"The suggestion that BF babies are less likely to be fed crap when they come off milk (and less likely to live in poverty) is just laughable."
Children who are ff are more likely to eat a crap diet in later childhood, not because they were formula fed, but because they are more likely to come from social backgrounds where both formula feeding and consumption of processed foods are common.
And if you're interested, there's also a strong correlation between formula feeding from birth and smoking in pregnancy. Not saying one causes the other, but hey ho - those are the facts, and very interesting.
"How can ff babies always be from the lower sectors of society if they are the majority?"
Nobody has said that ff are 'always' from the lower sectors of society.
Here are the stats if you're interested. From the Department of Health Infant Feeding survey, which involves around 8000 mothers and is done every 5 years. BTW - by 'breastfeeding' they mean 'breastfeeding on discharge from hospital', so it will include even those babies who have been mixed fed in hospital, and stop breastfeeding within the first week.
"As found in the 2000 survey, there was a clear association between breastfeeding and
socio-economic status. Across the United Kingdom, 88% of mothers in managerial
and professional occupations breastfed initially, compared with 77% of mothers in
intermediate occupations, and 65% of mothers in routine and manual occupations.
Breastfeeding rates among mothers who had never worked were similar to those
found among mothers in routine and manual occupations (65%). This association
between socio-economic classification and breastfeeding was evident for all countries. "
"spud I really wish you would stop implying that people who dont bf do so because they think its less convinient or as some kind of lifestyle choice"
From the 2000 DOH Infant Feeding Survey:
"The most common reason for choosing to breastfeed was that breastfeeding was best for the baby?s health, followed by convenience. The most common reason for choosing to bottle-feed was that it allowed others to feed the baby, followed by a dislike of the ?idea? of breastfeeding."
Interestingly, those mothers who were most likely to return to work after the birth of their baby (who one would assume would have a very strong reason for wanting someone else to feed their baby) also had the highest rates of breastfeeding. The lowest rates of breastfeeding are found among women who have never worked.