfeed - whatever the reason.

StayingDavid'stenantgirl - I think OP is pretty much on her own on this argument. Its completely unfounded and insensitive probably posted by some ponce who think she is a cut above the rest! :) (hugs)

I presume the OP purely means that she thinks any correlation comes from that, not the breastmilk itself? I have heard it said many times on BF/FF bunfigths on here, notmally by those on the side of the fence flaming the OP.

I wasn't able to bf due to medical reasons.

I would like you to say this to my face.

No. Interestingly my bottle fed is clever. But this whole thread is wank non?

ninky - that too was the way I interpreted OP.

But the point is that the researchers know the socio-economic correlations too, being researchers in that area and all, and correct for that by selecting participants of the same socio-economic class, level of education, IQ, etc. The OP was assuming that they don't know the most basic principles of their methodology.

And of course the maajor factors aren't the milk, otherwise there'd be a hell of a lot more than 3-5 points at play, wouldn't there? The OP has done nothing more than written a daft abstract for the Jornal of the Bleedin' Obvious.

major and Journal, dammit.

Actually, I've just re-read the OP and she's equating intelligence with selflesssness, and frankly, I'd love to see a study proving that.

"The OP was assuming that they don't know the most basic principles of their methodology".

Quite.

The majority of the posts here have also completely ignored the fact that NONE of the research has found that breastfeeding MAKES A CHILD INTELLIGENT, only that it appears to be associated with a 3 to 6 point increase in IQ.

I'm wondering - don't the posters know anything about the research?

Would find that slightly surprising given how widely it's been reported and discussed.

Or are they almost all chosing to misinterpret and distort the findings in order to make?

How bizarre that dozens of educated, well informed people could make such a basic, stupid error about something like this, which isn't that difficult to understand.

Makes me realise that when it comes to the BF/FF debate, straw-man arguments rule, and mostly sensible people may well talk complete and utter crap.

Or are they almost all chosing to misinterpret and distort the findings in order to make a point?
whoops

Thank-you to those who replied so kindly to my rant. I had skimmed through the rest of the thread, and should have made it clear that my post was aimed at the OP and not at others on the thread - so apologies if I offended any of you.

I do hope that the answers on this thread make the OP think twice about such hurtful opinions.

I agree with you to a degree Spud, but the thing that pisses me off is the way one is made to feel for FF. I am middle class, privately (boarding school) educated, and I consider myself to be fairly intelligent. I had my 3 older DCs in my early 20s and did BF for one, FF for another and mixed for DC3. DC2 was FF and that was absolutely my choice. DC3 was very prem and that was just the way things went. I couldn't even feed him myself until he was 7 weeks. However I had DC4 at 38 and was completely undecided until the moment she was born. I did BF, but I would have been happy to FF if I didn't get on with it. I went through 6 weeks of utter hell with DD1 and was made to feel that I would be a failure if I didn't persevere, I did, but if that had happened again with DD3 I would have switched instantly.

I think one only has to read SDTG's post to realise how potentially damaging some of the comments on this and other Pro BF/massively Anti FF threads can be to someone who is already struggling and that is regardless of age/class/situation. PND can hit anyone, it doesn't matter who they are.

X posted with you there SDTG, I can't see that any sane person could be offended by your rant!!!

"make the OP think twice about such hurtful opinions".

Make the OP think twice about HOLDING the opinion that the more intelligent the parent, the more likely they are to breastfeed?

Or think twice about EXPRESSING the opinion that the more intelligent the parent the more likely they are to breastfeed?

Because it's completely reasonable for her to hold this opinion, given the scientific evidence in support of her view.

I don't think op's opinion is hurtful at all. All she has done is phrased it badly.

In other words she is saying whether a baby is formula fed or breastfed, the child of parents with a higher iq is likely to have parents with higher iqs. The breastmilk doesn't make that much difference. So no need to feel bad, formula feeders, your own level of intelligence is far more significant than what you choose to feed your baby.

"The OP has done nothing more than written a daft abstract for the Jornal of the Bleedin' Obvious." - that may be true but it doesn't seem to be all that obvious to the many many posters on this thread who have been "hurt" by this post .